Transnet’s plans to expand the container berths in Durban Harbour have met with ecological concern because the area is seen to be one of the country’s most important fish nurseries.
An environmental impact assessment being conducted as part of the mandatory planning process has raised concerns by environmental groups over the destruction of central sandbanks in the harbour – which provide shelter to juvenile fish and several types of seabird.
The expansion proposal involves deepening and widening the existing quayside which sits next to the sandbanks.
A joint study published last year by the Marine and Estuarine Research and the Environmental Resource Management Groups revealed that despite there being more than 70 estuaries between the Mozambique border and the Eastern Cape – Durban still contained a richer variety of fish, despite more than a century of harbour development.
There is expected to be a public meeting held on 12 April as part of the ongoing consultation process.
