‘Show us the study’ – Environmentalist challenges Mustapha to release findings that conclude oil industry not affecting declining fish catch

May 23, 2022 News

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Kaieteur News – Environmentalist, Simone Mangal-Joly has challenged the Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha to release the study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which has found that contrary to the suspicion of fisherfolk and the science behind oil exploration and production activities, the exploitation of the natural resource was not to be blamed, but rather, climate change.

In a letter to the Minister, dated May 21, 2022, Mangal-Joly said, “I urge you to release the study without delay and look forward to seeing the geographical and temporal data sets that provided evidential support for the captioned conclusion.”
She was keen to note, in her articulate missive to Mustapha that no less than a “well-studied” approach would be required to reach such a conclusion. For instance, the environmentalist shared that in an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) ExxonMobil and partners submitted to the Government of Canada for a permit for the Flemish Pass Exploratory Drilling Project and Eastern Newfoundland Offshore Exploratory Drilling Programme in 2019, the oil company understood the assignment of a credible impact assessment. In explaining this point, Mangal-Joly said that Exxon was sure to include precise data that identifies where its operations would occur, relative to ecologically significant areas as well as the fishing grounds used by fisherfolk. Regrettably, the opposite is done for Guyana where the company only identifies the oil block in which it will be operating, she said.
She explained that during the approximate five years period since the oil companies have been conducting seismic surveys offshore, ExxonMobil in particular has received four environmental permits, without including information to show where valued marine environmental receptors are located relative to drill and production installations, effluent discharges, and ocean currents.

“There is no information in any document submitted by Exxon Mobil on the location of sensitive coral reefs, sponges, fish spawning areas, seasons during which commercially and ecologically important species spawn (this would guide management of activities such as seismic gun use at sensitive times of the year), or information on reproduction and life cycle patterns of important fish and other marine species at different heights of the water column and geographically. Nor is there any information in any Environmental Impact Assessment submitted and approved by the Environmental Protection Agency on migratory routes and seasons for key fish and other marine life. Nowhere can one find the locations of fishing grounds relative to the production activities and routes of numerous offshore service vessels. Moreover, ExxonMobil has been producing oil and gas and conducting surveys offshore for some years now. The Government of Guyana has not produced any independent monitoring and verification reports that can give insights on the effects of ExxonMobil’s operations on fish and the fisheries sector,” she said in the letter.

To this end, the environmentalist told the Minister, “It is impossible for you to sustainably manage Guyana’s fisheries sector if the Environmental Protection Agency continues to indulge Exxon Mobil with what appears to be a pathological propensity for ignoring the legal requirements and established standards for the conduct of an Environmental Impact Assessment.”
She added, “…your revelation that that the FAO has determined that the oil industry is not responsible for the low fish catch offshore is a game changer. Clearly, the FAO has not drawn this conclusion from data provided by ExxonMobil’s EIAs, as such data does not exist. The FAO must have therefore independently studied and acquired the necessary data to draw this conclusion. These studies must have over the years also included the mapping and identification of valuable environmental areas offshore, location of fishing grounds, and impact monitoring and evaluation data.”
The Environmentalist reasoned that by making the report public, the FAO can make a significant positive contribution to environmental impact assessment processes for offshore oil and gas activities in Guyana, adding that “If perchance (you have) misspoken on this matter, your office and the FAO must publicly clarify this matter, particularly as this issue is the subject of great national debate and importance…”
In a brief telephone interview on Friday, the Minister told Kaieteur News that the study has concluded that the visible impacts to the local fisheries sector was merely as a result of climate change. According to him, “It’s not as a result of that (oil operations)…the report says about climate change and the fresh water that was responsible.”
He had noted, during the earlier conversation, that the FAO report would be released shortly after the government peruses it.
Fishermen in Guyana have been complaining bitterly of low catches over the past months, blaming the situation on oil giant, ExxonMobil’s operations offshore.
But even though high ranking government officials have shot down this claim, arguing that there is no data to prove this, Exxon’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), which is gearing to startup production at the Yellowtail development, has warned that its operations can impact fish within the project site. In fact, this warning is included in all of the EIAs submitted by the company for its offshore operations.

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