Protesters tell Shell to go to hell over Wild Coast

• Published date: 09 December 2021
• Author: Wesley Ford and Karen Kotze
• Publication title: Southern Suburbs Tatler

Extinction Rebellion organised the protest along with other pressure groups, Green Connection, the Movement for Change and Social Justice, Cape Town Unitarian, and Feed the Future

They called for motorists to boycott the oil-and-gas multinational if it presses ahead with its survey.

Extinction Rebellion coordinator Judy Scott-Goldman said the seismic surveying could cause irreparable damage to marine species and reduce fish stocks.

“A seismic survey involves f‌iring high-powered compressed airguns towards the sea floor, and assessing oil and gas deposits beneath by measuring the ref‌lected sound,” she said.

That could cause a 100-fold increase in background ocean noise levels and harm marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, that used sound to navigate and communicate, she said.

Green Connection committee member, Natasha Adonis, said the impact on the marine ecosystem could, in turn, harm the livelihoods of communities that relied on the ocean’s resources.

Shell was also relying on an environmental-management plan that was almost...