Scott Reef is Australia’s largest oceanic reef system. Located 270 km from the Kimberley coast, Scott Reef is one of Australia’s most unique and ecologically significant marine environments, providing diverse habitat for an abundance of marine species.
Scott Reef is currently threatened by Woodside, Australia's largest oil and gas company, which is proposing to extract oil and gas from under the reef from a deposit known as the Browse Basin and permanently moor two floating production platforms near Scott Reef. Woodside plans to drill more than 50 gas wells in close proximity to the reef as well as construct a 900 km long subsea pipeline from Scott Reef to its North West Shelf (NWS) processing facility on the Burrup Peninsula. The gas will then be liquefied and mostly sent overseas.
Corals' Last Stand
Corals’ Last Stand is a captivating documentary that tells the critically important story of Scott Reef and the campaign to protect it.
It is told by author and marine conservationist Tim Winton, international musician John Butler, Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard, marine biologist Ben Fitzpatrick, ocean influencer Brinkley Davies, as well as conservationists working to protect Scott Reef from oil and gas corporation Woodside’s proposed 50 oil and gas wells.
If you would like to host a screening for your community or friends and family, let us know! Email: [email protected]
Image: Surgeon fish at Scott Reef By: Alex Westover
Scott Reef’s Rich Biodiversity
Scott Reef is a thriving tropical coral reef and is a haven for 900 species of fish, 300 coral species, 1,500 species of invertebrates and 29 species of marine mammals including the endangered pygmy blue whale. Sandy Islet, a sandy cay at Scott Reef, is the nesting ground of 1,000 genetically distinct green turtles.
If oil and gas are extracted from underneath the reef, Sandy Islet is expected to sink and would no longer be suitable for green turtle nesting. Scott Reef’s unique underwater life deserves protection so it can thrive for decades to come.
Threats from Woodside’s Browse Gas Development
If Woodside’s Browse gas development proceeds, Scott Reef faces a range of industrial impacts, including seismic blasting, gas flaring, underwater noise, artificial lighting, pipe-laying and fast-moving vessels over years of construction and operation.
With gas wells planned within just a few kilometres of the reef, a blowout would be catastrophic, devastating not only the reef system but also potentially impacting the Kimberley coastline and even reaching Indonesia. In 2009, a blowout at the Montara rig in the Timor Sea saw condensate travel as far as Indonesian Timor, impacting the health of locals, devastating seaweed farms, and harming countless species of wildlife in the area. To this day, those communities have not fully recovered from the impacts of the Montara spill.
Image: Montara oil spill in 2009, Timor Sea By: Martin Pritchard