News24
03 May 2021, 23:42 GMT+10
Representatives of some small-scale fishing communities say they are worried about the impact that floating powerships will have on scarce fish stocks along SA's coast.
This comes after the environmental assessors for Karpowership SA found that a project to produce electricity on gas-fuelled powerships moored at the ports of Saldanha Bay, Richards Bay, and Ngqura could go ahead.
Separate impact reports were produced for each of the three sites. The reports ran to well over 1 000 pages.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment now has about eight weeks to study the impact assessments and grant or refuse authorisation for the multi-billion-rand project.
While environmental groups have criticised the project, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has said the project will help cut down on load shedding.
Fear for fish stocks
"The presence of these ships, off our coast, will have a real impact in scaring off the fish in the area, and we fishers will be the ones going hungry," said Carmelita Mostert of Saldanha Coastal Links, in a statement.
Khalid Mather, an environmental activist from KwaZulu-Natal, said few of fishing communities along KwaZulu Natal coastline had been consulted.
"They are the ones who will suffer from the effects of the added pollution and other negative environmental impacts these vessels pose," he said.
Karpowership SA's bid
Karpowership SA's proposal is part of a department of energy initiative to fast-track new, independent power production.
The group, which is part of Turkey's Karadeniz Energy Group, has been named a preferred bidder in the department's Risk Mitigation IPP Procurement Programme.
It has bid to moor a total of five powerships and three gas support vessels, known as floating storage re-gasification units, at the ports of Saldanha Bay, Richards Bay, and Ngqura.
The vessels will produce a total of 1 220 MW of power from liquefied natural gas.
'Low' impact
The environmental impact reports set out three major possible impacts on marine ecology surrounding the ships. These include the effects of the construction of gas pipelines, the uptake of cooling water and the discharge of cooling water.
The final reports for all three harbours found that projected impact on marine ecology from will be "low".
The report for the port of Ngqura, for example, states that marine ecological damage surrounding the ships is predicted to be "negligible", while the uptake and discharge of cooling water will have a "low impact" on organisms in the surrounding water. The construction of a gas pipeline is projected to have a "very low" impact.
Findings for the ports of Saldanha and Richards Bay are broadly similar.
Underwater noise
The reports have, however, called from more research to be done on the impact of underwater noise in the marine environment.
"The effects of increased noise and vibration levels on the surrounding marine ecology could not be assessed due to the lack of underwater noise and vibration levels data pertaining to floating power plant ships", states the report for Saldanha.
While the reports provide a specialist's opinion that noise will "probably be below source levels from large vessels," the impact assessments nevertheless call for a baseline study of the underwater noise to be carried out. There are similar findings for the other two ports.
Get a daily dose of Breaking Property News news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Breaking Property News.
More InformationLONDON, U.K.: This week, BP appointed Simon Henry, former Shell finance chief, to its board as a non-executive director effective September...
OTTAWA, Canada: With Canada Post struggling to maintain operations amid labour unrest, rivals like FedEx and UPS are stepping in to...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. and global markets showed a mixed performance in Tuesday's trading session, with some indices edging higher...
PARIS, France: French military and intelligence officials have accused China of orchestrating a covert campaign to damage the reputation...
NEW DELHI, India: Birkenstock is stepping up its efforts to protect its iconic sandals in India, as local legal representatives conducted...
HONG KONG: China has fired back at the European Union in an escalating trade dispute by imposing new restrictions on medical device...
NAIROBI, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese contractors are helping advance Kenya's construction sector by transferring technologies, the industry...
Trumps giant win does not validate his unconstitutional birthright citizenship order
Jon Coupal- Both parties continue to play soccer with the proverbial can
Californias politics drifts rightward while New Yorks leans left
California is fighting a losing battle against Title IX and human biology