A second draft of regulations to manage Algoa Bay’s offshore fuel transfer industry has rowed back from two key proposals aimed at protecting the critically endangered African penguin.
The first draft announced in February proposed that no fuel transfers should occur at night and oil spill response vessels should be on site at all times during operations.
But the new draft announced by forestry, fisheries and environment minister Dion George on Friday night said the regulations in this regard were now different.
“Night operations will be allowed under strict conditions with approved spill detection and recovery plans,” he said.
“Oil spill response vessels must now be on standby within 30 minutes, instead of being on site.”
Nelson Mandela University-based penguin specialist Lorien Pichegru said these and other points in the new draft of regulations were bad news for the seabird.
“Most of the accidents which have happened so far happened at night, so the proposal that there should be no bunkering after sunset was a good one.” she said.
“This is a significant step back.
“To have the oil spill response vessels on site in the event of an accident, as was proposed in the first draft, was also obviously a positive, not only for the penguins but also for job creation.
“So this too is bad news.”
Among the other updates making up the second draft of regulations to manage bunkering — which the department is now referring to as ship-to ship transfers — three are important.
“The exclusion zone is reduced from five nautical miles above the high water mark to three nautical miles ... Operations will be limited to three operators and six tankers ... Transfers will not be allowed in anchorage area two during penguin breeding season (April 1 to August 31).”
Pichegru said the reduced exclusion zone was bad news. but was less important than the decision to continue to allow operations at anchorage two.
“For them to implement exclusion only in breeding season is no good.
“We should not have bunkering in Algoa Bay, but if we are going to have it then this is the most important aspect which needs to change because of the proximity of anchorage two to St Croix.”
She said the limit on three operators down from the five that were doing ship-to-ship refuels in the Bay was welcomed.
There should be a strong emphasis on compliance in the legislation before it was finalised, she said.
“We need to know that Samsa [SA Maritime Safety Authority] will be policing all ship-to-ship fuel transfers, that there is a system of warnings for operators that transgress, and exclusion if they continue to do so.”
The minister said the new draft of ship-to-ship fuel transfer regulations, following on the first draft published in February, was the product of wide consultation with key stakeholders including Samsa, the department of transport, SANParks and environmental MECs from SA’s four coastal provinces.
“They introduce a risk-based system to prevent and reduce the harm that bunkering can cause to marine and coastal ecosystems,” he said.
“Where impacts cannot be avoided, the regulations aim to minimise and remedy them.
“This is particularly important for areas such as Algoa Bay, home to the world’s largest breeding colonies of African penguins.
“Environmental management plans must be developed by independent specialists and approved by the minister within 90 days.”
The minister said since bunkering began in Algoa Bay in 2016, four oil spills had negatively affected 260 penguins and other marine life.
The global population of the African penguin, which is restricted to the Southern African coast from Namibia in the west to Algoa Bay in the east, has plunged more than 90% from its original size of about four-million birds at the start of the 19th century.
There are now just 10,000 breeding pairs remaining and about one third of them are on St Croix and Bird islands in Algoa Bay.
The department invites written comments within 30 days. They should be emailed to bunkeringregs@dffe.gov.za
The Herald
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