STRATEGY IN ACTION:
FIREWORKS: HOW THEY SQUARE UP TO V&A’s SUSTAINABILITY COMMITMENTS
In this case study we look at the V&A Waterfront Company’s commitment to its traditional fireworks display, as part of New Year’s Eve festivities. Animal rights-driven concerns have made this practice somewhat controversial. In response, the V&A has engaged extensively with animal-rights organisations, and commissioned independent research to ascertain the impact of fireworks on marine wildlife in and around the Waterfront.
This document explores the outcomes of that research, and establishes the way forward.
GLOSSARY
| dB(A). | The standard for measuring noise pollution: a measure of loudness that approximates how the human ear perceives different frequencies. It gives less weight to very low and very high frequencies, reflecting the fact that the human ear is most sensitive to mid-range frequencies. |
| NYE. | New Year’s Eve |
| The City/ CCT. | City of Cape Town |
| V&A. | The V&A Waterfront Company |
| Waterfront. | The precinct managed by V&A |
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Early in 2024, the V&A Waterfront Company (“the V&A”) undertook to work with independent researchers to understand if and how fireworks displays in the harbour might affect marine wildlife in and around the Waterfront area.
Respected specialists Sea Search Research and Conservation, a collection of scientists and students focusing on marine mammal science and led for this project by Dr Tess Grindley, spent some weeks around year-end 2024/ beginning of 2025 identifying marine species which are resident in or are regular visitors to the precinct. The team also measured ambient noise levels, in order to be clear how the New Year’s Eve (“NYE”) music concert and fireworks display escalated these noise levels. For the event, they tracked resident and visiting marine wildlife to ascertain responses to the elevated noise and disruption.
The findings were that there was a slight change in animal behaviour, notably that some Cape fur seals gave an alarm response to the fireworks, expressed through increased vocalisation and alertness, as well as temporarily leaving the basking platforms for the harbour’s waters. This change was, however, temporary.
The V&A is therefore resolved that although planned fireworks will take place, measures to mitigate any negative impacts will continue in consultation with animal-rights organisations.
CONTEXT
THE LANDSCAPE
The V&A Waterfront is a 123ha precinct adjacent to central Cape Town and the Atlantic Seaboard suburbs of Mouille Point and Green Point. It is a mixed-use commercial development intersecting with the industrial activity of the Port of Cape Town.
The founding and abiding philosophy of the V&A is to connect the people of Cape Town with the sea. The design thus consciously elevates the activities of the working harbour and yacht basin around which it is built. A third of the ocean-fronting property is dedicated to ocean-based industries; there are 3,5km of quay walls and jetties in regular use.
The other primary categories of activities on the precinct are:
- Hotels and residential properties;
- Commercial buildings, ranging from the headquarters of blue chip companies to co-working spaces for small, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs);
- Retail, including prestige brands, global and local chains, independent stores, outlets for makers in the creative economy, and a broad selection of eateries ranging from award-winning restaurants to food trucks; and
- Leisure and cultural attractions such as a heliport and harbour cruises; an amphitheatre; a skateboarding park and basketball court; a landmark Big Wheel; and museums. The Waterfront is also the departure point for the ferries to Robben Island.
Placemaking – the design and use of the spaces between buildings – is a particular focus of the V&A, contributing to its intention to be a space in which visitors may relax in a safe and beautiful environment. Buskers, concerts, broadcasts of sports fixtures and other free entertainments are a regular feature.
The precinct is home to nearly 900 businesses, half of which are SMMEs. About 25 000 people live and/or work at the Waterfront. It is also home to the significant research institutions of the Two Oceans Aquarium and its Foundation, and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Mocaa), the world’s largest museum dedicated to contemporary African art.
Apart from its adjacency to the ocean, the precinct is distinguished by the fact that it is a privately owned space effectively managed as a public space, and is free to access. Visitors, both locals and tourists, flock to it: the Waterfront sees about 26 million visits a year.
The V&A Waterfront is co-owned by two South African shareholders: South Africa’s largest private-sector property development company, Growthpoint, and the Public Investment Corporation, representing the Government Employees’ Pension Fund.
The precinct’s contribution, especially to local employment and the local economy, is significant: it contributes about 2% to the annual GDP of the Western Cape.
V&A WATERFRONT STRATEGY
The V&A defines itself as an ecosystem development company. On top of the traditional developer/ landlord functions of building, leasing and maintaining the buildings and their supporting infrastructure, the V&A expends significant resources on building the precinct’s identity as a vibrant, desirable neighbourhood of Cape Town, and a neighbourhood that creates value for communities and businesses beyond its own boundaries.
In 2019 it formalised these intentions by adopting its Shared Value Ecosystem strategy, based on the principles of Michael Porter’s theory of Shared Value[1], i.e. creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing those societal needs and challenges that intersect with the business. The “ecosystem” dimension of the strategy relates to the recognition that in a precinct such as this, almost unlimited opportunities exist for mutually beneficial collaboration in non-competitive spaces – the “1 + 1 = 3” principle. To this end, its purpose statement is:
Collectively creating the world’s most inspiring waterfront neighbourhood.
Each of those terms is intentional:
- “Collectively” and “neighbourhood” refer to the idea that this is a mutually beneficial ecosystem, which by working together can achieve more than the sum of its parts
- “Creating” acknowledges that this is ongoing work
- “Most inspiring” refers to the Waterfront’s stated intent of being a refreshing and energetic contributor to society, including innovating in sustainability, amplifying opportunities in the creative economy, and demonstrating the art of the possible
The three strategic pillars that give effect to the strategy, and the lenses through which the Waterfront assesses its work are: inclusivity, sustainability and opportunity. The fourth strategic pillar, commercial success, lies at the intersect of these pillars. Each has an ambitious goal.
COMPETING INTERESTS
Achieving this is complex. The Waterfront is, as noted, a mixed-use property. Among work conducted here might be fishing, or boat work – building, repairing and refuelling boats. Among the leisure attractions are water-sports and cruise ships. Into this mix come container ships and tugs, seals and turtles, marine birds, and fish from tiny mackerel through to sunfish, dolphins and whales. Managing this space requires the kind of sustainability balancing act the world has often failed to achieve, while the V&A seeks to remain true also to its other strategic lenses: inclusivity, and opportunity (viz, ocean economy opportunities).
THE NEW YEAR’S EVE EVENT
For many years, the V&A has hosted a free-to-access family-friendly New Year’s Eve concert, often including a fireworks display, which attracts capacity crowds. In 2019, in response to the Covid lockdown and mindful of the socio-economic realities that prevailed in its wake, the concert and fireworks display were cancelled. In subsequent years, dimensions of the annual celebration were reinstated, including, in 2023, a five-minute-long fireworks display.
The fireworks reinstatement proved to be controversial, with the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) leading an 11th-hour court bid to block them, arguing that they constituted a threat to wildlife in and around the Waterfront, some of which are protected species.
The V&A acknowledged these concerns. It also acknowledged questions about detritus from expired fireworks polluting the very ocean it spends time and resources seeking to protect.
On the other hand, the Waterfront NYE display is one of very few opportunities Cape Town’s children and their families ever have to experience the magic of fireworks – the NYE event is a promise to Cape Town which is sorely missed when it does not take place. As it can be viewed also from other viewpoints around the city such as Signal Hill, where people flock on NYE, its audience is extensive.
It is, also, as Cape Town’s only permitted site for a fireworks display to mark a new year at midnight on New Year’ Eve, a nudge in the right direction. As Beauty Without Cruelty noted in a letter to the V&A: “It is important to recognise that those who are watching are not participating in setting off fireworks illegally in their neighbourhoods, and this represents a significant achievement for all parties involved, as well as most importantly, the benefit to suburban domestic and stray animals, the local environments and wildlife.”
And, finally, there are ways in which the grand formal display elevates Cape Town as a destination: the midnight moment is also often part of international media interest and coverage of major cities marking the crossover into the new year.
Although the Western Cape High Court dismissed the SPCA’s 2023 application to ban the display, that organisation, along with other concerned organisations, agreed that the V&A could definitively ascertain the facts about if and how the flashes and bangs of fireworks affect marine wildlife[2] – and whether, through continuing to put on this annual event, the price paid by wildlife is such that the other benefits should take a back seat.
THE RESEARCH
Although NYE fireworks displays are a prominent feature of cities globally (London over the Thames, Sydney and Hong Kong over their harbours) desktop research did not emerge any usefully relevant global research. The V&A therefore commissioned independent research, agreeing with all that the 2024 event – again, including a music concert and a five-minute fireworks display – could be used to gather evidence on how marine wildlife is affected. That, in turn, would inform the V&A’s thinking for future NYE events.
The research, conducted by Sea Search Research and Conservation, was led by Dr Tess Grindley, an eminent marine biologist with a special interest in marine mammals. It resulted in a report released early in 2025 entitled “Impacts of Fireworks and Human Noise on Wildlife at the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, over New Year’s Eve 2024/2025”.
METHODOLOGY
To begin, Sea Search reviewed the key wildlife species found at the V&A and in the adjacent ocean, focusing on threatened or protected species (TOP species)[3]. These species’ acoustic behaviour, hearing sensitivities, and known responses to sound informed the work.
To assess the potential impact of the NYE events, a suite of techniques was employed, namely passive acoustic monitoring, sound pressure measurements, camera traps and videography. The process involved, firstly, establishing baseline data on above- and below-water sound levels, and animal presence and behaviour in the months before and after the event, i.e. December 2024 and January 2025. To understand the impact of the fireworks, there was focused collection of data around the event to ascertain the difference in sound levels, and the response of the animals to the event.
FINDINGS
As it is a commercial and industrial hub, it is hardly surprising that the Waterfront is a relatively noisy space in the normal course of events. The research identified certain everyday activities as being particular contributors to in-air sound levels, notably construction noise, vessel maintenance activities, helicopters taking off and returning to the onsite helipads (the most intense sound recorded), human crowd noise, and – as anyone who has spent time around them can testify – the noise generated by the seals themselves on the basking platforms they are provided.
The NYE event, the research found, was at its noisiest during the countdown to midnight, when the everyday level of 50-60dB(A) with a peak of about 70 dB(A) increased to around 80 dB(A).
Turning to underwater sound levels, the research found that boat traffic was the biggest everyday contributor – motors, depth sounders, and movement of chains, jetties and moorings. During the NYE event, there was little difference in underwater sound levels, although there was increased boat traffic.
In terms of animal behaviour, the research noted that the Cape fur seals who make the Waterfront their home – a particular subject of this study – were indifferent to the NYE crowds and noise: minimal change in their behaviour was noted. The flashes from the fireworks display resulted in short-lived increased vigilance and barking; sometimes the seals dived into the harbour before hauling themselves out again onto the basking platforms, but no longer-term changes or evidence of distress were noted.
The research notes that there were no dolphins seen in Granger Bay for several days on either side of NYE, but that may have had to do with greater recreational boat traffic over the peak holiday season.
CONCLUSION
The researchers concluded that there is an impact on wildlife, but that it is light and short-term. The V&A’s considered response is that it takes the research findings on board, in detail, and where possible it will introduce mitigations further to those already in place, but that on balance, it seems that there are no grounds for animal-welfare considerations to override what is for many families an annual treat and highlight.
WAY FORWARD: DISCUSSION POINTS & NEXT STEPS
Beyond sound and light impact, fireworks can have other negative environmental impacts. Of particular interest to the V&A is whether advancing technologies may reduce the volumes of microplastics[4] generated which – given the site on a barge in the harbour – fall mostly into the ocean. As a reference point, Sea Search Research cited an investigation into the effects of the 2019 NYE fireworks on the River Thames: it found a 1 000% increase in microplastics from 30th December 2019 to six hours after 1st January 2020. That investigation conceded that the level of plastic debris depends on the brand of fireworks used. The V&A already preferences lower-impact fireworks, and will incrementally transition as fireworks technology improves.
In the meantime, the V&A’s actions to mitigate the downsides while continuing to provide the benefit of the NYE event include in 2025, after discussions with concerned organisations and in the wake of the research findings:
- To reduce noise exposure: The fireworks display will begin with a smaller number of shells, resulting in a relatively quieter start. This reflects the research finding that the slower escalation of sound softens the impact.
- To maintain a reduced duration of the fireworks display of five minutes, lessening the exposure for wildlife and nearby residents.
- To give preference to fireworks packaging made from biodegradable materials; and to those which have a more eco-friendly, clean-burning, nitrogen-based fuel.
- To limit fireworks to those which are ground-based. These stay in one place, reducing particles falling into the ocean, and making it easier to remove detritus.
- Environmental and animal monitoring: Additional monitoring of animal activity and waste will take place in and around the harbour precinct during the festivities and again the following morning to assess and address any impacts. Harbour cleaning boats will be active.
In addition, the V&A makes a point of aligning with the City’s own communication initiatives, generating early public awareness messaging about the timing of the discharge of fireworks, allowing pet owners within sight and sound of the Waterfront display to make appropriate arrangements for their pets. (See the Protect Your Pets web page.) This communication also encourages communities to move away from uncontrolled residential fireworks.
The V&A continues to keep open communications with animal-welfare bodies and other interested parties.
ADDENDUM: Participants leading this project
| Bobby Stewart | Executive Manager: Strategic Relations & HR, V&A Waterfront | |
| Donald Kau | Head of Communications & PR, V&A Waterfront | |
| Drs Tess Gridley, Sasha Dines, Simon Elwen & Rachel Probert | Sea Search and Conservation | |
| Scientists and researchers at the Two Oceans Aquarium and its Foundation | ||
[1] https://www.isc.hbs.edu/creating-shared-value/Pages/default.aspx
[2] This research does not extend to the impact on domestic animals. The display is launched from a barge within the harbour, some distance away from neighbouring residential areas. Since wind direction and other conditions are factored into the display design, no part of any firework makes its way onto land. Moreover, it is expected that pets’ owners have the ability to and would take reasonable precautions with regard to their own pets.
[3] The affected species living wild in and around the Waterfront are:
- Mammals: Cape clawless otter (occasional), Cape fur seal (resident), Heavisides dolphin (resident in Granger Bay but seldom in the harbour), African dusky & Common dolphins (occasional), Humpback whale (very occasional)
- Sea birds: African oystercatcher & Hartlaub’s gull (resident), Cape and Crowned cormorant, Kelp gull and swift tern (daytime visitors)
[4] Fireworks contain polymeric binders made from natural materials like starch or Arabic gum, or synthetic materials like nitrocellulose, polyurethane, and PVC. Rocket-type fireworks include mortars made from paper, HDPE, or steel, and plastic cones for flight. These materials, along with toxic substances, metals, and plastics, are commonly found as pollutants around firework display sites.