Annex D Specialist Studies D1 – Fisheries Study D2 - Heritage D2.1 – Marine Heritage Study D2.2 – Archaeological Assessment D3 – Marine Ecology Assessment D4 – Ecological Assessment ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IOX DRAFT EIA REPORT Annex D1 Fisheries Study ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IOX DRAFT EIA REPORT D1 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EIA) FOR THE PROPOSED IOX SUBSEA CABLE SYSTEM OFF THE EAST COAST OF SOUTH AFRICA FISHERIES STUDY Date: September 2018 Prepared for: Environmental Resources Management South Africa (Pty) Ltd On behalf of the applicant: Prepared by: Capricorn Marine Environmental (Pty) Ltd Contact Details: Sarah Wilkinson P.O. Box 50035, Waterfront Cape Town, 8002 South Africa T : +27 21 4252161 F : +27 21 4251994 www.capfish.co.za 26 September 2018 This report was prepared by Sarah Wilkinson and David Japp of CapMarine (Pty) Ltd. David Japp has a BSC in Zoology, University of Cape Town (UCT) and an MSc degree in Fisheries Science from Rhodes University. Sarah Wilkinson has a BSc (Hons) degree in Botany from UCT. Both are professional natural scientists registered with the SA Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP). Mr Japp has worked in the field of Fisheries Science and resource assessment since 1987 and has considerable experience in undertaking specialist environmental impact assessments relating to fishing and fish stocks. His work has included environmental economic assessments and the evaluation of the environmental impacts on fishing. Sarah Wilkinson has worked on marine resource assessments, specializing in spatial and temporal analysis (GIS) as well as the economic impacts of fisheries exploitation in the southern African region. This specialist report was compiled for Environmental Resources Management (ERM) for their use in compiling a Scoping Report and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed IOX Submarine Cable System off the East Coast of South Africa. We do hereby declare that we are financially and otherwise independent of the Applicant and of ERM. Dave Japp Sarah Wilkinson CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS III EXECUTIVE SUMMARY IV 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 TERMS OF REFERENCE 2 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION 3 2.1 PROJECT LOCATION 3 2.1.1 Marine Route 3 2.1.2 Landing Site 4 2.2 CABLE SYSTEM COMPONENTS 5 2.2.1 Subsea Fibre Optic Cable 5 2.2.2 Repeaters and Branching Units 6 2.2.3 Beach Manhole 6 2.2.4 System Earth 6 2.3 PROJECT ACTIVITIES 7 2.3.1 Pre-Installation 7 2.3.2 Installation 9 2.3.3 Shore Crossing 11 2.3.4 Operations 13 2.3.5 Decommissioning 13 3 RELEVANT LEGISLATURE 14 4 APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY 16 4.1 DESCRIPTION OF POTENTIAL IMPACTS ON FISHERIES 16 4.2 ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY 16 4.2.1 Impact Identification and Characterisation 17 4.2.2 Determining Impact Magnitude 18 4.2.3 Determining Receptor Sensitivity 19 4.2.4 Assessing Significance 20 4.2.5 Mitigation Potential and Residual Impacts 21 4.2.6 Residual Impact Assessment 22 4.2.7 Cumulative Impacts 22 4.3 DATA SOURCES 23 4.4 ASSUMPTIONS, UNCERTAINTIES & GAPS IN KNOWLEDGE 23 5 DESCRIPTION OF THE BASELINE ENVIRONMENT 24 5.1 OVERVIEW OF SOUTH AFRICAN FISHERIES 24 5.2 SMALL PELAGIC PURSE-SEINE 27 5.3 DEMERSAL TRAWL 27 CAPMARINE (PTY) LTD IOX SUBMARINE CABLE – FISHERIES ASSESSMENT I 5.4 MID-WATER TRAWL 28 5.5 DEMERSAL LONGLINE 29 5.6 LARGE PELAGIC LONGLINE 29 5.7 TRADITIONAL LINEFISH 33 5.8 SOUTH COAST ROCK LOBSTER 35 5.9 SQUID JIG 36 5.10 FISHERIES RESEARCH 37 6 IMPACT DESCRIPTION AND ASSESSMENT 40 6.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE SOURCE OF IMPACT 40 6.2 DESCRIPTION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS 40 6.3 DESCRIPTION OF THE POTENTIAL IMPACT 41 6.3.1 Loss of catch 41 6.3.2 Safety of fishing vessels 41 6.3.3 Damage to fishing gear 41 6.4 SENSITIVE RECEPTORS 42 6.5 PROJECT CONTROLS AND INDUSTRY OBJECTIVES 42 6.6 IMPACT ASSESSMENT 42 6.7 MITIGATION MEASURES 43 6.8 CUMULATIVE IMPACT 45 7 CONCLUSIONS 46 8 REFERENCES 48 9 APPENDIX 1: DESCRIPTION OF FISHING GEAR CONFIGURATIONS THAT POSE A RISK TO SUBMARINE CABLES 50 9.1 DEMERSAL TRAWL 50 9.2 DEMERSAL LONGLINE 55 9.3 SOUTH COAST ROCK LOBSTER TRAP (LONGLINE) 55 10 APPENDIX 2: DECLARATION OF INTEREST 57 CAPMARINE (PTY) LTD IOX SUBMARINE CABLE – FISHERIES ASSESSMENT II ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AoI Area of Influence BMH Beach Man Hole CapMarine Capricorn Marine Environmental (Pty) Ltd CLS Cable Landing Station CPUE Catch Per Unit Effort DAFF Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries DEA Department of Environmental Affairs EAP Environmental Assessment Process EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EIR Environmental Impact Report ERM Environmental Resources Management EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone GRT Gross Registered Tonnage HDPE High Density Polyethylene HDD Horizontal Directional Drilling ICCAT International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas ICT Informations and Communications Technology IDZ Industrial Development Zone IOTC Indian Ocean Tuna Commission kg Kilogram m Metre PLGR Pre-Lay Grapnel Run ROV Remotely Operated Vehicle SADSTIA South African Deep-Sea Trawling Industry Association SAFE (cable) South Africa Far East SANHO South African Navy Hydrographic Office t Tonnes TAC Total Allowable Catch TAE Total Allowable Effort ToR Terms of Reference CAPMARINE (PTY) LTD IOX SUBMARINE CABLE – FISHERIES ASSESSMENT III EXECUTIVE SUMMARY IOX is a Mauritius-based Informations and Communications Technology company that proposes installing a subsea telecommunication cable system extending from India to South Africa via Mauritius and Rodrigues Island. The proposed Project would enable improved communication capacity and internet services. As part of the EIA process, as assessment was undertaken of the impact of the proposed Project on the South African fishing industry. The marine components of the Project would include the installation of approximately 24 km of fibre optic cable within the EEZ and territorial waters of South Africa, with a coastal landing in the East London Industrial Development Zone. The land-based components would comprise a Beach Man Hole (BMH) (4m x 2m x 3m), terrestrial fibre optic cable and cable landing station, all of which would be positioned within the Industrial Development Zone. Prior to installation, a detailed survey would be undertaken (using side-scan sonar and sub-bottom profiling) to determine the optimal routing of the cable. Immediately prior to installation a clearance operation would be conducted to remove any obstacles from the path of the final cable route where burial is required (the pre-lay grapnel run). Following this, a specialised cable laying vessel would place the cable on the seabed along the predetermined route. In water depths shallower than 900 m, the cable would be buried by way of ploughing 0.9 to 1.5 m deep into the seabed. In nearshore areas, heavier armouring would used to provide additional protection to the cable. In water depths greater than 900 m, the cable would not be buried. Activities proposed during the pre-installation, installation, and operational phases of the Project were identified as sources of a potential impact on the fishing industry. Fishing vessels would be required to maintain a safe operational distance from the Project vessels during the pre-grapnel run and installation of the cable. Once installed, the cable route would be charted by the South African Navy Hydrographic Office and would appear on navigational charts. Cable protection zones and corridors prohibit specified activities posing risks to submarine cables – including fishing, anchoring, and dredging – within fixed geographic areas. Although the cable would be considered protected from damage due to burial at depths shallower than 900 m, the entire cable route would be protected with an exclusion zone that would prohibit anchoring and trawling within a distance of 1 nm on either side of the cable. This would result in an impact of potential exclusion to any demersal fishery (ie those that direct fishing effort at the seabed). South African demersal fishery sectors include hake-directed trawl and longline and longline trap fisheries for rock lobster. The proposed cable route does not coincide with fishing grounds of the hake-directed trawl and longline sectors and there is no impact expected on these sectors during the pre-installation, installation or operational phases of the Project. There have historically been very low levels of fishing activity conducted by the trap fishery for south coast rock lobster in the vicinity of the inshore section of the proposed cable route; CAPMARINE (PTY) LTD IOX SUBMARINE CABLE – FISHERIES ASSESSMENT IV however, due to the negligible magnitude of the potential impact (there has been no catch reported since 2007) the overall significance of the impact on the sector is assessed to be negligible. Sectors that could be affected during a temporary exclusion to fishing ground during the pre-installation and installation phase of the Project include the traditional linefish sector, which operates in the nearshore vicinity of the proposed area of influence, the large pelagic longline sector, which operates extensively from a distance of 12 nm from the coastline to the limit of the South African Exclusive Economic Zone, and the south coast rock lobster trap fishery, which has shown minimal expenditure of fishing effort in the area. The impact on the traditional linefish, large pelagic longline and south coast rock lobster trap sectors is considered to be of negligible significance. CAPMARINE (PTY) LTD IOX SUBMARINE CABLE – FISHERIES ASSESSMENT V 1 INTRODUCTION IOX is a Mauritius-based Information and Communications Technology (ICT) company formed to develop a new telecommunication cable system which will connect India and Africa and provide high speed and low latency network access to enhance businesses in these geographies and across industries. IOX proposes to build a submarine cable from India to South Africa via Mauritius and Rodrigues Island.