"The purpose of the survey is to collect and analyze data on the arrangement of sediments deposited during times of changing global sea level from roughly 60 million years ago to present. The 3-D survey would investigate features such as river valleys cut into coastal plain sediments now buried under a kilometer of younger sediment and flooded by today's ocean."
POINT PLEASANT BEACH – For some shore communities, Friday marked the beginning of tourism season, but ocean advocates are using the holiday weekend to launch an effort to prevent a Rutgers University study they say will harm marine life.U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone joined leaders of environmental groups and maritime businesses at the Fisherman’s Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach to announce a campaign to stop seismic airgun testing off the Jersey Shore.“Once you get this done, the oil and natural gas companies will use it to justify drilling,” Pallone (D-6th) said. “This is a slippery slope.”The studies, which have been endorsed by the U.S. Department of the Interior, are slated to begin as early as June 3.The study’s National Science Foundation grant application claims it is to research historic changes in sea level rise, but admits that the data could be used by the petroleum industry.Jimmy Lovgren, spokesman for the Fisherman’s Dock Cooperative, said the Rutgers study is an attempt to reopen the New Jersey coast to oil and natural gas exploration.“Two years ago the oil industry proposed seismic testing for oil,” Lovgren said. “Commercial, recreational and environmental groups came together, we fought this, and won… we don’t want BP looking off the Jersey Shore, but that is what we’re looking at.”An online petition campaign has started urging Rutgers to stop the study, Clean Ocean Action Executive Director Cindy Zipf said.“We’ve already had 14,000 signatures in ten to 12 days,” Zipf said. “We’re hoping to stop this before it starts.”Pallone said the study is affecting his relationship with his alma mater.“I’m very disappointed in my own state university,” Pallone said. “”Rutgers should be environmentally responsible and safe, I fault them in not doing that. We have to call out Rutgers.”A report by the American Petroleum institute, an oil industry advocate, argues that the testing is safe, heavily regulated and planned to impose minimal impact on wildlife. The institute claims that current estimates of the volume of oil and natural gas deposits off the Atlantic coast are no longer accurate.But Raymond Bogan, attorney for the Recreational Fishing Alliance, said airgun testing could harm the region’s fishery, which is still recovering from decades of pollution."We have a very viable shellfishery in the state of New Jersey," Bogan said. "Very, very substantial and very, very important. To the extent that that could be impacted a scintilla is sinful… don’t kick an entity when it is down."Anglers and commercial fishermen argued that the federal government, which provided the study a ‘Marine Harassment Permit’ allowing it to disrupt or kill marine species with the sound waves, was applying a double standard.“If a commercial fishery catches a few whales or dolphins, the fishery is shut down,” Lovgren said.Any harm to the fishery would hurt a commercial and recreational fishing industry that is a long way from coming back, Tom Fote, legislative operations manager of the Jersey Coast Anglers Association, said.“We’re 70,000 boats down from 2012,” Fote said. “Our party and charter boats are down, too. 2012 was a bad year and we had 5.2 million trips, last year we had 3.2 million trips. We’re suffering in this industry – what is the seismic blasting going to do?”Under the plan, a boat, the Marcus Langseth, would be used to conduct the study, which involves blasting sound waves louder than a jet plane at takeoff towards the sea floor at 5-second intervals.“They want to blast every five seconds, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 30 days,” Zipf said. The testing would occur over 230 square miles of ocean near Barnegat Bay.Pallone and the gathered crowd shielded their ears – or wore ear plugs – as the sounds of seismic testing were played over a public address system.“There are 25 species of marine mammal that are found in the study area,” Zipf said. “We should celebrate and protect them at all costs.”
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