An Open Letter to The South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Minister Gwede Mantashe - Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, and Minister Barbara Creecy - Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Regarding seismic surveys off the South African coastline

An open letter from South African marine scientists and legal experts to President Cyril Ramaphosa and government ministers urging the halt of offshore seismic surveys due to environmental risks and legal deficiencies.

• Seismic surveying is described as fundamentally damaging to marine ecosystems because it uses air gun arrays that produce high amplitude, low frequency pulses exceeding 200 dB re 1 µpa at 1 m every ten seconds, 24 hours a day for months. These impacts affect a wide range of marine life, from acoustically sensitive whales and dolphins to plankton, and are considered largely unmitigatable.
• The authors argue that the Environmental Management Programme (EMPr) used to permit Shell Oil's surveying off the Transkei Coast is invalid because it was completed in June 2013 for Impact Africa and is over eight years old. They claim a 2020 Environmental Compliance Audit failed to incorporate new ecological and social impact evidence and was conducted by consultants lacking formal marine biological training.
• The letter identifies significant legal and governance gaps in South Africa, specifically the lack of legislation managing marine acoustic impacts and a deficiency in Environmental Impact Regulations under the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) that allows speculative seismic surveys to avoid full environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes.
• The authors assert that approving seismic surveys contradicts South Africa's commitment made at COP26 in October 2021 to transition from hydrocarbon-based energy to renewables.
• The signatories request that the government halt all planned seismic surveys until a clear oil and gas exploration policy aligned with climate commitments is established. They further recommend amending EIA regulations, establishing acoustic impact regulations, reviewing the One Environment System, exploring less harmful technologies like marine vibreoseis, and commissioning a Strategic Environmental Assessment for the South African Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2021). An Open Letter to The South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Minister Gwede Mantashe - Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, and Minister Barbara Creecy - Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Regarding seismic surveys off the South African coastline. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/open-letter-sa-marine-experts-final-2-dec-2021.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. An Open Letter to The South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Minister Gwede Mantashe - Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, and Minister Barbara Creecy - Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Regarding seismic surveys off the South African coastline. 2021. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/open-letter-sa-marine-experts-final-2-dec-2021.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=An Open Letter to The South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Minister Gwede Mantashe - Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, and Minister Barbara Creecy - Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Regarding seismic surveys off the South African coastline |date=2 December 2021 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/open-letter-sa-marine-experts-final-2-dec-2021.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2021open, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{An Open Letter to The South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Minister Gwede Mantashe - Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, and Minister Barbara Creecy - Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Regarding seismic surveys off the South African coastline}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2021}, month = dec, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/open-letter-sa-marine-experts-final-2-dec-2021.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }