MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Southern Cape Fish Meal (SCFM) (Pty) Ltd, which owns the fish meal factory in Mossdustria, has been ordered to stop all operations and to dispose of all existing stock at an approved landfill site.
The closest approved landfill site is Skoppies, about 35km from Mossel Bay towards Albertinia.
This order is the latest in a protracted battle of the affected residents of Dana Bay and Aalwyndal and the business owners at Mossdustria to have the factory closed.
For years they have complained about the ongoing foul odour emanating from the plant.
The Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) air quality manager refused the licence renewal application by SCFM in April 2018. At that time the GRDM ordered the owners to stop all operations linked to the listed activity.
Two different appeals
SCFM then appealed the GRDM decision and approached the High Court in Cape Town for interim relief.
The High Court interdict the SCFM obtained ordered the GRDM to allow the fish meal plant to operate until the appeal in terms of Section 62 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act had been concluded. The municipal manager of the GRDM, Monde Stratu, was the appeal authority as the decision was taken by an official of the district municipality.
Recently this appeal was denied as, "based on the information and documents available to the appeal authority, it was unable to conclude that the upholding of the appeal would be consistent with the Air Quality Act and the Section 2 National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) principles," the GRDM communications department said.
Not end of the road
The owners of the SCFM may, however, approach the High Court to take the decision by the appeal authority on review. Until such a time the SCFM must cease all operations and a letter in this regard - a stop order - is being drafted.
The SCFM High Court order in 2018 indicated: "If the internal appeal is refused, the applicant is granted leave to supplement its founding papers, if regarded to be necessary, and to re-enrol the matter in order to obtain interim relief."
No further appeals in terms of Section 62 of the Systems Act will be allowed. The only other remedy is for SCFM to approach the High Court for interim relief.
What happens to waste
Afro Fishing CEO, Deon van Zyl, said the canning factory had been canning mainly imported cutlets. As a result they had not had much offal as there are no offcuts with imported cutlets.
"We are, however, preparing for the Port Elizabeth fishing season and our fishing vessel is already in PE, waiting for the weather to improve.
"So, when we start catching fresh fish we will have offcuts again. SCFM has indicated to us that it is unlikely to be able to process our offcuts so we are already preparing to transport offcuts to a similar offal processor in the Cape," Van Zyl said.
Mosstrich managing director Francois de Wet said: "It is a pity the SCFM plant was not able to meet all the environmental requirements on a constant basis.
"There is definitely a need for such a plant in the Mossel Bay area. Mosstrich provided for a possible closure of the plant early on. Our ostrich waste will be delivered to a disposal plant in Oudtshoorn. There is also an approved disposal site near Albertinia that we can use."
At the time of going to press, the SCFM had not responded to questions.
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