Ramsgate’s ‘Say no to Shell’ meeting to be held on Tuesday, November 23
Fishermen, bed and breakfast owners, small business owners, surfers, all those that have a love for the ocean and care for its marine life, are called to join an awareness meeting to be held in Ramsgate on Tuesday this week.
Tomorrow (Tuesday, November 23) at 12:30 a community meeting will be hosted by the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) for communities in and around Ramsgate, Margate, Port Shepstone, Port Edward, Port St Johns and surrounding areas.
The meeting at Ramsgate Lions Hall is to make the community aware about the oil and gas exploration efforts by Shell scheduled to start on December 1, 2021, and the immense negative effects on the environment, communities and marine life along the coastline.
Oil and gas exploration is bad news for the coastline and marine life, oil and gas exploration has been earmarked for the entire coastline of South Africa through Operation Phakisa, a project launched by former President Jacob Zuma, to use the oceans as a resource for offshore oil and gas drilling.
This has the potential to produce petroleum along our coastline as well as creating a mess by bringing other toxic substances including mercury, lead, arsenic and barium to the surface of the ocean. These toxins are devastating for the health of fish, wildlife and the people who live and feed off of the coast.
The oil and gas activities start with seismic testing.
Seismic surveys have been found to kill fish eggs and larvae and impair the hearing and health of fish, making them vulnerable to predators and leaving them unable to catch prey, find mates or communicate with each other.
These disturbances disrupt important migratory patterns, pushing marine life away from their natural habitat. In addition, seismic surveys have been implicated in whale beaching and stranding incidents.
And this is only the beginning, if these tests come back positive and oil deposits are found, offshore oil rigs will be erected and our oceans and its marine life will be at great risk to oil spills.
This will spell disaster for those who eke a livelihood on the coast of South Africa.
Janet Soloman the director and producer of ‘Becoming Visible’ (2018) will screen her mini documentary .
Becoming Visible is a short multiscreen environmental documentary that explores the pressing issue of offshore oil and gas development off the South African coastline and its consequence to our marine life.
Contact: Desmond D’Sa on 031 461 1991 or 083 9826939 or desmond@sdceango.co.za, or SDCEA Project Officer Casandra on 082 7108320.
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