Oil and petroleum giant Shell is receiving international backlash. The company is pushing ahead with plans to explore for oil off the wild coast.
Photo: Archive
Wild Coast: Shell blasting will have ‘catastrophic consequences’
Residents, fisherfolk and environmental activists have opposed Shell’s Seismic blasting for fossil fuels off South Africa’s Wild Coast.
Oil and petroleum giant Shell is receiving international backlash. The company is pushing ahead with plans to explore for oil off the wild coast.
Photo: Archive
The DA has called for the immediate halting of the seismic blasting that is due to begin along the Wild Coast on Wednesday 1 December.
DA spokesperson for the environment, forestry and fisheries, Dave Bryant said that the potential environmental impact of blasting in the pristine Wild Coast region remained a threat and had allegedly been ignored by the national government.
“Various environmental groups, activists, NGOs and local residents have expressed serious concerns regarding the impact of the blasting on marine life in the area. Unfortunately, these concerns have not been adequately responded to by either the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment or the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy,” Bryant said.
“The only response so far has been to suggest that concerned citizens take the matter to court. Neither department has shown any concern regarding the fragile marine environment which lies at the heart of the concerns,” he said.
“A responsible government cannot agree to allow this large-scale blasting to take place without empirical evidence that marine life will not be impacted. Many environmental groups are of the belief that the blasting could impact both large marine mammals and smaller fish stocks in the area,” he added.
Fisherfolk worried about Wild Coast seismic blasting
Bryant said he had met with concerned Wild Coast residents and local fisherfolk in Morgan Bay last Thursday.
“Local small-scale fisherfolk expressed their concerns regarding the potential impact on their livelihoods and advised that they had not been consulted regarding the way forward should local fish stocks be negatively impacted,” he said.
Bryant said the government could not rely on “scant public participation” undertaken in 2014 to make a decision that could have “catastrophic consequences” for the current marine environment of the Wild Coast.
“The DA therefore again calls on government to urgently halt the blasting to allow for an updated round of public participation to take place with all relevant stakeholders, including local community members and environmental scientists,” Bryant said.
“The future of our precious natural environment is at stake and we must do all we can to prevent irreparable damage from taking place,” he said.
