The bright orange flares of burning gas which light up the night sky like beacons over Western Australia's Northwest Shelf oil and gasfields do not appear to be harming the breeding turtle population, indicating that offshore energy production and turtles can co-exist.

Hatchling turtles which take to the sea in thousands in the breeding season are probably not disoriented by the giant flares on oil and gas platforms but continue to follow the moon, as they have for eons, Dr Peter Hick and Ms Cindy Ong of CSIRO Exploration and Mining have found.

"Our research arose out of a concern by the oil and gas industry that the growing number of bright offshore lights might disrupt the breeding of green and loggerhead turtles on the islands and beaches of northwestern WA," Dr Hick explains.

"It was feared that, if brightly-lit offshore platforms attracted streams of newly-hatched turtles towards them, it would create a smorgasbord for predators.

"After all, those gas flares are huge beacons, some of which can be seen many kilometres away."

It was known that baby turtles use the light of the moon to navigate their way out to sea from the beach where they hatch, and the oil companies were concerned that they could become disoriented by the flares.

The team, consisting of representatives of WAPET, Apache Energy and CSIRO, consulted Dr Robert Prince of the WA Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) about what exactly turtles see. They were relieved to learn that their vision is more sensitive at the blue-white end of the spectrum, than the orange-red end.

Dr Hick and Ms Ong are experts in the field of spectral analysis and found that the gas flares emit orange-red light that is not attractive to turtles. Experiments by one oil company also found baby turtles were not attracted to the blazing orange flames.

However the CSIRO researchers did find other kinds of industrial light which might affect them: "In one case, on an island, we found that disorientation of turtle hatchlings was more likely from the lights of the tennis court and the local jetty, where there were white arc lamps," Dr Hick explains.

Following this discovery, the oil company immediately obliged by changing the white lights on both the courts and jetty or by using appropriate shielding. Dr Hick has recommended that, where possible, offshore platforms should use orange-reddish lamps instead of white lights to illuminate their operational areas.

Dr Hick says that energy companies are keen to support this sort of research to ensure that their operations have as little impact as possible on marine wildlife and the surrounding environment.

More information:
Dr Peter Hick, CSIRO Exploration & Mining 08 9333 6321
mob. 041 991 2065
Ms Cindy Ong, CSIRO Exploration & Mining 08 9333 6243
Mr Chris Priday, CSIRO Exploration & Mining 02 9490 8247