South Africans Urged to Help Stop Shell Blasting the Wild Coast!

Shell – multinational oil and gas company – has announced it will start a seismic survey in search of oil or gas deposits from South Africa’s beautiful Morgans Bay to Port St Johns on December 1 at the earliest.

The survey will include a vessel operated by Shell Exploration and Production SA’s hirelings, Shearwater GeoServices, who will, for five months (depending on weather and current conditions), drag up to 48 air guns methodically through 6,011km² of ocean surface, “firing extremely loud shock wave emissions that penetrate through 3km of water and 40km into the Earth’s crust below the seabed”… which could have a detrimental affect on marine life.

The news has outraged concerned South Africans and a petition, launched by Oceans Not Oil, has taken off, garnering over 12,000 signatures already as locals call for the Wild Coast to remain Wild.

Oceans Not Oil describes itself as the South African public’s voice against offshore oil and gas development.

The organisation says that the ship is due to work around the clock, firing air guns every 10 seconds.

“In the process, marine life on the sensitive Wild Coast will be panicked and damaged,” Oceans Not Oil says in the petition on Change.org. “Many sea creatures could be affected in the coming months — whales, dolphins, seals, penguins, sharks and even crabs and tiny shellfish will be blasted.

“At a time when world leaders are making promises and decisions to step away from fossil fuels because climate science has shown we cannot burn our existing reserves (let alone drill for more), offshore oil and gas Operation Phakisa is pushing ever harder to get its hands on a local supply of gas.

“Shell must answer for how the harms done during this survey and any exploration drilling done hereafter are part of its energy transition plan to control global warming.”

The petition calls on South Africa’s Minister of Environmental Affairs, Barbara Creecy,  to withdraw the approval of this application. The go-ahead for the survey has gone through without a public participation process.

One concerned citizen left a comment on Oceans Not Oil’s page saying: “This will kill thousands of fish etc it should not be allowed in this small pristine part of our coast. It devastated the fishing in Mozambique it took 5 years for it to recover. During the blasting we would find dead dolphins and whales on the beach and hundreds of dead and dying fish.”

A local, who lives in Gonubie, claimed that after they did blasting off Gonubie area the dolphins stopped coming into the bay for years, and have only in recent years returned.

Concerned South African expat Sonia M, who has spent many visits to the Wild Coast diving in the ocean, says: “The Transkei is one of the most spiritually abundant places on earth. The natural biodiversity in its waters almost incomparable. Sharks, whales and dolphins just some of the stunning marine life that inhabit these beautiful waters. Shell (at a time when COP26 winds down 90 mins away from where I now live) plan to blast the ocean floor of this region… at a time when leaders are making promises to step away from fossil fuels. Please please take a moment to sign and be heard.”

• If you would like to, you can sign the petition here.
• Read more on Oceans Not Oil’s website: Shell to blast the ocean during Whale Migration Season. 

The Oceans Not Oil coalition also advises that concerned citizens send your comments/ objections to SLR Consulting which is managing the survey:-
SLR Consulting (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd
Attention: Eloise Costandius
PO Box 798, Rondebosch, 7701
5th Floor Letterstedt House, Newlands on Main Building, Newlands, 7700 Tel: (021) 461 1118 WhatsApp / SMS: 063 900 5536
Email: ecostandius@slrconsulting.com

WATCH Save The Wild Coast Transkei South Africa – Shell Oil face growing outrage.

Produced by Mike Roach.