white rose oilfield development application - Husky Energy

Cumulative effects associated with the White Rose project are expected to be not significant for fish andfish habitat. This includes cumulative effects due to the combined interaction of project’s environmentaleffects, as well as interaction between the White Rose project and other offshore projects and activities.Activities (for example, discharge of drill cuttings, produced water and noise) associated with all threeoil development projects (Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose) on the Grand Banks will have similareffects on the biophysical environment. The effects of each of these developments both individually andcombined are predicted to be not significant for fish and fish habitat. Fish and fish habitat will likelyrecover within a few years after any disturbance caused by oil developments as currently proposed forthe Grand Banks. The no-fishing zones associated with offshore oil developments will positively affectfish, but may negatively affect fisheries as fishing will be excluded in some areas. In the long term,these effects may cancel each other or may have a positive effect.The commercial fisheries of the Grand Banks are diverse and extensive, and have contributed to effectson fish populations in the area. Assuming that the commercial fishery resource is managed in asustainable manner by the resource agencies, the cumulative effect of the fishery and offshoredevelopment on fish and fish habitat will be not significant. Oil development projects will all haveassociated vessel traffic, as will exploration activity on the Grand Banks. Offshore oil activity will addan incremental amount of tanker traffic. The cumulative vessel activity of Grand Banks oil developers,including White Rose, Hibernia, Terra Nova and expected exploration activity, will probably compriseless than 25 percent of the total international traffic on the Grand Banks and less than 3 percent whendomestic vessels and fishing vessels are considered. Overall, cumulative activity of Grand Banks oildevelopers on fish and fish habitat will be negligible and not significant.5.2.1.2 Marine BirdsThe presence of vessels (including the semi-submersible drill rig) involved in the development andproduction phases could potentially disturb and/or attract marine birds. Birds that are active at night,most notably storm-petrels, may be attracted to light sources on offshore facilities and/or may beincinerated by gas flaring. Reasonable effort will be made to allow seabirds found stranded on boats andother offshore structures to recover and be released at night near minimal lighting. The increasedavailability of food due to the artificial reef and no-fishing zone, the presence of a roosting area at seaand the discharge of human wastes may also attract seabirds. Effects due to the presence of vessels andstructures during operations are expected to be negligible, while the effects of lights on seabirds duringthe development and operations will be low. Vessel and aircraft traffic near seabird colonies couldcause disturbance and affect productivity at these sites. However, any such effects would be negligibleto low as vessels will be required to maintain a distance of 2 km from any seabird colonies, and aircraftwill be required to fly at a minimum altitude of 600 m, when possible, and avoid repeated overflights ofbird colonies and concentrations.The discharge of drill cuttings and other materials during development and production will havenegligible to low effects on seabirds. Drill cuttings will be discharged to the seafloor, offering littleWhite Rose DA Project Summary • January 2001 Page 75