Save the whales off the South African coast: Stop Shell's harmful drilling!
Save the whales off the South African coast: Stop Shell's harmful drilling!
The Issue
The Wild Coast of South Africa is home to many precious species of whale, seals, dolphins, penguins, sharks and more. It is an incredibly beautiful and biodiverse zone and important migration area for sea life.
Unfortunately, Shell has announced it will start a seismic survey in search of oil or gas deposits all along the eastern coast, from Morgan Bay to Port St. Johns, on December 1st. For five months, the vessel operated by Shell Exploration and Production SA’s hirelings, Shearwater GeoServices, will drag up to 48 air guns methodically through 6,011km² of ocean surface, firing extremely loud shockwave emissions that penetrate 3km of water and 40km into the Earth’s crust below the seabed.
The ship will work around the clock, firing the air guns every 10 seconds. In the process, marine life on the sensitive Wild Coast will be deafened, panicked and damaged.
Many sea creatures will be affected in the coming months — not only could marine mammals like whales, dolphins, seals and dolphins be harmed, but everything down to crabs and tiny shellfish will be blasted. Marine mammals suffer terrible effects from blasting, which can cause deafness and impair their ability to navigate and find food.
At a time when world leaders are making promises 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.
For these reasons, we need your urgent action -- please sign this petition and then share it with all your friends.
We only have a few days before the deafening blasts will begin to damage these majestic creatures.
460,337
The Issue
The Wild Coast of South Africa is home to many precious species of whale, seals, dolphins, penguins, sharks and more. It is an incredibly beautiful and biodiverse zone and important migration area for sea life.
Unfortunately, Shell has announced it will start a seismic survey in search of oil or gas deposits all along the eastern coast, from Morgan Bay to Port St. Johns, on December 1st. For five months, the vessel operated by Shell Exploration and Production SA’s hirelings, Shearwater GeoServices, will drag up to 48 air guns methodically through 6,011km² of ocean surface, firing extremely loud shockwave emissions that penetrate 3km of water and 40km into the Earth’s crust below the seabed.
The ship will work around the clock, firing the air guns every 10 seconds. In the process, marine life on the sensitive Wild Coast will be deafened, panicked and damaged.
Many sea creatures will be affected in the coming months — not only could marine mammals like whales, dolphins, seals and dolphins be harmed, but everything down to crabs and tiny shellfish will be blasted. Marine mammals suffer terrible effects from blasting, which can cause deafness and impair their ability to navigate and find food.
At a time when world leaders are making promises 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.
For these reasons, we need your urgent action -- please sign this petition and then share it with all your friends.
We only have a few days before the deafening blasts will begin to damage these majestic creatures.
460,337
Petition created on 23 November 2021