Australian Geoscience data company Searcher plans to oppose a legal challenge by West Coast communities seeking to interdict its proposed seismic survey in the area.
Searcher’s lawyer, Roy Barendse of firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, filed the notice to oppose at the Western Cape High Court, ahead of the 16:00 deadline on Monday.
Civil society groups We Are South Africans and The Green Connection, as well as West Coast residents and fisheries (including Steenbergs Cove Small Scale Fisheries Cooperative, the Aukatowa Small Scale Fisheries Cooperative and Coastal links Langebaan), on Friday filed an urgent application at the high court, seeking to interdict the survey off the West Coast, pending a legal challenge of the reconnaissance permit granted to Searcher in May 2021.
Australian-based Searcher Seismic and its UK division Searcher Geodata are listed as respondents in the matter. Other respondents include the vessel BGP Pioneer, which will conduct the survey, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Barbara Creecy and the Petroleum Agency of South Africa (PASA).
The applicants believe that Searcher did not consult meaningfully with affected parties.
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https://www.news24.com/fin24/companies/geoscience-company-to-oppose-west-coast-communities-in-seismic-survey-court-battle-20220124