Dear Editor,
I have not noticed any comments in the local Press on MARAD Notice to Mariners number 113 (2022) dated June 28, 2022. This Notice defines a sea area of 119 square kilometres offshore from Plantation Best where the biggest of the oil field shore bases is being constructed, which will be deep-dredged up to the end of this year. The clear intention is to allow much larger ships to navigate the Demerara Ship Channel into Georgetown Harbour. The area defined for dredging crosses traditional fishing grounds of the artisanal fishermen. Few fishermen read the newspapers and I am not aware of any other attempt to inform them of the disruption to their business.
The two ‘trailing suction hopper dredges’ (TSHD) are owned by a Dutch company (Jan De Nul) and flagged in Luxembourg, and can dredge to a depth of 30 metres. The present entry channel is much shorter, narrower and only dredged to 5-6m deep. The two dredgers have capacities of 18,000 m3 (https://www.jandenul.com/sites/default/files/2021-03/Galileo%20Galilei%20% 28EN%29%20.pdf) and 4,000 m3 (https://www.jandenul.com/sites/default/files/2020-10/De%20Bougainville%20%28EN%29.pdf). It seems from the MARAD notice number 113 that ExxonMobil’s intention is to triple the depth of the channel to 15 metres.
A second MARAD notice, number 116 dated 01 July, announces that dredging has started.
By its nature, dredging disturbs the natural environment and, here, affects the livelihoods of fishermen. Fishers have both legal and customary rights to their traditional fishing grounds. I cannot find any call by the Environmental Protection Agency to demand an Environmental Impact Assessment. Where is the dredged mud to be discharged, between now and the end of 2022? The EIAs for the first four fields (Liza-1, Liza-2, Payara and Yellowtail) all disclaim attention to dredging. This is stated to be associated with and the responsibility of the shore-base owners/ operators, and is expressly excluded from the EIAs. The EPA’s covering statement for the Liza-2 EIA mentions ‘pipe yards and bonds’ onshore but not any dredging.
Editor, we read daily in your newspapers celebratory statements about 11 billion barrels and counting of oil. That oil is being pumped at breakneck speed, at a pace determined by the Operator, with our government in the role of enabler and cheerleader. We can see from the Government of Guyana’s own websitehttps://petroleum.gov.gy/data-visualization that oil production from FPSO Liza Destiny from the Liza-1 field has been de-bottlenecked to over 150,000 bpd by May 2022.
These are very high-risk strategies – for Guyana. There is no national conversation on the negative externalities of this reckless pace of extraction which are and will be borne, now and into the future, by Guyanese and the non-human life forms with whom we share our territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone.
Through your newspaper, I call for an explanation from the EPA of why there is no EIA for this dredging. I also call for protection of the legal and customary rights of fishers to their traditional fishing grounds.
Yours truly,
Janette Bulkan
