KNYSNA NEWS - After considerable opposition to a proposed oil and gas prospecting survey along the Southern Cape coast, the public and other stakeholders’ concerns have been included in the final environmental impact assessment (EIA) report and submitted to the Petroleum Agency of SA (Pasa) for a decision.
The planned project is part of an application by Sungu Sungu Oil for an oil and gas exploration right in an area that falls within the 11 224sq km Pletmos Basin. Pasa has instructed the company to conduct an EIA for the survey phase.
The project is set to involve a 3D seismic survey in the Pletmos Basin, roughly between Knysna in the west and Jeffrey’s Bay in the east. The target area, about 2 500sq km of the basin, is located about 12km offshore and reaches up to 60km out to sea just east of Plettenberg Bay and just west of Cape St Francis.
The public, after a series of open days, had until June 15 to comment on the EIA report. The open days were attended by more than 94 stakeholders, predominantly in Plettenberg Bay. Some 400 comments and a petition signed by 1 186 people were received following the release of the EIA report.
Impact on Marine Fauna
The main issues raised by stakeholders include that the survey could have significant ecological impacts, specifically on marine fauna, due to the generation of underwater noise and the proximity of areas of environmental importance. The proposed survey area is in the vicinity of nationally and internationally recognised important or protected areas.
Another major concern that was raised was the impact on marine fauna through entanglement in survey equipment or offshore water pollution.
Public comments also referred to possible economic impacts should the survey impact fishing stocks, particularly squid.
The majority of the input also highlighted that the seismic survey is not compatible with the pristine and natural sense of place of the Garden Route.
The public further demanded that more primary research should be conducted in the project area to inform the impact assessment.
Stakeholders also said that should the project be approved, the survey should be conducted from July to September, rather than February to May as recommended in the EIA report.
More information needed
The public suggested that more information is required about Sungu Sungu and the company’s ability to conduct the survey and remedy any impacts that may arise.
- One of these is avoiding surveying during the peak squid spawning periods between early September and late December, if possible.
- Another mitigation measure is that the surveying should also not be done during the pre-moult and post-moult period for African penguins, from October to March.
- It was also suggested that surveying should not be done during cetacean migration from June to December, to minimise the risk of injury and disturbance to marine mammals. Another key period to avoid surveying includes June to January during peak fish spawning.
SRK Consulting – conducting the EIA – indicated that the fundamental decision is whether to allow the survey, which does not provide tangible economic or social benefits at present, pending the identification of viable resources and feasibility of exploitation at a later stage, and has met with considerable stakeholder opposition, but which is deemed to have limited biophysical and social impacts.
ARTICLE: YOLANDE STANDER, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD CORRESPONDENT
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