Detailed visual seabed survey at drilling site 7218/11-1
Detailed visual seabed survey at drilling site 7218/11-1
Detailed visual seabed survey at drilling site 7218/11-1
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Table5. Extractfrom OSPAR2010,listingthe mainpressureswhichmayaffect spongepopul<strong>at</strong>ions.<br />
Fisheriesand CO2 emissionsare listed as posing large-scale,very high thre<strong>at</strong>s. Fisheriesare not<br />
consideredfurther here. However,CO2 emissionsare consideredto be one of the main causesof<br />
oceanacidific<strong>at</strong>ion,and this inhibits the calcific<strong>at</strong>ionprocesses,which certainly coralsand <strong>at</strong> least<br />
somegroupsof spongesrely upon.Therefore,emissionsto air duringoper<strong>at</strong>ionalactivitiesshouldbe<br />
seen in the ecosystemcontext of managementof spongeand/or coral habit<strong>at</strong>s in the vicinity of<br />
petroleum oper<strong>at</strong>ions.Oceanacidific<strong>at</strong>ionis listed asa pressurerequiringmonitoring within the EU<br />
Marine Str<strong>at</strong>egyFrameworkDirective(MSFD;Directive2008),and also fe<strong>at</strong>uresin the Norwegian<br />
Integr<strong>at</strong>edManagementPlanfor the Barents Sea(availableon www. regjeringen.no).<br />
ThepressuresMineralsexploit<strong>at</strong>ionandDumpingof solidwastecanbe seenwithin the MSFDimpact<br />
c<strong>at</strong>egoriesof habit<strong>at</strong> loss and habit<strong>at</strong> damage,in this case having local impacts (OSPAR,2010).<br />
Obviously, if local impacts become very numerous, there arises an increased risk of habit<strong>at</strong><br />
fragment<strong>at</strong>ion,but in the BarentsSea<strong>at</strong> this time, this appearsto be of minor concern.<br />
Thetime-scaleof impactsshouldalsobe given<strong>at</strong>tention. If spongesrecolonizelocallyaffected areas<br />
during the averagelifecycleof a successfulpetroleum project (perhaps30+ years),these might be<br />
consideredashavinghighimpacts(spongemortality) <strong>at</strong> a localgeographicscaleandshort-term time<br />
scale, but negligible in the long term. Such impacts are consideredwithin the MSFDas being<br />
'reversible'.Of major concernis permanentlossor irreversibleneg<strong>at</strong>iveimpacts.Oceanacidific<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
posessuchanirreversiblethre<strong>at</strong>.<br />
Theenvironmentalcostsandbenefitsof the three maindischargescenariosare givenin Table6.<br />
<strong>Detailed</strong> <strong>site</strong> <strong>survey</strong> <strong>at</strong> PL531 Darwin<br />
Akvaplan-niva AS Rapport 6051 - 1 49
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