West Australian marine park threatened by oil exploration

Whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef may be under threat from global petroleum giants. Photo / Supplied

In 2003, after a high-profile battle by environmentalists, the West Australian Government vetoed plans for a major resort in Ningaloo Marine Park, home to the world's largest fringing reef. Now the reef is said to be under threat again, with the global petroleum giant Shell applying to drill for oil and gas less than 50km away.

Internationally famed for its abundant marine life, particularly the whale sharks which congregate there every year to feed, Ningaloo - off the north-western town of Exmouth - is being considered for World Heritage listing. The federal Government's submission to Unesco calls it "a unique place ... unsurpassed among coral reefs for displaying the interaction of history, physical environment and ecology".

Now, though, Shell wants to explore close to Ningaloo, which is home to 500 species of fish including four of the world's seven marine turtles, all of them vulnerable or endangered. It has applied to drill a 5650m test well just 48km from the park's western boundary, and says work could begin as early as September.

The scheme has yet to be approved by the state Government, and may require federal assessment of its environmental impact. But conservationists are horrified, pointing to incidents such as BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year and the Montara spill in the Timor Sea in 2009, off Australia's northwestern coast, which took 74 days to plug.

Paul Gamblin, WA conservation manager of the World Wildlife Fund, said this week that only luck had prevented the Montara slick from reaching the pristine Kimberley coastline 250km away.

Describing Ningaloo as a "marine super highway" for whale sharks, humpback whales, blue whales, turtles and tuna, Gamblin told ABC radio: "We should be protecting these areas, and not allowing oil and gas activity so close. It's a very, very fragile place."

In the early 2000s, Australian writers, actors and sportsmen joined the crusade to prevent the development of a marina and resort at Mauds Landing, in the marine park. David Bellamy, the British botanist, called Ningaloo "one of the world's most special places". Tim Winton, the Australian novelist, donated his A$25,000 ($34,170) prize-money from a literary award to the campaign.

The WA Premier, Geoff Gallop, rejected the plans in 2003, saying they would jeopardise "one of the world's great natural wonders" and declaring: "Today we have drawn a line in the sand".

A Shell spokesman, John D'Agostino, said on Tuesday that the company had "a very strong commitment to the protection of biodiversity", and adhered to "strict environmental management plans in all our operations".

But a WA Greens politician, Robin Chapple, said oil and gas exploration should not be allowed near Ningaloo under any circumstances. "As we have seen time and time again in the oil and gas industry, it only takes one accident to create an environmental catastrophe," he told Fairfax newspapers. "At the distance Shell proposes to drill, any accident will inevitably impact on Ningaloo."