5 Description of the environment Section 5 summary 154 5.1 Overview 155 5.2 Barossa marine studies program 158 5.3 Marine regions and bioregions 162 5.3.1 North Marine Region 162 5.3.2 North-west Marine Region 162 5.3.3 Timor Transition bioregion 164 5.3.4 North-west Shelf Transition bioregion 164 5.4 Physical environment 164 5.4.1 Climate 164 5.4.2 Oceanography 164 5.4.3 Bathymetry and seabed features 167 5.4.4 Water quality 168 5.4.5 Sediment quality 170 5.4.6 Air quality and meteorology 170 5.4.7 Underwater noise 171 5.5 Biological environment 172 5.5.1 Overview and Matters of National Environmental Significance 172 5.5.2 Benthic habitats and communities 173 5.5.3 Regionally important shoals and banks 181 5.5.4 Regionally important offshore reefs and islands 188 5.5.5 Other regional seabed features of interest 190 5.5.6 NT and WA mainland coastline 191 5.5.7 Plankton 192 5.6 Marine fauna of conservation significance 192 5.6.1 Biologically important areas 196 5.6.2 Marine mammals 197 5.6.3 Marine reptiles 205 5.6.4 Birds (seabirds and migratory shorebirds) 210 5.6.5 Fish 214 5.6.6 Sharks and rays 215 5.7 Socio-economic and cultural environment 218 5.7.1 World Heritage properties 218 5.7.2 National Heritage places 218 5.7.3 Commonwealth Heritage places 218 5.7.4 Declared Ramsar wetlands 219 5.7.5 Commonwealth marine area 220 5.7.6 Commonwealth marine reserves 220 5.7.7 Listed threatened communities 223 5.7.8 Key ecological features 223 5.7.9 Commonwealth land 228 5.7.10 European and Indigenous heritage 228 5.7.11 Marine archaeology 230 5.7.12 Commercial fisheries 230 5.7.13 Indigenous fishing 243 5.7.14 Tourism and recreational activities 243 5.7.15 Mariculture activities 244 5.7.16 Defence activities 244 5.7.17 Ports and commercial shipping 244 5.7.18 Offshore petroleum exploration and operations 246 5.7.19 Scientific research 246 5.7.20 Indonesian and Timor coastlines 246 5.8 Summary of key environmental, cultural and socio-economic values and sensitivities 246 153 CONOCOPHILLIPS AUSTRALIA Section 5 summary Description of the environment Purpose: 5 This section describes the existing environment of may be affected by planned discharges the project area and wider region, including natural (Section 6) features, marine life and habitats, and any other non-oil • the gas export pipeline corridor within which and gas uses. Understanding the environment and the gas export pipeline route will be located. the social, economic, and cultural features of the area helps to assess the potential impacts and risks (further Given the early stage of the project, a buffer has described in Section 6) and develop the environmental been incorporated into this area. The area directly performance outcomes for the project (further described influenced by the project is expected to be in Section 7). significantly smaller. The OPP considers the environment in the context of the 2. the area of influence which (based on repeated following geographical areas: modelling of the worst credible hydrocarbon spill scenarios) is the outer boundary of the environment 1. the project area, which consists of: that may be affected in the event of an unplanned • the Barossa offshore development area release of hydrocarbons where no spill response where the facilities and infrastructure will be measures are implemented. located and where the marine environment Section at a glance: Barossa marine studies program: ConocoPhillips specific habitats for these marine fauna, so while they explains how it developed a detailed understanding of may pass through, they will not remain here. There is no the environment, including in-depth baseline studies land or other features that support nesting or feeding that were completed in collaboration with the Australian turtles, breeding populations of seabirds, or migratory Institute of Marine Science and scientific experts. shorebirds. The Tiwi Islands are about 100 km south of the Barossa offshore development area and about Regional setting: Australia’s marine environment is 6 km from the gas export pipeline corridor at its closest classified into six regions. The North Marine Region point. These islands support several important habitats, is of primary relevance to this OPP being the region nesting sites for marine turtles, seabird rookeries and the containing the Barossa offshore development area and conservation of dugongs. Further environmental surveys the gas export pipeline corridor. The North-west Marine and engineering studies will be incorporated to finalise Region is also relevant as parts of it are within the area of the pipeline route. influence. Socio-economic and cultural environment: There Physical environment: The studies show that natural are no heritage properties or wetlands, nor ecological features including the climate, seabed, air quality, communities requiring specific protection measures in water currents and temperature, water and sediment the Barossa offshore development area or gas export quality, and underwater noise in the Barossa offshore pipeline corridor. The gas export pipeline corridor development area are all typical of the region. traverses a portion of the Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve and the Tiwi Islands hold heritage value There are no significant seabed features in the Barossa for the Indigenous people. There is one shipwreck in the offshore development area. The closest regionally vicinity of the Tiwi Islands within the gas export pipeline important environmental features to the Barossa offshore corridor. development area are Evans Shoal (35 km west), Tassie Shoal (32 km west) and Lynedoch Bank (27 km east). There are a number of fisheries in the region, with Three shoals and banks (Goodrich Bank, Marie Shoal five currently active in the project area. Based on and Shepparton Shoal) are of particular relevance to the consultations to date, ConocoPhillips understand there gas export pipeline corridor. In the area of influence, the are no areas of high fishing activity in the vicinity of the most important features are Ashmore Reef project. (750 km south-west), Cartier Island (735 km south-west), Seringapatam Reef (960 km south-west) and Scott Reef Tourism activities such as organised recreational (970 km south-west). fishing rarely occur in or near the area due to its remote location. These activities are more likely to occur near the Marine fauna: There are 19 threatened species and 38 southern end of the gas export pipeline, near the Tiwi migratory species that may occur in the Barossa offshore Islands, where there is also more commercial shipping development area and gas export pipeline corridor. The activity. Barossa offshore development area has no unique or BAROSSA OFFSHORE PROJECT PROPOSAL 154 5 Description of the environment 5 Description of the environment 5.1 Overview This section of the OPP describes the key physical, biological, socio-economic and cultural characteristics of the existing environment relevant to the proposal, including MNES as defined under the Commonwealth EPBC Act. The description of the environment presented in this OPP is considered comprehensive and conservative based on the early stage project definition and optionality. It provides a description of environmental values and sensitivities within two areas: • the project area, which consists of the Barossa offshore development area and the gas export pipeline corridor (as defined in Section 4.2.1.1) • the potential area of influence associated with the project (as defined below). The potential area of influence will be further refined as future detailed engineering information becomes available and will be presented in the activity-specific EPs. The description provided in this section has been used to inform the risk evaluation and impact assessment for the project (Section 6). This section aligns with the NOPSEMA OPP Guidance Note (NOPSEMA 2016a): “To provide information important to the context of the OPP by identifying and describing the existing environment that may be affected by the project”. The following key sources of information were used to inform the comprehensive assessment of environmental values and sensitivities in this OPP: • ConocoPhillips Barossa marine studies program (2014–15), including a collaborative survey of surrounding shoals undertaken by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) (Section 5.2) • Environment Plan for the ConocoPhillips Bonaparte Basin Barossa Appraisal Drilling campaign, revision as accepted by NOPSEMA (2013) • recent Environment Plans for the ConocoPhillips Barossa Appraisal Drilling Campaign and Caldita- Barossa Marine Seismic Survey activities as accepted by NOPSEMA (2016) • previous ConocoPhillips environmental studies, including pre-drill environmental surveys for the Caldita-1 (URS 2005), Caldita-2 (URS 2008) and Barossa-1 (URS 2007) well locations • material provided by the DoEE, including EPBC Protected Matters search tool, species profile and threats database, National Conservation Values Atlas biologically important areas (BIAs), recovery plans and conservation advices (Section 3.5.1), bioregional marine region plans, conservation value report cards, threat abatement plans, National strategies, marine reserve management plans, and CMR Review Panel reports • published Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/offshore referral study reports to inform the regional environmental context, including: • Woodside Energy Limited (Woodside). 2001. Sunrise Gas Project, Draft EIS, EPBC Referral, and EIS supplement (2002) • Methanol and Synfuels Pty. Ltd. 2002. Tassie Shoal Methanol Project Draft EIS, EPBC Referral 2000/108 • GDF Suez Bonaparte. 2011. Bonaparte LNG Supplementary Report, September 2011 • Woodside. 2011. Browse LNG Development, Draft Upstream EIS EPBC Referral 2008/4111 (November 2011) • Woodside. 2013. Floating LNG EPBC referral 2013/7079 (December 2013), Draft EIS (November 2014) and EIS Supplement (May 2015) • INPEX. 2010. Ichthys Gas Field Development Project Draft EIS, and subsequent EIS Supplement (April 2011). • published literature on the regional environmental values and sensitivities, e.g.