Wellington - The New Zealand government was urged Tuesday to halt testing for oil and gas off the coast after reports that scores of dead penguins had been washed up on the shore. A flotilla of five protest boats, including one representing a tribe of indigenous Maoris, has been shadowing a survey ship since it began seismic testing off the east coast of the North Island on behalf of a Brazilian company earlier this month.
The activitists said they feared potential damage from an oil spill like last year's BP accident in the Gulf of Mexico if Petrobras International Braspetro BV goes ahead with drilling. The company has a five-year offshore exploration permit from the government.
'Evidence is piling up of the impact of the seismic tests both here and abroad,' Manu Caddie, a member of the local council's environment committee in Gisborne, on the east coast of the North Island, said.
Recently published research has found that squid, cuttlefish and octopus washed up on Spanish beaches in 2001 and 2003 died of organ damage after being subjected to low-frequency noise from nearby oil and gas seismic surveys, the activists said.
'The scientists found that the organ that allows squid, octopus and cuttlefish to regulate their positions, to balance and direct how and where they swim, was damaged leaving the animals unable to move or to feed, and vulnerable to predators,' said Barry Weeber, co-chairman of the Environment and Conservation Organisations of New Zealand.
The Maori Party urged the government to investigate the penguin deaths. Read More
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