Pilot in the (bird) ****e - Big Time
Mercury Island landing a ‘catastrophe’
By: ADAM HARTMAN
THE landing attempts of a Kenyan-registered helicopter on Mercury Island off the coast of Lüderitz was described by the Namibian Coast Conservation Management Project (NACOMA) as the “most important catastrophe for coastal biodiversity in decades”.
The project released a press statement on Friday in which more light was shed on the damage caused by the helicopter sight-seeing tour on April 22 at Mercury Island in the Spencer Bay area.
Hundred of nests of the most endangered seabirds – Bank Cormorant, African Penguin and Cape Gannet – were destroyed.
This amounted to the killing of around 600 incubated eggs and chicks. All three species are only found in this region and are at risk of extinction, according to the statement.
Mercury Island is Namibia’s most important seabird-breeding site for and home to nearly three quarters of the world population of the endangered Bank Cormorant and the largest Namibian colony of African Penguins.
“[The incident] highlights the dangers that fly-in tourism (and low flying in particular) can cause to our environment and biodiversity,” the statement read.
“While aerial tourism has greatly developed in recent years in Namibia and along our coast in particular, … this disaster shows that misbehaving pilots can cause very severe environmental damage indeed, hence the need for strict regulations of this activity over sensitive and protected areas.”
Helicopter pilot Ben Simpson, working for Tropic Air in Kenya, Namibian tour guide Andre Schoeman and three tourists were said to be participants in low flying over the Namib-Naukluft National Park and the Namibian Islands Marine Protected Area (NIMPA), before attempting to land twice on the island and finally landed in the vicinity of the seal colony near the wreck of the Otavi inside the National Park.
According to the statement, the pilot’s actions were in blatant disregard of several regulations of the Directorate of Civil Aviation, the Nature Conservation Ordinance and the Marine Resources Act.
The Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Bernhard Esau, last week told The Namibian that all the ministries of Transport, Environment and Fisheries were working together in compiling a final report that would pave the way for possible legal action.
The incident has attracted much criticism, with some calling for those responsible to be sued, and the income used for the rehabilitation of the area.