Ndlambe fishers join national protest
Concerns over exploration, drilling for fossil fuels in ocean
“My grandmother was a fisherwoman; my mother is a fisherwoman she’s now 75 and still going strong. She taught me and my sister to fish, so the ocean is special to us.”
Melisa Pullen comes from generations of fisherwomen. “I am standing here today against the gas and coal fuel mining that is threatening our oceans, and our way of life,” she said.
She is a member of the Klipfonteinbased Moeggesukkel Fishing Cooperative and was among a group protesting at Middle Beach, Kenton, on Saturday December 9.
The group of around 20 were objecting to the exploitation of ocean fossil fuel resources that they believe threatens their livelihoods. They were part of a nationwide protest against recent authorisation for fossil fuel exploration and drilling off SA’s coast.
The Kenton protesters were among 30 groups protesting in 20 locations.
“We need our rights back,” Ekuphumleni Fishing Cooperative member Wiseman Bukani said. “We want our ocean to be clean. We depend on the sea: it’s all we have to support our families.”
Annie Tities, 70, has harvested food from the ocean to feed her family for the past 50 years.
“Our rights were taken away,” she said. “No one consults us. So we’re standing here today to say oil and gas are destroying the world, and our lives.
“We are against the harm that [exploration and drilling] will do to the sea. They are killing our sea.”
Multinational corporations,
including Shell, Qatar, Total Energies and contractors such as CGG and Searcher, were among the focal points of the latest round of public outrage, a media statement issued by the Coastal Justice Network (CJN) said.
Catalysts for last weekend’s action had been several recent decisions clearing the way for ocean exploration, including seismic blasting. These included the recent authorisation by the department of mineral resources and energy for UK-based CGG to conduct a speculative 3D seismic survey in the Algoa/Outeniqua Basin off the southeast coast of SA.
The deadline for appeals was
yesterday, December 13 2023.
Environment minister Barbara Creecy recently rejected an appeal off the west coast, meaning seismic surveys by Searcher were planned to start after January 1 2024, unless they were challenged in court.
Creecy also recently rejected appeals against oil and gas exploration in block 567 from Gansbaai on the south coast to Doring Baai on the west coast. This meant Total Energies could start drilling unless the decision was challenged in court.
The local actions were taking place on the same day as the Global Day of Action, in which the global climate
justice movement united to advocate for a fast and fair phase out of fossil fuels. The protests took place three days before the conclusion of the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai.
“Communities, environmental activists, civil society organisations, and legal experts have expressed concern over the lack of public consultation and proper processes being followed around the exploration authorisation,” the CJN said. “Of particular concern is the impact that these surveys will have on the livelihoods of small-scale fishing communities and those in the tourism sector, marine life such as turtles, fish, whales and plankton, as well as local coastal economies which are founded on healthy marine environments.”
The CJN said exploration for new fossil fuel reserves contradicted international recommendations.
“Reports from the International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have underscored the need for urgent action to reduce fossil fuel use over the next 20 years and have stated that no (new) oil, gas or coal projects can come online if we are to limit catastrophic global warming and climate change,” the CJN wrote.
“SA’s presidential climate commission’s electricity recommendations have also aligned with the urgency of transitioning to renewable energy swiftly and justly.”
Groups set to participate in the nationwide coastal protest included Plettenberg Bay Community Environment Forum, Green Connection, Oceans Not Oil, Algoa Bay Ocean Stewards, Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace Africa, Save the Wild Coast, African Climate Alliance, Eastern Cape Environmental Network, Masifundise, Coastal Links SA, Eden to Addo Corridor Initiative, Nature’s Valley Trust, Tsitsikamma Fishers Forum, WESSA Algoa Bay & Eden Branches, 7784 Performers Youth Development, Robberg Coastal Corridor Protected Environment, The Green Net, Helderberg Ocean Awareness Movement, Project 90 by 2030, Sustaining the Wild Coast NPC, SA Fishers Collective, One Ocean Hub, CJN, Southern African Faith Communities Environment Institute and Fossil Free SA.