Fears Fish Factory Might Stink Out Mossel Bay

School feeding scheme loses out as processing plant switches to importing pilchards and sardines for animal feed.

- Susan Puren

Mossel bay’s economy WIll soon receive a major boost if the establishment of a fishmeal and fish oil plant gets the green light. Afro Fishing, a local sardine-canning enterprise, has raised foreign capital of nearly R350 million to expand its operation. It is planning to process thousands of tons of pelagic fish species such as anchovies and red-eye herring at the plant and will provide an additional 200 people with seasonal work.

However, not everyone is excited about the project and about 420 residents have signed an online petition to stop the factory. Hundreds of people also registered as interested parties; they want to know what impact the factory will have on the scenic seaside town on the Garden Route and whether there will be a stench permanently hanging over the town.

Afro Fishing Managing Director Deon van Zyl says the plant is applying for authorisation to build a state-of-the-art plant that will use the best-proven practices and technology available to combat the odour caused by fishmeal factories.

An air quality impact study conducted last year for the proposed project states that a so-called wet scrubber will prevent unpleasant odours from being released into the atmosphere. Regenerative thermal oxidation (RTO) technology will be used. It is already being applied abroad and the Mossel Bay plant will be the first in South Africa to use it. A team involved in the planned project recently visited a fishmeal factory in Peniche, Portugal where RTO is used to filter volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and is full of praise for the technology.