SHIP TO SHIP BUNKERING: A Call to comment on the new proposed regulations
This is the process of refueling ships at sea. It has many potential side effects that negatively affect the African Penguins in Algoa Bay where it occurs in close proximity to the colony on St Croix Island. It was initiated off the coast of Algoa Bay in 2016. The risks and impact to the penguin colony include oil spills, increased shipping traffic near the colony and the increased noise levels. There have been four oil spills since it started which impacted the eggs and resulted in chicks being abandoned, impacting the breeding success of the colony.
It is not just penguins that are affected but dolphins and the entire marine ecosystem can be impacted.
The bunkering in Algoa Bay is now authorised but there is a possibility of it happening in other coastal towns.
Dr Dion George, Minster of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, has called for public comment on the proposed new regulations to protect the marine environment and the critically endangered African penguin from bunkering.
“These proposed regulations are intended to decrease the high risks associated with bunkering on the marine environment, which particularly threatens the critically endangered African penguin. We have an obligation to protect our coastal and marine environment, and the proposed regulations will help us do that by preventing bunkering operations in highly sensitive areas, or limiting the expansion of bunkering operations in areas where the practice is already under way.”
He encourages all South Africans to be active citizens by submitting their comments to help protect the marine environment.
In response to these new proposed regulations, Prof Lorien Pichegru, a penguin specialist from Nelson Mandela University, is of the opinion that, for the sake of the critically endangered African Penguin, there should not be bunkering in Algoa Bay. Also that the regulations did not go far enough, although there are some positive proposals e.g.
- they should not bunker at night to reduce the risk of oil spills;
- a response vessel to be on site in each bunkering area, plus spill booms to be in place before every bunkering operation;
- ships should reduce their speed as they come into anchorage, thereby reducing underwater noise;
- If bunkering does happen, ideally it should not take place at Anchorage 2. This is adjacent to St Croix Island, and the environmental risk assessment (completed by the Transnet National Ports Authority and published in February 2024) recognised that it poses too great a risk for the African penguin.
The draft regulations were gazetted on 21 February and you can access them via: www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202502/52151gon5886.pdf
Members of the public are invited to submit written comments, within 30 days from the publication of the notice in the Government Gazette, or the date of the placement of a newspaper advert, whichever is later. Due date from the gazette dated 21 February is the 23 March.
Send your comments to Lona Nondaka, at the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, on bunkeringregs@dffe.gov.za.