Concerned community, environmental and First Nations groups are breathing a sigh of relief after multinational gas exploration company TGS walked away from plans to conduct the world’s largest seismic blasting project in the Southern Ocean.

The data giant this week pulled the pin on a project initially designed to seismic blast more than 7 million hectares of ocean off Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

The move from TGS followed years of campaigning by local communities embedded along those adjacent coastlines and powerful public campaigns led by Surfrider Australia.

The blasting proposal was set to occur off the coast of Victoria but strong and persistent community support and rallying – highlighted by Surfrider Australia’s record-breaking, paddle-out protest in Torquay earlier this year, led to its withdrawal.

TGS yesterday formally announced the withdrawal of its environmental application with industry regulator NOPSEMA, citing competing global priorities as the reason to shelve the controversial project.

Significant approval delays due to environmental damage from the project and lack of public consultation had already hurt the company.

The blasting proposal was first mooted in 2022, initially covering 7.7m hectares of the Southern Ocean, stretching past the South Australian border: the world’s largest seismic blasting proposal.

The scope of the project was reduced to 3.17m hectares after years of community backlash before being cancelled on Thursday.

Seismic blasting is the first step in offshore oil and gas production. The process involves vessels firing airgun blasts every 10 seconds every hour of the day, sometimes for more than a year, with underwater blasts sometimes reaching 250 decibels.

The proposed blasting area of the Southern Ocean is of critical importance to endangered marine life, commercial fisheries, and ecosystems associated with the Bonney Upwelling, including blue whale habitat.

Since 2022, an alliance of community, environmental, scientific and First Nations groups had gathered momentum against the project, with more than 30,000 formal submissions against it.

Local MPs across three states were sent 10,000 letters urging them to ditch the project, while in March 1200 locals paddled in protest at Torquay.

Surfrider Foundation Australia’s national campaigns director, Drew McPherson said it was a huge win for local communities along these coastlines, and also the marine environment.

“The blasting proposal put at risk everything we care about – healthy clean oceans, thriving coastal communities and threatened species of whales and marine life,” he said.

“It quickly became that TGS was not able to meet the environmental protection and mitigation requirements in order to proceed with such a dangerous project.

Mr McPherson said Australia exported more than three times the amount of gas it required domestically.

“We don’t have a gas supply problem, we have a gas export problem,” he said.

“To continue to allow them to expand into Australia’s pristine marine ecosystems, in the middle of the climate crisis, is madness.”

Surf Coast Surfrider branch secretary, Darren Noyes-Brown said the result was a great example of the power of community.

“Incredible wins for the environment don’t happen by themselves,” he said.

My community of Torquay had everything to lose if this went ahead, as it became clear TGS wasn’t able to meet even the basic requirements that would mitigate the impacts of seismic blasting.”

He said he wanted to surf his coastline for the rest of his life, and wanted his kids to have the same opportunity.

“It’s time we think about permanently protecting pristine places like the Great Ocean Road and the Southern Ocean so our kids don’t have to put up the same fight.”

SFA worked in a community alliance with environmental groups on the campaign to Save the Southern Sea, including key Victorian community group OCEAN, First Nations group SOPEC, environment groups Friends of the Earth and Australian Marine Conservation Society.

Apollo Bay local and OCEAN campaigner Lisa Deppeler said the result was a historic moment in protecting Australia’s oceans.

“This win belongs to the community of ocean people who care, and have shown up to send a message that we want to protect, not destroy these incredible places,” she said.

“People from all walks of life are waking up to the destruction caused by seismic blasting – this outcome sends a clear message to future fossil fuel exploration in the Southern Ocean: you are not welcome.”

TGS, which was contacted, has so far not commented on the decision with National Indigenous Times currently awaiting a response from SOPEC.