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Exxon is controlling our waters, damaging livelihoods, where is the EPA?

Mar 02, 2023 Letters

Dear Editor,

The subject of Sea Surveys in nearshore waters has international relevance. Only today, I watched a podcast on the South China Sea, where the Chinese Government imposes itself over ocean waters far beyond its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).Totally ignoring the rights of countries like Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and others, China blatantly patrols and explores these waters which, according to the International Law of the Sea, are shared by China and its neighbours, with each having a 200 hundred mile EEZ of its own. Needless to say, China’s aggression is not amicably received.

But here in Guyana, our own EEZ has for the last six (6) years been completely dominated by one foreign party. ExxonMobil has been exploring oil and gas resources off our coast, with its usual rapacity and arrogance, since 2016. And today, in Kaieteur News, we read of a new project for oceanographic surveys of the Continental Shelf and sea floor, just a few kilometers off the Georgetown and Vreed-en-Hoop foreshores. The issue, which is by no means new or surprising, is that there has to date been no public consultation on this project, although one phase of it has already begun.

Tuesday’s edition of KN published simultaneously a one-page announcement by M.A.R.A.D. of a Hydrographic Survey in our near-coastal waters, and a two-part project of Geo-technical and Geophysical surveying of the area immediately north and south of the entrance to the Demerara River. These surveys began on February 23 and will continue until the month of July. So, it means that, if nothing else, this very busy area straddling the mouth of the Demerara River will be under project surveys (involving Multibeam scanning) for more than five (5) months.

One is once again astounded by this sudden disclosure by the authorities of another ExxonMobil project that has not passed through the official process of public scrutiny. Our EPA law requires an Environmental Impact Assessment for any project, be it on land or territorial waters. Yet our EPA appears to have waived this important requirement once again.

The project areas are just a few kilometers (about 8 nautical miles) from Georgetown’s foreshore, well within the usual fishing grounds of artisanal fishermen. Even more wide-ranging are the possible disturbances of all marine life, both in the pelagic(surface) as well as the benthic (sea-floor bottom) environments where numerous marine organisms live and find their food. This impacting on marine lifecycles and food chains is already affecting fish catch and the livelihood of our fisherfolk on the coast.

Yours faithfully,

Carl A. Brathwaite

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