South Africa Restricts Bunkering to Protect Endangered Penguin
South Africa's government has implemented new restrictions on STS transfers and bunkering off its coastline, hoping to head off environmental damage from a potential spill. Its Algoa Bay area is a key bunkering hub for traffic on the Cape of Good Hope route, which has grown by leaps and bounds due to the Red Sea crisis - but conservation groups say that all the activity is putting a colony of critically-endangered penguins at risk.
The regulation bans STS transfers within three nautical miles of shore, as well as areas within aquaculture zones and marine protected areas. The rule sets up restrictions on bunkering in Algoa Bay, limiting transfers to specific anchorages and imposing seasonal restrictions on activity. Operators will also have to monitor for the presence of protected penguins and marine mammals during transfers, and will have to use a hydrophone system to listen for the movements of these species.
To further reduce the risk of pollution, transfers will be prohibited in wind speeds over 22 knots or wave heights over six feet, and only a limited number of vessels will be allowed in the bay at any given time. Operators will also be required to maintain spill-response vessels on standby to be ready to clean up in the event of a petroleum release.
Breaches of the new rules are punishable with a penalty of up to $2.1 million and a prison sentence of up to five years.
“These regulations are a decisive step to safeguard our oceans and secure the future of our African Penguin. They set strict standards for offshore ship-to-ship transfers, ensuring that maritime activity can only proceed in a safe and responsible way," said South African environment minister Dr. Dion George.
Conservationists claim that heightened bunkering activity has cut the population of the African penguin in Algoa Bay by more than 90 percent, putting the world's most endangered penguin species further at risk. Local wildlife NGO SANCCOB said in a statement that it doubts that the new measures will be effective. A colony on Algoa Bay's St. Croix Island was once the largest remaining African penguin colony, with 8,000 breeding pairs living there in 2015, the year before bunkering started in the bay. There are currently 700 breeding pairs on the island, according to SANCCOB, which blamed noise from increased vessel traffic and a series of spills.
The group called for banning bunker transfers at night, when releases are least likely to be detected and hardest to clean up, and reducing the wave height limitation to three feet. According to SANCCOB, the government loosened the final version of the rule by removing a requirement for operators to abide by IMO underwater noise reduction guidelines, a modification that favors vessel operators.