People scoop leaked oil from the vessel MV Wakashio, belonging to a Japanese company but Panamanian-flagged, that ran aground and caused oil leakage near Blue bay Marine Park in southeast Mauritius on August 9, 2020. - (Photo by Daren Mauree/L'Express Maurice/AFP via Getty Images)
Several environmental organisations are opposing the South African Maritime Safety Authority’s (Samsa’s) decision to lift the moratorium on new licences for fuel ship-to-ship bunkering in Algoa Bay, a marine biodiversity haven, from 1 April.
The organisations have started a petition calling for the moratorium to be reinstated.
The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob), BirdLife South Africa, the Zwartkops Conservancy, the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (Wessa) and Nelson Mandela University are represented on the Bunkering Environmental Working Group (BEWG). They have opposed ship-to-ship bunkering since it was initially permitted in Algoa Bay in 2016.
Oil spills
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 — affecting endangered African penguins and other species.
At the end of January, Samsa announced that the moratorium on the awarding of bunkering licences in Algoa Bay would be lifted from 1 April, with applications being accepted from 1 February. Shortly afterwards, it published a marine notice, describing the process through which operators can apply for five-year bunkering authorisations in Algoa Bay and other parts of South Africa.
This notice states that “each application received will be treated fairly with the sole objectivity of ensuring that approved operations will be conducted in a safe manner and protecting the marine environment from any harm”.
The moratorium was placed on 22 August 2019 after a second oil spill since 2016 and pending the finalisation of an anchorage holding capacity study and a risk assessment study.
Although the holding capacity study, commissioned by Samsa, was completed in 2020, the environmental risk assessment to be commissioned by the Transnet National Port Authority is yet to start.
Economic spinoffs
According to Samsa, the lifting of the moratorium follows the last sitting of the bunkering stakeholder session in December 2021. “The lifting means that new potential entrants can now submit their applications with effect from 1 February,” it said in a statement.
Tsepiso Taoana-Mashiloane, Samsa’s acting chief executive officer, said: “We are confident that the reopening of the bunkering sector will bring much needed economic spin offs and relief to the region and country as a whole.”
The environmental organisations said their input had not been sought before the decision to lift the moratorium on new bunkering licences.
Operation Phakisa
According to their joint statement, the vision to expand offshore bunkering operations is linked to Operation Phakisa, which is aimed at stimulating the economy linked to the ocean. It is targeting four key areas of economic growth: marine transport and manufacturing, aquaculture, offshore oil and gas and marine protection.
In the absence of a robust environmental study, the environmental organisations have strongly opposed the decision to lift the moratorium. “In addition, users of Algoa Bay have not been afforded a public participation opportunity through a meaningful consultative process,” the organisations said.
Nicky Stander, the head of conservation at Sanccob, said: “We are not extreme organisations, we believe in consultations, we believe in working with the government to try to find reasonable solutions.
“We have had engagements after the decision and we have all strongly opposed this decision, and we’ve said it verbally, we’ve emailed them directly and we’ve made it very very clear that without identifying the risks, and we’re not just talking about risks to wildlife in terms of oil pollution, we’re talking about all risks to users of the bay, to the general public, to tourism, to fisheries, what are those risks? And if we don’t identify them how on earth can you mitigate them?”
The groups said the effect of oil pollution on marine life must not be underestimated. “Research has shown that in the long term, African penguins that were oiled, cleaned and released have lower breeding success than unoiled birds.”
At risk
Algoa Bay is a marine biodiversity haven, recognised by the declaration of the Addo Elephant National Park Marine Protected Area. St Croix Island previously held the world’s largest African penguin breeding colony and Bird Island holds the world’s largest Cape gannet breeding colony. Two-thirds of the global population breed at this site.
These islands form part of a global Important Bird and Biodiversity Area and South Africa has undertaken international obligations to conserve both of these species, the environmental organisations said. “The African penguin population is declining at an alarming rate due to human-caused threats, including oil pollution.”
Alistair McInnes, seabird conservation programme manager at BirdLife South Africa, said its seabird conservation programme is concerned about the effect of ship-to-ship bunkering in Algoa Bay on endangered African Penguins that breed on St Croix Island.
“Until recently St Croix Island was the largest global colony of African Penguins. It no longer retains this status as numbers here have plummeted by approximately 80% since 2015 — the largest short-term decline of any African Penguin colony on record.
“We suspect that this is associated with several factors that have influenced the quality of their marine habitat within 30km of their colony where they forage on sardine and anchovy. Since bunkering activity commenced in 2016 vessel traffic, especially large bulk carrier vessels, have more than doubled with the location of these vessels in anchorage areas and shipping lanes occupying a significant portion of penguin foraging habitat.”
Before these activities commenced, McInnes said, African penguins were already under pressure from competition with fisheries for their prey and other threats that contributed to their endangered status.
“Penguins are known to be extremely sensitive to marine noise pollution and we suspect that the increased number of ships in the bay has displaced them from important foraging areas thus reducing the number of birds that are able to breed at St Croix Island.”
Developments and operations in Algoa Bay that are likely to have a harmful effect on endangered marine species should be “vigorously assessed in terms of their risk to these species before any applications of this nature are approved”, he said. “We are disheartened that new licences for ship-to-ship bunkering are being considered in this sensitive region.”
‘Major oil spill looms’
Scientists are investigating the effects of marine noise pollution associated with these activities on African Penguins, the groups said. “This threat cumulates with others such as oiling and competition with fisheries, and certainly contributes to the rapid and significant decline of penguins at this colony. African Penguins are known to avoid waters with excessive marine noise, as was the case for penguins from St Croix Island during seismic survey activities in 2013.”
In the groups’ joint statement, Frank Collier, of the Zwartkops Conservancy, said: “We have seen the effect on birdlife resulting from the three ‘small’ oil spills which have occurred to date. It is only a matter of time before we have a major disaster, possibly on the scale of the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.
“A major oil spill occurring when the prevailing south westerly wind is blowing will carry the oil into the Addo National Park’s marine protected area. If the wind is blowing from the east, the oil will end up on the beaches and, together with an incoming tide, will pollute the Zwartkops River mouth and estuary with devastating consequences for all forms of marine and bird life. The cost to the country’s already faltering economy of such a disaster will far outweigh the benefits accruing to the metro from the bunkering operations.”