Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Doubts surface over desal plant's marine impact

South Australia's fishing and aquaculture industries say they will do their own research into the details of the supplementary environmental impact statement for the proposed Olympic Dam mine expansion. BHP Billiton has reaffirmed its belief that Point Lowly is the best place for the mine's desalination plant.

Barry Evans from the Keep the Gulf Clean campaign says it wants to know how BHP would address the potential long-term impacts of the plant on marine life. He says previous scientific assessments have shown pumping large amounts of brine into Spencer Gulf could have a heavy impact on the breeding cycle of native species like prawns.

"It's an inverse estuary and that water on the top part of the Gulf takes a long long time to flush out into the ocean and we believe that the damage that this salt will do will be irreparable if it continues," he said. Associate Professor Jochen Kaempf from Flinders University says the marine habitat is too fragile for any industrialisation. Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little, The Aquaculturists, published and supported by the International Aquafeed Magazine from Perendale Publishers
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