Don’t blast the Agulhas Banks – Don’t do it CGG - you’re killing our future.

Do you love the ocean? How about one of South Africa’s most bio-diverse marine environments – the Agulhas Banks? How about whales, dolphins, turtles, sardines, squid and every living thing that calls this home and relies on this unique marine biodiversity hotspot to breed and grow?

Do you think it ok that we blast a world based on sound with a wall of such intense sonic booms that will likely kill turtle hatchlings drifting down the Agulhas current to their feeding grounds? That will kill plankton which is the start of the marine food chain? That will possibly stop the Sardine Run from starting? Heard of kingklip, or chokka (squid), what happens to their eggs and spawn when hit by the sonic blasts from airguns? What happens to the fisher people and industry that rely on the Banks and what it produces for their livelihood?

What if all of this was due to start in January 2024? Just two months from now? What if this is only based on desktop research? For a highly diverse marine area roughly 9000 km2 in size and between 200m and 4000m deep in places. Surely that’s not anywhere close to sufficient to know the impact? What if this was for an industry that doesn’t need to do what it’s doing and by the time these resources come on stream they’re likely to be obsolete? What if the company doing this hasn’t been commissioned to do it, but are simply speculating, hoping they find something they can sell?

On the 16 November the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) gave the seismic survey company CGG the environmental authorisation (EA) to proceed with their speculative survey that stretches from approximately 120 km south of Plett, 45 km from Cape St Francis, and 60 km from Gqeberha/Port Elizabeth. This despite extensive input from fisher communities, the calamari industry, marine scientists, local officials, ordinary citizens and the like, all opposed to the impact of the airgun array, all deeply concerned about its impact on a global marine biodiversity hotspot.  

The Agulhas Banks is unique and critical to South Africa’s marine ecosystem. Turtle hatchlings come down the Agulhas at the time of the survey. What will the loss of an entire season of hatchlings do to the endangered species? The Sardine run starts in the Agulhas at the time of the survey before it heads up the coast. What will they do if faced with a wall of sonic blasts, 24/7 for 4-5 months? The PE Corals Marine Protected Area (MPA) serves to protect kingklip and other species, but only covers a fraction of their adjacent spawning grounds. The chokka/squid industry believes a previously low-catch season is directly linked to a previous survey.

These types of surveys, namely 3-D seismic surveys have one purpose and that’s to explore for oil and gas reserves. The CGG survey was suspended previously because the ship they wanted to use, the Amazon Warrior, was interdicted by Wild Coast communities in their case against Shell. The UN’s climate commission (IPCC), the International Energy Agency (IEA) all agree that to get to Carbon Net Zero by 2050, no new oil and gas reserves are needed. The Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) sees a very limited role for gas in the transition to renewables, and unlike Europe we don’t have the necessary gas infrastructure to pipe gas to homes and businesses. By the time any resources become commercially viable, green hydrogen/ammonia will have made gas obsolete. So why do it? Just for profit, just to ensure oil and gas companies can assure their investors they have a pipeline of reserves? The seismic survey isn’t economically viable, it will have irreversible ecosystem impacts, and no jobs will come of it. This isn’t what our Constitution (Sect 24) had in mind about “ecologically sustainable development” and “preventing pollution and ecological degradation” to ensure an “environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations”. Simply put, if we want our kids to have the marine ecosystems we have, seismic surveys will destroy not build that future.

So what can you do?

1. REGISTER an APPEAL BY the 13 December 2023, with the DMRE Appeal Authority appeals@dffe.gov.zaon the prescribed form. It very important to follow the exact procedure.
2. Write to Minister Barbara Creecy and Minister Gwede Mantashe and let them know your views. Reach Minister Creecy through fshaik@dffe.gov.za and BMbuli@dffe.gov.za; and reach Minister Mantashe throughVuyelwa.Siyeka@dmre.gov.za and 
   George.Lekorotsoana@dmre.gov.za
3. Write to CGG (https://www.cgg.com/about and let them know your views
4. Social media the heck out of why this is a bad idea. Using hashtags like #whostoleouroceans
5. Tap into existing protest actions via the likes of Green Connection (https://thegreenconnection.org.za Oceans not Oil (https://oceansnotoil.org Natural Justice (https://naturaljustice.org Earthlife Africa (https://earthlife.org.za SAFCEI (https://safcei.org and Centre for Environmental Rights (CER at https://cer.org.za
6. Find out about local forums opposing this, and go help out with protest action or other activities. For instance Plett has a very active environmental forum that can be contacted at info@plettenvironmentalforum.co.za or if in Nelson Mandela Bay look up the Algoa Bay Ocean Stewards (ABOS) at https://www.facebook.com/groups/algoabayoceanstewards/
7. Even though petitions like this don’t have legal standing in SA, they are great and critical tools to mobilise communities and put pressure on decision-makers. That’s how the Shell case started. The more heat the hotter their seat. So sign up to the general petition against oil and gas at https://www.change.org/p/imagine-a-world-with-oiled-up-beaches-without-living-ocean-are-we-running-out-of-time and please share the heck out of this one
8. Go look at the documents used to justify this decision at the Environmental Assessment Practitioner’s (EAP) site (namely SLR)  and can be found here: https://www.slrconsulting.com/public-documents/cgg-algoa/ and if not already registered as an interested and affected party (I&AP) ask SLR to register you at  cggsouthcoast@slrconsulting.com

Petition on behalf of Algoa Bay Ocean Stewards (ABOS)