Protest against the Seismic Survey on the Wild Coast
By Lloyd Edwards
Sunday, 5th December 2021update with good news: 01 September 2022
The Herald Live Article
Ronelle Friend of Algoa Bay Conservation: "This is terrific news! A good win for coastal communities and sustainable development!
It gives us anew hope to tackle the issues in Algoa Bay that are endangering our marine life!"
03December 2021: Planning Protest against the Seismic Survey on the Wild Coast:
Taking place at Shark Rock Pier in Port Elizabeth at 9am Sunday the 5th December to voice your support against the continued search for fossil fuels.
One cannot help comparing the Proposed Fish Farm Madness with what will take place during the Seismic Survey off the Wild Coast. The fish farm project will never be economically viable in Algoa Bay. And why is that? Well the technology is available to keep the cages in place using massive anchors and chains, but to keep this serviced and in place will be so expensive that no amount of fish farmed will fund this. Anyone living in Port Elizabeth knows what the easterly gales are capable of doing! No doubt the political agendas and whatever goes with that would have been fulfilled once permission has been pushed through for the project. Besides our government, show me any other company that will invest in any venture that is not financially viable.
I guess the same holds true with the seismic surveys. Will pumping fossil fuels from off the Wild Coast ever become economically viable? The Agulhas Current, which follows the continental shelf where the seismic survey is to be conducted, is the fastest (8km/h) and greatest volume of water flowing anywhere on the planet. Regular south westerly winds of between 100 and 160km/h blow in the opposite direction. This leads to massive waves of up to 20 metres. Numerous vessels have disappeared without trace on this notorious stretch of coast and serious damage has been caused to some of the largest ships in the world. The resulting catastrophic oil spills have killed tens of thousands of endangered African penguins. How on earth does Shell think their drilling platforms are going to cope with this? The whole process seems to be about finding oil deposits which will then reflect on their balance sheets and please shareholders. In the meantime what about the damage caused? Added to this is the commitment given by countries at the recent COP 26 conference to move away from fossil fuels. Production of energy from survey date will take a minimum of ten years, probably more like 15. Who knows in what state the earth will be in by then?
I am quite sure that the precautions taken by the vessels to ensure that the larger cetacean species leave the area will work. We saw this with the seismic survey conducted off Algoa Bay in 2014. What about the numerous species of beaked whales which are known to dive up to four km deep? And what about their food source of deep sea dwelling squid which will definitely be affected, either being killed or also flee the area?
I totally agree with Professor Lorien Pichegru’s input in 2nd December 2021 Herald. She said that while more research was necessary, the evidence of problems caused by seismic surveys was already damning. The strongest comes from a 2017 report which showed that zooplankton is destroyed by seismic activity. After plant or phytoplankton, animal or zooplankton is the next step in the food chain. This is what feeds our bait fish like anchovies and sardines and all the other predators higher up the trophic levels. It is akin to killing all the plants in the Addo Park and then wondering why the grazers were all dying!
Her research also showed that penguins feeding with 100km of seismic blasts were forced to move away from their favourite feeding grounds. Numbers of dead penguins washed ashore in Algoa Bay spiked during the seismic surveys. This is not good news for an endangered species that is decreasing in numbers on an annual basis. A bigger threat to these penguins is the ship to ship bunkering here in Algoa Bay, far more so than the seismic surveys. The only reason there were so few fatalities during the recent oil spill in Algoa Bay, was because most of the penguins were molting at the time of the spill. Molting penguins are confined to their island breeding colonies for up to three weeks, so were not at sea when the spill happened. We have had great news from the Minister of Environmental Affairs re the bunkering and will make this known in due course.
05 December 2021: Port Elizabeth’s Protest against Seismic Survey on Wild Coast
Despite the much needed rain and miserable weather, we had a great turnout at Hobie Pier in Port Elizabeth. We managed to get our full size Humpback whale “Fluke” under control in the windy conditions. People really made a good effort with their posters. Thanks to the whole host of organisers who worked extremely well together to make this event a success.
The only low was that the court interdict to halt the seismic survey was not successful. The most important part of the protest however, is that it has brought like-minded people together along the entire length of our coastline. This is vitally important and it gives us a great network of activists. This is not the last time that we will need to mobilize the public around such issues. Keep involved with whatever group you are on and stay up to date.
Another issue we will be addressing in the New Year is the progress we have made with the Minister of Environmental Affairs with regards the ship to ship bunkering here in Algoa Bay. More to follow on this once some of our follow up questions to Minister Creecy have been answered.
On the 26th November 2021 I met with Dept. Environmental Affairs senior management about whale entanglements in rock lobster fishing gear. They listened intently to the issues I raised and saw it in the positive light in which it was intended. A Fisheries Management Working Group meeting has been scheduled for early next year where I will get another chance to restate our case.
Please give credit where credit is due. Minister Creecy has been very sympathetic to our campaigns in the past, especially with ordering an investigation into the shark long lining fishery and enforcing mitigation measures on the octopus fishery. She is presently responding to our questions on ship to ship bunkering and whale entanglements in fishing gear.
I am busy contacting all the Seismic Survey Protest organisers so they can contribute to our already successful “Welcoming the Whales Festivals". While this year we had 25 venues, we have already extended this to 30 and hopefully more to come. Please have a look at the attached link and let us know if you would like to assist with organizing in your area. They are scheduled to start at the beginning of June until the end of July. Planning will start early in the New Year.
