Sample of Essay in Submarine Africa

7/31/2019 Sample of Essay in Submarine Africa

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Southern African Institute for Environmental Assessment

ROUTING OF THE EASSy SUBMARINE CABLE, SOUTH AFRICA

Compiled by Paul Sch erzer

E&D C ons ulting Ser vices

Client: Telkom SA

IMPACT ASSESSMENT CASE STUDIES

FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA

... working for a better Africa

SAIEA



Telkom SA operates existing submarine fibre-

optic telecommunication cables in South African

waters from two landing locations, one on the

west coast and the other at Mtunzini on the east.

The South Africa Far East (SAFE) submarine

cable was landed at Mtunzini in 2001. The existing

cable station and shore-based infrastructure at

Mtunzini had capacity for an additional cable.

Telkom SA proposed to land another cable, theEast Africa Submarine System telecommunica-

tions cable (EASSy) , on the main beach of

Mtunzini.

The aim of the proposed EASSy cable was to

enhance telecommunication links along the east

coast of Africa, as this region relies exclusively

on satellite which is expensive and limited in

capacity.

Submarine telecommunication cables form a vital

part of t he gl obal commu nica tion s net work . Fib re

optic cables are essentially tiny glass fibres which

transmit digital pulses converted by computers at

each end of the cable. A typical lightweight cable

has a 17 mm outer diameter and comprises a

welded steel tube housing multiple fibre pairs in

a stress-free environment. In order to protect the

cable, depending on the level of risk, the number

and diameter of armour wires surrounding the

cable is increased, with a high strength double

armoured cable having an outer diameter of

approximately 45 mm (Figure 2).

Aims of the Project Brief descript ion of the development and al ternatives considered

© SAIEA 2009


Compiled by

Paul Sch erzer

E&D Consul ting Ser vices

Client: Telkom SA

Figu re 1: R oute of the prop osed EASSy cab le

down the east coast of Africa.

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Figu re 2: I llu stra tio n of cabl es

and increasing levels of armouring



The r ou t ing and lay ing o f a submar ine

telecommunication cable is preceded by detailed

pla nni ng inv olv ing mar ket cap aci ty and mar ine

cable routes, as well as negotiation between

various international telecommunication service

pro vid ers reg ard ing fin anc ial con tri but ion s a nd

market share. In order to select the optimum route

for a submarine cable a range of marine charts,

regional bathymetric data, seabed topography andgeology sources are consulted. Information must

also be gathered f rom relevant government

departments, telecommunication companies and

other groups such as marine oil and gas companies.

Due to the cost of laying and r epairing cables at

sea, route planning considers cable safety and

aims to avoid, among other aspects, s teep

mountain slopes and deep trenches below the

ocean, areas of heavy shipping and rocky eroding

bea che s a s la ndin g po int s.

The greatest danger to communication cables is

from bottom contact fishing methods performed

by tra wle rs. For thi s r eas on Tel kom sti pul ate s a

no trawling or anchoring zone for one nautical

mile on either side of their submarine cables.

An international cable company is appointed to

undertake the planning and implementation of the

entire cable. Once initial desktop routes have been

pla nne d a det ail ed mar ine sur vey is unde rta ken ,

par tic ular ly i n s hal lowe r w ate rs (le ss tha n 1, 000

m deep) where the cable approaches the landing

station. The purpose of the survey is to optimise

the position and laying of the cable

to avoid high risk areas and to

finalise the design and protection

required for the cable. A survey is

then taken of an area approximately

1 km wide along the identified

route, and thereafter the final cable

pos it ion is opt im ise d wi thi n th is

surveyed band.

Importantly, one survey ship is contracted to

undertake the survey for the entire cable and all

the landing locations. Thus, due to the distances

and costs involved, the survey is undertaken

according to a programme that is relatively

inflexible in terms of accommodating last minute

changes or repeating par ts of the survey to

consider other locally proposed alternatives.

Due to the fact that Telkom had an existing land-

ba se d ca bl e st at io n at Mt un zi ni wi th sp ar e

capacity, alternative landing sites were not

considered for the proposed EASSy cable.

However, one of the key stakeholder groups which

objected to the laying of the initial SAFE cable

at Mtunzini was the prawn trawling industry

operating out of Durban. The SAFE cable

traversed both the in-shore and off-shore trawling

grounds and for various reasons at the time an

alternative alignment to miss these trawling

grounds was not feasible. A legal dispute between

the Prawn TrawlerÕs Association and Telkom

occurred after the environmental authorisation

pr oc es s an d la yi ng of th e SA FE c ab le .

Brief descript ion of the development and al ternatives considered

© SAIEA 2009


Compiled by

Paul Sch erzer


Client: Telkom SA

2

Figu re 3: L andi ng o f t he SAFE cab le at M tunz ini



The KwaZulu-Natal prawn trawl fishery consists

of two components: an inshore fishery, referred

to as the Thukela Banks, and an offshore fishery

(Figure 4). Trawlers can fish from March to

August on the Thukela Banks and year round on

the offshore grounds. Different species are caught

at these respective grounds.

Importantly there are few areas off the SouthAfrican coast suitable for shallow water penaeid

praw n tra wling due to the ve ry na rrow conti nenta l

shelf, particularly in the sub-tropical areas of

northern KwaZulu-Natal which are the only areas

warm enough to support a breeding population.

The Thukela Banks fishing grounds support the

southernmost commercial prawn fishery in the

western Indian Ocean.

Fishing rights had been allocated from 2006 to

2013 and were held by four fishing companies.

However, general opinion was that the trawling

industry was struggling to remain economically

competitive due to reduced catches as a result of

the closure of the St Lucia estuary mouth and

cheap imports. The closure of the St Lucia estuary

mouth was considered to be having a significant

negative impact upon the shallow water penaeid

praw n sto cks found on th e Thuk ela Bank s, as this

species is dependent on estuaries for their nursery

grounds. The prawn species targeted on the

offshore fishing grounds are species which are

not dependent on estuarine habitats during their

lifecycle and, thus, had not been affected by the

closure of St Lucia.

An important socio-economic impact was that the

existing trawling companies were concerned that

any additional loss of trawling grounds wouldfurther reduce the grounds and catches and, thus,

the economic viability of the trawling industry.

There are only specific areas off the KwaZulu-

Nata l coa st wh ich a re su itabl e for praw n tra wlin g.

Apart from the climatic conditions and sea-floor

conditions suitable for prawns, trawling needs to

occur in areas where there are no reefs which can

snag fishing gear, and in areas large enough to

make it economically and practically viable to

trawl. It is not practical for trawlers to simply lift

their nets over an obstacle, drop them again and

continue. So the trawlers will not operate in an

area that is too small to obtain a reasonable catch

in one trawl.

For these reasons the trawl grounds, particularly

the Thukela Banks, were identif ied as an

Environmental sett ing

© SAIEA 2009


Compiled by

Paul Sch erzer


Client: Telkom SA

3

Figu re 4: P rawn tra wlin g gr ound s

off KwaZulu-Natal



environmental and economic resource which,

regardless of current catches and cheaper imports,

remains an important resource for conservation.

Thus, whilst the actual size and operation of a

submarine cable has practically no impact on the

actual prawns, the resource would be impacted if

the cable route resulted in the grounds being

divided up into sections too small to viably trawl.

The EIA process went through a Scoping Phase

followed by an Impact Assessment Phase.

Scoping Phase public participation

From the outset, the client was concerned that

appeals or legal disputes f rom the trawling

industry would either delay environmentalauthorisation or project implementation. The

proc ess was ther efo re d esig ned t o en sure that the

trawling industry was provided with maximum

opportunity to comment and participate, and that

off -shore cable route alternatives could be

considered. In order to ensure that the best cable

r ou te a l te r nat ive cou ld be se lec ted , the

environmental consultant ensured that the process

of stakeholder consultation would align with the

pro gra mme of t he int ern ati onal cab le rou te tea m

who were planning the routes and the marine

survey. The consultant was well aware that once

the marine survey was undertaken, no other

offshore alignments would be considered due to

the technical planning requirements and costs

associated with a marine survey.

During the Scoping Phase, meetings were held

with representatives of trawling companies to

discuss the proposed cable route. Various concerns

were raised that the cable would further dissect

the Thukela Bank fishing grounds. Representatives

pr ov id ed sp ec if ic co or di na te s of th e fi sh in g

grounds. These positions were communicated to

the client who in turn requested the international

cable route team to consider an alternative route.An alternative cable alignment was considered

and proposed.

Specialist study

The Oceanographic Research Insti tute was

appointed to undertake a specialist study focusing

on the impacts of different cable routes upon the

trawling grounds and industry. The data used was

the most accurate data available and consisted of

19,943 trawl deployments and catches between

2000-2006. This data had been recorded by the

trawlers as per the requirements of their licences.

The specialist study focussed on the potential loss

of trawling grounds on both the Thukela Banks

and offshore grounds for the original proposed

Environmental sett ing

© SAIEA 2009


Compiled by

Paul Sch erzer

E&D Consul ting Servic es

Client: Telkom SA

4

EIA process followed



alignment and for the proposed realigned

alternative (Figure 5). As both still impacted the

trawling grounds an optimum route was identified

that would have practically no impact upon the

trawling grounds. In addition, the cumulative

impacts of the existing SAFE cable, another

submarine cable being planned by a separate

telecommunications company, and the proposed

EASSy cable, was investigated.

I n a l l ca lcu la t ions o f t r awl g r ounds and

propo rtio ns of the total catc h lik ely t o be lost, the

trawling industry was given the benefit of the

doubt. For instance, delineation of the extent of

the grounds and estimates of the minimum area

they required for uninterrupted trawling were

done conservatively in their favour.

The specialist study was also tasked to do a

retrospective assessment of the impact of the

existing SAFE cable, to verify the extent to which

that cable had actually impacted the industry. The

number of trawl drops and size of catches made

within the 1 nautical mile exclusion zone prior to

laying the cable and after the cable was laid, were

calculated.


© SAIEA 2009


Compiled by

Paul Sch erzer


Client: Telkom SA

5

Figu re 5: P ref err ed and alt erna tiv e EA SSy cabl e a lig nmen ts



Public participation during the Impact Assess-

ment

A key stakeholder workshop was held to which

representatives from all the trawling companies

were invited, regardless of whether they had

recently been trawling or not. The aim of this

workshop was to provide the trawling industry

with an opportunity to discuss the draft specialistfindings and proposed cable route alignments.

Various perspectives and issues were raised during

the workshop. The environmental consultant and

specialist then undertook to further investigate

and clarify the additional points, and produced a

summary report for further comment by the

trawling industry.

These findings were then incorporated into the

draft Impact Assessment Report, which was

d is t r ibu ted f o r pub l ic comment . Cer ta in

representatives from the trawling industry took

the opportunity to comment again. This feedback

was responded to and both the comments and

responses were incorporated into the Final Impact

Assessment Report.

The issues relating to the loss of trawling grounds

and impact upon the industry were complex and

var ied. For this reason two sections were

specifically included in the report: one, highlight-

ing the assumptions and limitations made during

the assessment, and the other highlighting the

difficulties associated with an accurate assessment.

These difficulties related to interpre-ting the data

and findings in the light of other unquantifiablefactors, such as:

¥ The importance of the inshore Thukela Banks

fishing grounds relative to the rest of the

fishing grounds, and the influence of the

closure of the St Lucia estuary mouth on

catches on these grounds.

¥ The influence of cheaper imports of the same

pr aw n sp ec ie s on fi sh in g ef fo rt on th e

Thukela Banks.

¥ The licensed trawling periods on the Thukela

Banks had been reduced over the period for

which data was available, from 12 months to

only six months of the year. This influenced

the relative contribution of the catches from

this part of the grounds in comparison to other

par ts of the tra wl grou nds.

¥ Other factors such as current strength, skipper

skill and crew working and rest times also

pla y a rol e in det erm ini ng fis hin g l oca tio ns

and efforts.

After careful consideration of the findings it wasapparent that if trawlers continued to operate over

and around the initial cable route proposed, as

had occurred with the SAFE cable, there would

be li ttle impac t upo n the indus try o r the econo mic

viability of the trawling grounds. However, when

applying a applying a risk-averse and cautious

approach from both technical and environmental

per spe cti ves , i t w as pre fer abl e t hat tra wli ng did

not occur over the cable and that the c able route

selected should minimize i ts impact on the

trawling grounds.

Yet, a range of other factors still needed to be

taken into account such as the findings of the

final bathymetric survey, cable protection and

length, feasible cable angles and turnsetc. which

influence the cost and risks of different cable

routes. These factors would influence the final


© SAIEA 2009


Compiled by

Paul Sch erzer


Client: Telkom SA

6

Main environmental impacts & issues



a l i g n m e n t b e i n g i n v e s t i g a t e d b y t h e

international cable team. For this reason the

impact assessment repor t identif ied and

propose d a wide corri dor wit hin whi ch the c able

would have minimal impact on the trawling

grounds (Figure 6). The aim of the corridor

was to allow the international marine working

group to optimise the final alignment with

respect to reef crossings, cost and other technical factors, while still avoiding the

trawling grounds.

During the process the client, Telkom SA, as well

as the international cable team, were open and

willing to revise alternatives in order to minimise

environmental impacts. The impact assessment

did not recommend either the first or second

desktop alternative identified by the client and

pro pose d a cor rid or wit hin whi ch the cli ent was

willing to survey and further plan the cable route.

The specialists were required to review the

sections of the draft Impact Report dealing with

their findings and the draft Impact Report was

then peer reviewed by a registered Environmen-

tal Assessment Practitioner in another company.

The final Impact Report received a positive Record

of Decision from the authorities, authorising that

the cable be laid within the proposed corridor.

No forma l appeal s were su bmitted b y stakeho lders.

Dur ing the deci s ion - mak ing p r ocess the

international marine working group surveyed

a final alignment for the cable that remained

within the proposed corridor, even bending north

to miss the extremities of the inshore trawling

grounds. At the time of writing the cable was still

to be laid.

Main environmental impacts & issues

© SAIEA 2009


Compiled by

Paul Sch erzer


Client: Telkom SA

7

Figu re 6: O ptim um c able cor rido r

Dec ision making process



The clientÕs recognition of the potential value of

the env i r onmen ta l as sessmen t p r ocess in

optimising the project and reducing the risk of

delays and additional costs. Telkom was willing

to work with the assessment team to investigate

and consider alternatives that would minimise

negative impacts, and had an approach with

affected stakeholders that sought to identify win-

win solutions.

The environmental consultantÕs understanding of

the technical planning process enabled the EIA

pr oc es s to be op ti ma ll y al ig ne d wi th it .

Consequently the environmental findings were

pro vide d i n m e t o i nfl uenc e t ech nic al dec isi ons.

Importantly, this alignment would not have been

po ss ib le ha d th e cl ie nt go ne ah ea d wi th th e

technical planning process prior to appointing the

environmental consultant.

Careful and detailed use of accurate specialist

data made it possible to quantify potential impacts.

Importantly, the assessment separated the potential

socio-economic impact on the currently licensed

trawlers from the potential loss of future economic

resources which the trawling grounds represented.

The data were interpreted conservativelywith the

bene fit of d oubt goin g to war ds t he envi ronm ent .

Furthermore, in assessing these impacts, the report

did not profess to have neatly quantified the

significance, but highlighted the reality that there

were many variables and uncertainties that made

impacts ex t r emely d i f f icu l t to quan t i f y .

All the assumptions and uncertainties were clearly

highlighted, and a retrospective assessment of theimpact of the existing cable helped to guide

interpretation of the data. In the end a cautious

approach was adopted. It proposed an alternative

which minimised current socio-economic impacts

and the long-term loss of a potential resource,

while still providing the technical team with

enough leeway to optimise design and cost factors.

The key affected stakeholders were involved

throughout and were provided with the opportunity

to discuss findings and interpretations. They

requested the assessment team to investigate

further and clarify parts of the specialist findings,

which helped to improve confidence in the result s.

For an Environmental Impact Assessment to add

value to a project, the key environmental issues,

impacts and risks need to be identified and

investigated in time so that they can influence

technical planning and decisions. If projects are

not timed and coordinated correctly, the technical

pl a nn in g p r oc e ss ma y pr o c e ed w i th ou t

environmental input, reducing the EIA to just

another administrative requirement that the clientmust obtain.

The more contentious and difficult an issue is to

assess, the more careful the consideration of all

factors must be, and the more stakeholder

par tic ipa tio n is req uir ed.

An Impact Assessment Report should explai n how

the findings were interpreted, what assumptions

were made, what uncertainties were identified,

and how the final recommendation was influenced

by the se fa cto rs . Thi s al low s the thi nki ng and

interpretation behind the assessment to be

understood by stakeholders.

© SAIEA 2009


Compiled by

Paul Sch erzer


Client: Telkom SA

8

Main element s of excellence in this EIA Lessons learnt

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Sample of Essay in Submarine Africa