Port Nolloth fishermen worried that oil & gas exploration off West Coast will affect livelihoods

CAPE TOWN - Small-scale fishers from Port Nolloth are concerned that oil and gas explorations off the West Coast will leave them without a livelihood.

An environmental justice organisation has joined fisherfolk in a High Court bid to halt TotalEnergies from exploring for oil and gas off the west coast.

"After TotalEnergies received environmental authorisation for exploration drilling in the Northern Cape for the deep water Orange Basin Block, we realised that a lot of issues that we have raised in our submissions were not taken into consideration," said an advocacy officer at the Green Connection, Lisa Makaula.

Makaula said their environmental and socio-economic concerns were ignored.

Port Nolloth fisher, Walter Steenkamp shared the sentiment.

"So, now all the years the fish stock is going down and we as fishers suffer. The impact is on the fishers at the end of the day. We see the stock going down and what about our next generation?"