Information on activities other than fishing (offshore oil and gas) in the NAFO Convention Area: Implications for the development of the Ecosystem Summary Sheets (Divisions 3LNO and 3M)

• Main Authors: Durán-Muñoz, Pablo, Sacau-Cuadrado, María del Mar
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Pesquerías; Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo; impacts; Flemish Pass; NAFO; VMEs; offshore oil and gas; offshore; fisheries; crude oil; Canada; North Atlantic; Northwest Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10508/15946; http://hdl.handle.net/10261/327250

Updated available information on activities other than fishing in the NAFO Convention Area - with focus on oil and gas - was collected and summarized from publicly available data sources (e.g. websites and project reports). This information is relevant not only to produce advice on Commission Request #14, but also to the development of the ecosystem summary sheets for Divisions 3LNO and 3M (Commission Request #15). In general, data on geographical location of oil and gas activities is available (including spatial location and technical details of a development project in the Flemish Pass), but information on the adverse impacts of such activities (e.g. routine operations, accidental events, unauthorized discharges, exploratory drilling on VME closed areas, etc.), as well as mitigation measures, is scarce or difficult to obtain. Based on the available information, it is observed that offshore oil and gas activities in NAFO Divs. 3LNM increased in recent years, including drilling activities on NAFO VME closed areas (Areas 2 and 10). Moreover, a number of different types of “incidents” have occurred during the period 2015-2020 (e.g. the Hibernia oil spill in 2019, a transboundary incident, in which the oil was extended into the NAFO Regulatory Area). European Union’s Horizon 2020, No 678760 (ATLAS). NO