November 15, 2018 - The seismic ship "Polar Empress", which should start 3D seismic shooting of the Ulcinj submarine for the eventual oil and gas exploitation, arrived last night to Bar around 10pm.
The ship is anchored 1.5 km from Port Bar and will stay there for the next two days, confirmed the Port Authority.
Seismic Ship to Conduct Explorations until 21 December
The ship, which will be in preparations over the next few days, will be provided free traffic by the Port Bar to be able to carry out the operations. It is planned that the study will last until December 21, but if the weather conditions get worse, it may be extended. Surveys are planned for the 1.2 thousand-square-mile of sea bottom on quadrants for which the concession was awarded to the Italian-Russian consortium Eni-Novatek.
The Maritime Safety Authority has started broadcasting a warning for seafarers, which will last until the end of the 3D shooting.
Civic Protest Against Seismic Ship Activities Continues
Civil activists gathered around the SOS for Montenegro along with the sports and professional fishermen and divers and sent a new appeal to halt the testing in search of oil.
Ecologists have pointed out that such studies, which use so-called air cannons, not only cause enormous damage to marine flora and fauna, but also come into the zone of pronounced seismic risks because the tests are conducted in blocks in which 1979 was the epicenter of the devastating earthquake which has caused terrible devastation across the Montenegrin coast.
Sport fishermen Miloš Dašić from Bar, ecologist Nataša Kovačević from NGO Green Home, diver Zoran Docić from Ulcinj, professional fisherman Dragoljub Bajković and citizen activist Mirsad Kurgaš from Bar, said that the seismic tests are being carried out under many secrets, where the Montenegrin Government presents the public very little selective information, while on the other side the harm to the state and “the future of our children" by all parameters are immutable.
They also pointed out that the struggle for protecting the Adriatic from drilling also defends the constitutional definition of Montenegro as an ecological state, noting that tourism and oil industry do not go together anywhere in the world.
