The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate will start a survey this summer of the pristine waters north of picturesque Lofoten Islands, a swathe of geology long sought-after by oil companies.
The so-called Nordland VII area — the richest cod bank in the world — will be surveyed by Bergen Oilfield Services with its ship S/V BOS Atlantic. The vessel is booked until September 2008.
The survey is seing costing a combined NOK210 million ($41 million) over two years.
During high summer, another Bergen Oilfield ship, the BOS Arctic, will do a 3D survey nearby at the so-called Troms II acreage area.
Norwegian fishermen have long expressed their fear of seismic shoots, and confrontations between trawler crew and survey vessel have been recorded. To assuage fishermen’s fears, fishery officials will ride with seismic ships while being trailed by fisheries boats.
After telling fishermen for years that seismic has “no effect on fish”, the Lofoten “convoy” is aimed at “strengthening knowledge about the effect of seismic ships on fish”.
A reseaarch project on the “scare effect” on fish and the “spread of soundwaves in water” will run in tandem with summer’s Lofoten shoot.
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