Shell Shocked Mind Blow and the Mangle Heads

WAILS ON THE WILD COAST: Seismic testing hurts whales. Photo Tim Stenton, Graphic Spike

According to widespread reports, many with matter-of-fact under-statement of the embedded insanity of the news, Shell Exploration and Production SA announced that it would KAAABOOOOOM! “commence with a three-dimensional seismic survey within its Transkei exploration area ... from the earliest on December 1” to prospect for deposits of oil or gas. KAAABOOOOOM!

The survey, which apparently will be conducted by the aptly strangely weirdly jargon-glowing named Shearwater GeoServices (UPDATE: The Shearwater seismic vessel KAAABOOOOOM! Amazon Warrior due to dock in Cape Town at 6am this Sunday - see call for protest action below), will cover a 6,000km2 area from 20km off the coast in water depths of 700m to 3000m between KAAABOOOOOM! Port St Johns and Morgan's Bay and continue for four to five months.

Now, herein lies the rub, and the cause for an explosion of outrage from the most unlikeliest sources, and indignant murmur on social media, KAAABOOOOOM! every 10 seconds an "array of 48 air guns will fire loud shock-wave emissions that could potentially be harmful to marine life in the area".

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For fucksakes, KAAABOOOOOM! "Could"? "Might"? That's just euphemistic muddle and serious cause for a deep dive into what the Shell is going on here. So, my vaccinated and not so vaccinated friends, lets turn to science to help us KAAABOOOOOM! understand the gobsmacking, stomach-curdling, cranium-bending mindfuckery of this harebrained and barbaric scheme.

Using an outsourced prospecting KAAABOOOOOM! proxy (Amazon Warrior) cruising up and down the coast dragging up to 48 military-grade seismic "cannons" (euphemistically dubbed "air gun arrays"), Shell is going to bombard the sea floor every 10 seconds KAAABOOOOOM!! all day and all night for up to five months with unholy projectiles of highly-pressurised air - call them shockwave balls - with potential to maim or kill animals KAAABOOOOOM! close by and disrupt communication and breeding of countless species large and tiny because each "bullet" in this god-awful slow motion Gatling gun can produce lethal level sounds of up to 255 decibels. KAAABOOOOOM!

The US military puts seismic air gun arrays right up there with undersea earthquakes (272 dB for a KAAABOOOOOM! magnitude 4.0 quake on the Richter Scale) and seafloor volcano eruption (255+ dB for massive steam explosions), with the good old air gun array a close third at 255 dB.

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KAAABOOOOOM! Now, since science is our muse, consider that sound behaves differently in water. Without going into the equations around water vs air density and amplitude blah blah, KAAABOOOOOM! suffice to say that a seismic air gun array firing air-pressure projectiles at 255 dB in the ocean is equivalent to 193 dB if that KAAABOOOOOM! same pulse was blasted through air (to get the same effect as sound in water for sound in air, you have to subtract 62dB from the total in water). KAAABOOOOOM! - Source

Now I don't know about dolphins or whales, but to kill humans, you only need to subject them to a sound of 185 dB. That's because at 185 dB, a somewhat necessary human organ, the lungs, KAAABOOOOOM! will implode, or rupture. Now if you wanted to maim one of these terrestrial delinquents, simply moer them with a sound blast of around 160 to 165 dB. Bye bye ear drums. KAAABOOOOOM! - Source

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Q: I want to hear what the loudest thing in the world is! — Kara Jo, 5

No. No, you really don’t. See, there’s this thing about sound that even we grown-ups tend to forget — it’s not some glitter rainbow floating around with no connection to the physical world. Sound is mechanical. A sound is a shove — just a little one, a tap on the tightly stretched membrane of your ear drum. The louder the sound, the heavier the knock. If a sound is loud enough, it can rip a hole in your ear drum. If a sound is loud enough, it can plow into you like a linebacker and knock you flat on your butt. When the shock wave from a bomb levels a house, that’s sound tearing apart bricks and splintering glass. Sound can kill you. - Source

Sounds horrid, right? But wait, say those pesky scientists, there's more. For each 10 dB increase in noise, intensity goes up exponentially, 10 times. KAAABOOOOOM! I am not a scientist, so correct me if I am wrong Ben van Beurden (Shell CEO lampooned above by comedian Joe Lycett), but if the sonic blasts are pounding out the equivalent of 193 decibells KAAABOOOOOM! through the water off our beloved Kei (our favourite unspoilt wilderness - up there with the Weskus of course) isn't that approaching 10x more intense KAAABOOOOOM! than the sound that kills a human being (185 dB)?

Now that international travel is returning to streak our skies with climate-changing contrails of carbon dioxide, KAAABOOOOOM! and various toxic levels of sulphur and nitrogen oxide, proceed to your nearest airport and stick your head in the engine of a Boeing 747 after asking the pilot to ramp it up as if taking off, keeping it in neutral mind. KAAABOOOOOM!

Oh wait, keeping it in neutral won't help. Your skin and flesh will be burned from your bones, but not before your ear drums disintegrate in the 165 decibel roar, KAAABOOOOOM! which may also already be enough to pop a lung ... or two.

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At this level, we arrive at the point when kak begins to hit the fan, so to speak (loudly in case you've been to too many rave parties), but the propensity for anatomical damage KAAABOOOOOM! starts way before that. A very loud rock concert clocks in at, say, 115 decibels - the kind of racket that draws noise complaints from neighbours 500 metres away. KAAABOOOOOM! Now consider that the perception of increased sound works like this, due to the wonders of our organic hearing instrumentation. For every 10dB increase, even though the intensity increases tenfold as mentioned above, the human ear perceives KAAABOOOOOM! a doubling in sound. A death metal gig at 125 decibels will sound twice as loud as a Rolling Stones gig at 115 decibels.

The "ouch" meter - say experts and health KAAABOOOOOM! officials quoted on numerous (credible) websites - starts at 115, the volume at which you can start to suffer permanent hearing damage. At a 2009 concert in Ottawa, KISS clocked in KAAABOOOOOM! at 136 decibels, while the Who, once touted as the world's loudest band, were once measured at 126 in 1976. - Source

Eina!

(CLICK to hear what an air gun array blast sounds like under water)

KAAABOOOOOM! I have no idea of what loud sounds actually do to animals apart from what scientists and conservationists say. At the least, according to US scientists, KAAABOOOOOM! this blunt-force shockwave boom box (introduced in the 1920s) causes hearing loss, disturbs essential behaviors like feeding and breeding, and confuses KAAABOOOOOM! communications between individual whales and dolphins on a mass scale, as well as reduce catch rates of commercial fish. KAAABOOOOOM!

"A 2017 study found that seismic ocean surveys resulted in a two to threefold increase in the deaths of adult and larval zooplanton, the foundation on which the marine ecosystem is built. KAAABOOOOOM! The sounds also killed larval krill, the tiny creatures that play an oversized role in the marine food web." - Source

Perhaps marine animals can withstand sound better than humans ... not. KAAABOOOOOM! In war, soldiers often die without a visible mark on their body. They're not close enough to the bomb blast to get shredded by shrapnel, but they're KAAABOOOOOM! close enough for their lungs to get ripped to shreds.

But this is not war. It is mining. And it's just not cool to prospect for gas or oil in this way any more. The natural world needs all the help it can get. KAAABOOOOOM!

PS This article comprised 37 blasts if you read it out aloud. I know it was irritating trying to read around the booms, but imagine those poor little creepy crawly critters and their friends living in a war zone for five months. Clockwork Orange, meet the Wild Coast :(

WHAT TO DO?

The Oceans Not Oil Coalition have started a petition to Barbara Creecy (Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and the Environment) to withdraw the approval of this application.

"In addition to signing the petition we are asking that you urgently submit objections to the blasting in the Wild Coast. The Shell Wild Coast survey has been approved - however no-one knew about it - so this needs public outcry and you can still register your objection with the consultant for public records until 29 November 2021. Any RSA citizen can become an Interested & Affected party - the ocean is our commons."

Address objections to:
Eloise Costandius, SLR Consulting via email or SMS / WhatsApp 063 900 5536

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