Environmental groups have threatened to bring Shell to its knees with further protests planned at the oil giant’s business operations across South Africa in the coming weeks.
In Bryanston in Johannesburg, a group of activists shut down one of Shell’s petrol stations on Sunday morning.
They are protesting against Shell’s plans to conduct a seismic survey off the Eastern Cape coast.
They say the blasting will cause an ecological crisis leading to the death of marine life.
Protestors gather to oppose Shell seismic survey operations
Protest in Cape Town against oil giant Shell’s plans to conduct a seismic survey
This means Shell can now proceed to search for gas reserves on the Wild Coast.
Environmental group, Planet Savers’ Delian Bester says, “We are protesting against Shell and the government because they are destroying our planet. The seismic survey conducted by Shell is murdering our marine life, And what people don’t realise is that it is not just the fish and the dolphins and the whales, it’s the micros organisms,” says Bester.
Bester says the micros organisation are food for big animals.
“When they lose their food source, they die off and they are important to our ecosystem,” adds Bester .
Activists protesting at a Shell filling station in Bryanston. They want Shell to stop seismic survey off the Eastern Cape coast. They argue it will damage marine life. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/k3thut3Icy
— Tshepo (@tphagane) December 5, 2021
Eastern Cape protest
In the Eastern Cape, hundreds of protesters have gathered at various points along the Eastern Cape coast, showing their disapproval of Shell’s planned seismic survey.
More than 25 protests are taking place along the coast on Sunday.
Environmentalist, Dr Div de Villiers says the wild coast is a global bio-diversity hotspot.
“Remember the Wild Coast is the richest in biodiversity, it’s a bio diversity hotspot. I’m not just talking about the impact on whales and dolphins, I’m talking about endemic species to only occur on the wild coast. You talking about copper steenbras, white steenbras that spawn off the Mbashe river near Dwesa. What are the impacts of seismic blasting going to be on the life cycle of those? Remember the people from the wild coast have been reliant on the resources from the coast for hundreds of years,” says De Villiers.
Activists gather in East London to protest against Shell’s seismic survey:
More than a hundred Plettenberg Bay residents have gathered at the Garden Route town’s Central Beach in support of the countrywide protest against Shell’s Seismic Survey Blasting.
This as the oil giant received the go-ahead to search for oil and gas in the waters of the Wild Coast.
CEO of Plett Tourism, Patty Butterworth, says Seismic Survey Blasting has been proposed to happen soon off Plettenberg Bay’s coastline as well.
She says members from all communities in Bitou appeared in solidarity with marine life, that may be irreparably harmed due to the oil giant’s action along the coastline.
Residents from Nelson Mandela Bay converged at Shark Rock Pier on Sunday morning.
They say their protest is about protecting the ocean.
“I am here today to show my support and to show people what an impact this is having on our oceans because I think people don’t really realise how this is affecting our oceans and marine life and it’s so important to just look after them,” says one protester.
“I’m here to show my support for the ocean. It’s got a lot of wildlife and I’m an open water swimmer, so I’d like to preserve our oceans. It’s very important that we go anti what shell is going to do to our environment,” says another protester.
Activists gather in the Western Cape to protest against Shell’s plans to conduct a seismic survey:
Additional reporting by Abongile Janjies, Tanya Krause and Kim Daniels.
