Ship-to-ship fuel bunkering must urgently be included as a Listed Activity under SA’s environmental law

Algoa Bay is an area of exceptional biodiversity and ecological sensitivity. This is recognised by the declaration of the Addo Elephant Marine Protected Area, the Algoa to Amathole Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area (offshore of Gqeberha), and the inclusion of Bird Island and St Croix Island within a global network of Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, supporting respectively globally important populations of the endangered African penguin and Cape gannet.

The bay is also an important site for migratory humpback and southern right whales as well as resident populations of bottlenose and common dolphins and Bryde’s whales.

But Algoa Bay is also one of South Africa’s busiest shipping routes, and commercial ship-to-ship (STS) marine fuel bunkering activities, which began in 2016, are threatening its sensitive biodiversity beyond the point at which it may be able to recover.

In 2015, Algoa Bay supported 54% of South Africa’s population of African penguins. St Croix Island was the largest colony of this species by a significant margin, contributing 40% of the South African population.

Since then, the Algoa Bay population has decreased from 10,906 breeding pairs to just 2,821, constituting only 28% of the South African population, with the St Croix colony now being the fourth-largest in South Africa (Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment 2022, unpublished data).

STS bunkering, which involves the transfer of fuel from one vessel to another while at sea, is a high-risk operation that can cause severe marine pollution through oil and fuel spills. In addition, bunkering operations attract large vessels into the bay, increasing shipping traffic and noise, which has a demonstrable impact on foraging and breeding patterns.

As it is, bunkering activities have had devastating impacts on endangered seabird populations. Four significant oil spills have occurred since 2016 as a result of incidents associated with STS bunkering, resulting in significant numbers of oiled seabirds.

A groundbreaking new study has also recently provided the first scientific evidence that an increase in vessel-driven noise after STS bunkering began in Algoa Bay in 2016 was significantly associated with the fastest short-term decline of an African penguin population on record (an 85% decline of the once largest colony at St Croix Island since 2016).

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Shocking drop in number of African penguin numbers for Algoa Bay”

Given the immense risks that STS bunkering activities pose to marine biodiversity, the fact that three long-term licences have been awarded to conduct such activities in Algoa Bay in the absence of comprehensive environmental impact assessments (EIA) having been conducted seems unfathomable.

But currently, STS bunkering is not listed in the EIA Regulations under the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Nema). This means STS bunkering may be authorised without the full range of direct, indirect and cumulative impacts being assessed, and without stakeholders being consulted.

The only regulatory requirements for conducting STS bunkering are a licence from the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) (in terms of section 80(2) of the National Ports Act, 2005 and the National Ports Rules) and permission from the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) under section 21 of the Marine Pollution (Control and Civil Liability) Act, 1981. Neither of these two statutes make provision for an EIA before the authorisation of bunkering.

In addition, draft Codes of Practice for Bunkering and STS Transfers have been developed by Samsa, but these do not go nearly far enough in assessing and addressing the full range of environmental impacts associated with STS bunkering. Furthermore, the codes will not have the force of law and their implementation therefore cannot be enforced. The situation is woefully inadequate, considering the future of an endangered species is at stake.