The South Durban
Community Environmental Alliance attended two public meetings on the 17th
and 18th of May.
On the 17th
a public meeting was held at the Austerville Civic Centre. It was hosted by the
consulting firm GIBB and the developer Hitachi. This meeting was to address the
public on a proposed desalination plant being built in the Bluff community. The
meeting was well attended by members of the community as well as subsistence fisherfolk
who are concerned by the desalination plant disrupting their fishing areas by
not allowing them to fish or by the facility disrupting fish stocks through its
desalination processes. Residents do have a cause for concern because if this
plant is approved and constructed, the quality of life would be affected by the
residents in the community. The plant emits loud noise throughout the day,
almost every day of the week. The fisherfolk have cause for concern as the
plant dumps toxic waste in the ocean in the form of brine. This will disrupt
fish stocks, meaning a smaller catch for fishermen.
On the 18th
of May a public meeting was held at the Royal Natal Yacht Club. It was hosted
by Nemai Consultants and Transnet, who are the developers for the project. The
purpose of the meeting was to obtain a license to mine sand on the ocean floor.
This process is called sandwinning or offshore dredging. This was a public
meeting, however, there was no public notice provided by Nemai and Transnet.
Resulting in little to no members of the public in attendance, meaning they are
unaware of what Transnet is proposing to do. Sandwinning will have a
devastating effect on the environment and fisherfolk who depend on the ocean.
The dredging process will destroy marine life in the areas they mine and the
waste the dredging ships dump will pollute our ocean, killing various species
of seaweed, sea plants, fish and food.
For more
information contact:
Chadley Joseph
(SDCEA Project Officer)
Phone:
031 461 1991
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