Oil threat to world’s dolphin capital
Karpowerships triggered the lifting of a moratorium on refuelling ships at sea
The controversial Karpowership projects were the catalyst for the decision by the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) to lift the moratorium on new five-year licences for offshore fuel ship-to-ship (STS) refuelling in Algoa Bay, a marine biodiversity hotspot, from 1 April this year.
Experts say that ship-to-ship bunkering has already demonstrated a risk of oil spills — three have occurred as a direct result of STS bunkering since 2016 in the ecologically sensitive Algoa Bay, which boasts biodiversity of national and international importance.
“The first discussions regarding the lifting of the moratorium was recorded in the minutes in December 2020 and further discussions were held during 2021,” said Tebogo Ramatjie, Samsa’s spokesperson.
“The catalyst to lift the moratorium was due to the Karpowership projects in terms of LNG [liquified natural gas] imports required for this project and the need to promote South African companies and employ South Africans,” he said, adding that local companies had been “disempowered” by the moratorium.
Last week, the Mail & Guardian reported how several environmental organisations, including the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds and Birdlife South Africa, are strongly opposing Samsa’s move.
The environmental groups are represented on Samsa’s Bunkering Environmental Working Group, a sub-committee of the Bunker Stakeholder Forum, and have opposed ship-to-ship bunkering since it was initially permitted in Algoa Bay in 2016. Their input, they said, was not sought on Samsa’s decision. A petition the groups started, calling for the moratorium to be reinstated, has garnered more than 8 300 signatures.
‘No basis in Karpowership’
Over the past six years, three oil spills have occurred as a direct result of fuel ship-to-ship bunkering, which involves the transfer of fuel from one vessel to another while at sea, in Algoa Bay, affecting endangered African penguins and other species.
Nicky Stander, the head of conservation at Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, said there have been three oil spills — the first in 2016, the second in 2019, and the third in November last year.
“If we take these spills, on average they have been happening every two to three years. The concern is that with more licences being issued and more vessels in the bay, there’s going to be a definite risk of more spills.”
After the second spill in 2019, Stander said, the moratorium was put into place. “The agreement was that we were going to wait and see what the risk assessment states before further licences are issued by Samsa and TNPA, on all risks, not just the wildlife risks but the socio-economic risks, which nobody has ever looked at. The lifting of the moratorium means that we haven’t got any answers because the authorities still have not identified the risks involved. So they are blindly lifting the moratorium, purely for economic gain.”
Melissa Lewis, the policy and advocacy programme manager at Birdlife South Africa, said they fail to see how the Karpowership projects can be relied on as a basis for lifting the moratorium, “given that these projects were refused environmental authorisations and the appeals against the refusals are still pending”.
Lewis argues that there are no reasons provided for lifting the moratorium or an indication of how either environmental concerns or potential effects on the other socioeconomic activities occurring in Algoa Bay were factored in the decision.
Alarm over seabirds
In 2016, Algoa Bay was declared the bottlenose dolphin capital of the world and the Addo Elephant National Park Marine Protected Area was declared in 2019. In June 2021, Algoa Bay became the world’s fifth certified Whale Heritage Site.
St Croix Island — the closest island to ship-to-ship bunkering activities — previously held the world’s largest African penguin breeding colony and Bird Island holds the world’s largest Cape gannet breeding colony, where two-thirds of the global population breed.
“All of the people working on seabird conservation are extremely worried about the Eastern Cape,” Stander said. “It used to be the stronghold and St Croix island used to have the largest population of African penguins in the world. It has now whittled down to just 1 500 breeding pairs, compared to more than 3 000 breeding pairs in 2019.”
Since bunkering started in 2016, an 80% decline in the species has been recorded. “We can’t blame bunkering without the proof … but we do have the timeline and it correlates to the decline of the species,” Stander said, adding how other threats include declining food availability.
Birdlife South Africa is working with researchers, looking at how vessel noise is affecting seabirds. “We’ve pulled the vessel data and container ships, for example, have increased by three times the amount in the last few years. The vessel traffic has increased substantially. We cannot be naive to think that there’s no impact.”
Huge floating fuel station
A 2019 report by Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism compared ship-to-ship bunkering to a huge fuel station floating in the bay.
“The reality is that 990 fuel stations are floating on our waters, less than 5km from sensitive breeding islands of penguins, an ecological important estuary and pristine sandy beaches. Any spillages of fuel from the bunkering operation can have a major impact on the bay,” the report said.
The risk of oil spills “increases exponentially” with more licences being issued. The report notes how ship-to-ship refuelling of vessels is attractive because the vessels do not need to pay port fees to dock in the harbour to refuel. “It also means that the vessel can take on board less fuel and thus transport more cargo, translating into higher profits for the cargo operators.”
But environmentally, ship-to-ship bunkering has been identified worldwide as a “dangerous operation”.
The moratorium was lifted “unexpectedly”, said Shaun van Eck, the chair of Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism. “We have plans this year with the Whale Heritage Site award to make that one of the central pillars of our promotional programme … One of our three things we’re promoting over the next three years is Algoa Bay as possibly the best bay in the world for this type of diversity. It is disappointing that this has not been considered by the folks who are looking at bunkering … that could be a threat to the diversity that we have in the bay …
“I fully appreciate Operation Phakisa and what the government is trying to achieve through that but the comparative advantage of things like bunkering and so on, the benefits are by far dwarfed by what could happen in tourism.”
The Bunker Stakeholder Forum consists of Samsa, the Transnet National Port Authority (TNPA), the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment, ship operators, bunker operators, environmental groups, ship agents and the Maritime Business Chamber, which includes small, micro and medium enterprises representation.
Broad consultations
“Broad consultations were done through this forum,” said Ramatjie. “Discussions were held with regard to the lifting of the moratorium, therefore to say that the BEWG [Bunkering Environmental Working Group] was not consulted is not accurate.”
Stander responded: “The BEWG members were not made aware that in the meeting of 10 December, the lifting of the moratorium would be discussed/voted on or however they reached consensus. ‘Moratorium’ was listed on the agenda, as it had been probably since 2019. There was no prior indication that the lifting was imminent.”
Broad consultations may include other interested and affected sectors, such as tourism and fisheries. “These sectors have not been part of the forum and therefore not part of the discussions, yet they will most certainly be affected.
‘Deeply problematic’
As far as Birdlife South Africa is aware, no environmental organisations took part in the decision to lift the moratorium during the forums meeting in December.
The TNPA, Ramatjie said, issues bunker licences to supply bunkers within the port and off port limits. “Samsa only approves the operation and ensures that the operators are compliant and follow industry best practices.”
In the latter half of 2021, Birdlife South Africa provided detailed comments to the TNPA to inform the terms of reference for the environmental risk assessment. “We are grateful for the TNPA’S consideration of this input and we hope the TNPA will refrain from considering new bunkering licences until the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of offshore bunkering have been properly assessed.”