File Note - Regia MSS - Review Of Key Issues And CGG Proposals Raised At Liaison Meeting

Written by Claude Haiku 4.5 from the extracted text on 16 May 2026. It can miss or misread redacted and scanned pages. Check the source before relying on it.

NOPSEMA's file note from a 15 July 2025 liaison meeting documents regulatory observations on CGG's Regia Marine Seismic Survey environment plan. NOPSEMA assessed most proposed impacts as manageable to acceptable levels but identified potentially unacceptable impacts to Southern Right Whales (SRWs), particularly regarding reproduction habitat use and migration, with high uncertainty noted. Impacts to Pygmy Blue Whales and little penguins also require further demonstration of acceptability. NOPSEMA advised the proposed September-December survey timing poses conflicts with sensitive whale life stages, recommending avoidance of April-June for SRW reproduction overlap and suggesting adaptive commencement criteria for October-December acquisition. The authority indicated CGG's equal weighting of Blue Whale foraging and SRW reproduction was inappropriate given SRW reproduction's higher protection status. Detection and mitigation effectiveness, particularly acoustic detection methods and coastal observer deployment, remained critical requirements for activity acceptability.