The Community Action Now group in Mossel Bay, formed three months ago to co-ordinate resistance to a planned sardine cannery in the centre of the harbour, ceased all its activities on Monday.

Organiser and spokesman Carlene Heidbrink attributed the decision to the high costs of litigation, which appeared to be the only recourse for the group when government officials who had been approached to participate in public debate on the project refused to co-operate.

Heidbrink said: "Our legal team advised that costs for a Supreme Court action could rise to up to R500,000 and we did not have sufficient funds to cover that. We are now trying to obtain baseline data on noise and pollution before the factory starts production so that when processing starts in mid-year we have accurate information to compare with and can assess the situation later in the year if there is a case to answer that the factory has measurably caused a deterioration in the environment." Construction of the cannery will continue as planned.

One of the leaders and founders of the group, Professor Erwin Schwella, said: "Although our legal advisers said that action could be justified, the decision was taken not to proceed on the basis of the potential costs involved."

The group, known in the town as the CAN association, consisted of some 200 participants including residents, hoteliers and two black empowerment groups. They were concerned about the risks to the tourism industry in the town as well as the potential of pollution as a result of the fish processing and packing.

The group was trying to lobby the municipality to move the planned development out of the harbour to Mossel Bay's industrial area.

Backing up the statement made in The Herald by the incoming chairman of the Mossel Bay Tourism Board Louis Cook, CAN's strategy now is to wait until the factory is in operation and monitor closely the effects as the processing starts.

A CAN statement detailing the decision to stop operating said the task of monitoring any adverse effect on traffic flow, noise, air, earth or maritime pollution would now fall to the local residents and the Mossel Bay Tourism Board.

The cannery is a project of the Cape Town -based Afro-Fishing Company which expects the factory to be completed and operational by June or July.

Eastern Province Herald