Greenpeace and the Ningaloo Preservation Association on Exmouth on November 26 staged a protest against an oil company which is about to start exploration drilling next to a marine park of world significance off the WA coast.
Two Greenpeace launches left Exmouth carrying 24 locals and Greenpeace activists to confront the drilling rig, operated by the US-owned Hadson Energy Ltd, as it moved towards a site just 7.5 kilometres outside the Ningaloo Marine Park and 40 kilometres north-east of Exmouth.
Greenpeace's inflatable boat was impounded by WA police as activists tried to attach anti-drilling banners to the oil rig. Meanwhile, 100 local residents carrying banners and placards declaring "Fish can't breathe oil" held a protest on Bundegi Beach.
Ningaloo Marine Park extends for 269 kilometres along the western shore of North-West Cape, around into Exmouth Gulf and 10 nautical miles out to sea. It is home to 180 species of coral and 460 species of fish. Also common in the area are sea turtles, dugongs, humpback whales, dolphins and the rare and harmless whale shark, which weighs 40 tonnes and grows to 18 metres long.
Michael Bland, ,Greenpeace oil campaigner said the reefs were of world significance and need the same World Heritage protection as the Great Barrier reef on the east coast.
"An oil spill would kill hundreds of marine species, devastate the unique coral reef systems, not to mention the local economy of the cape, which is based on fishing, prawning and tourism", explained Bland. Hadson's drilling will start in the middle of the nesting season for nearby populations of threatened sea turtles.
"Oil drilling within 50 kilometres of marine parks should be banned. Even the federal government's Australian Nature Conservation Agency has recommended that."
Last year, the WA government allowed Hadson to drill diagonally underneath the boundary of Ningaloo Marine Park to test the "Loggerhead Fault" area.
The WA government allows exploration drilling within marine parks from dry land areas or underneath them by diagonal drilling from outside park boundaries. In WA, marine park boundaries extend only 100 metres below the sea floor.
Hadson in its 1992 annual report, released in April, clearly stated its intention to pursue access to a highly prospective oil area inside the park.