Cumulative Impacts
Commercial Fisheries
There is a variety of commercial fisheries in the study area of the BHP project undertaken by a variety of participants including both Canadian, international and indigenous fishing vessels. This practice involves a range of species and gear types at different locations and times throughout the region. Since the cod fishing moratorium, the market has been largely dominated by shellfish including northern shrimp and snow crab. The number of commercial fishermen in the area has declined since 1992.
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Interconnectedness and Interdependence
The economy and cultures of the province originated from, and have continued to maintain, a fundamental attachment to the various resources and land- and seascapes that characterize the region. Because of this, the natural and human environments of this place are inherently, intricately and permanently intertwined, and are central to the province’s identity. Indigenous peoples have depended on the land and the sea for millennia, and the cultures and economies of those that came later have similarly been reliant on and shaped by this environmental setting. Indigenous traditional harvesting including fishing and hunting has defined Indigenous peoples in the region and their cultures.
The well-being of Present and Future Generations
From a sustainability perspective, an important consideration is around whether, and if so how and to what degree, these effects may have either adverse or positive implications for the well-being of present and future generations.
Social and Economic Conditions
Newfoundland and Labrador's economy is increasingly relying on the petroleum industry. The oil and gas industry is currently the largest contributor to Newfoundland and Labrador’s gross domestic product (GDP). In 2018, the industry employed 5,200 people or 2.3 % of the total provincial employment. They also primarily employ an existing workforce that may come from within or outside the province, where offshore workers typically rotate between onshore and offshore on a several-week schedule. Therefore, exploratory drilling projects typically do not result in social issues common to larger, long-term onshore development projects. These issues are therefore not prevalent in individual exploratory drilling projects.
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Intersection of Sex and Gender with Other Identity Factors
The oil and gas industry in general, particularly offshore components, has traditionally been male-dominated. Which has meant that males have thus benefited disproportionately from employment-related benefits in the past. The current off-shore drilling projects employ 658 female workers collectively as of December 31, 2018, which compromises 14 percent of their total workforce. There are now increasing opportunities for other genders to work in the industry, including at offshore sites or in the various shore-based functions that support offshore activities. Although females or people with diverse identities are increasingly working in the sector, both onshore and offshore, some barriers continue to exist. There is also evidence in some oil and gas jurisdictions of harassment and unhealthy gendered expectations for both men and women.