Natural Resources Award
Finalist: The Institute of Natural Resources’ Eastern Cape Estuaries Management Programme
Hilton Hamann
The Eastern Cape Estuaries Management Programme was started by the Institute of Natural Resources in 1998 to help promote the effective management and sustainable use of the estuaries of the Eastern Cape and Border region.
“What we try to do is provide local communities with the tools and methods needed to effectively utilise and manage their estuaries, and to give them methods to resolve conflicts and differences,” says project manager Magaret McKenzie.
People living on the marina on the Kowie river approached the programme to help with the problem of sedimentation, which was starting to interfere with the use of the water.
“While many would see this as just a case of a bunch of rich folks no longer being able to play with their speed boats, the problem was in fact much more serious,” says McKenzie. “The marina accounts for 70% of the area’s rates base and if people stopped using it and went somewhere else, that would have a huge impact on jobs and well-being.”
At Kowie river the problem of sedimentation remains. Dams built upstream have prevented flooding, a function that is required to flush estuaries. “But at least now communities who once refused to talk to each other have unified and have the ear of the government,” says McKenzie.
Many estuaries in the area are unspoiled and untouched a condition land owners have fervently tried to maintain, often by barring access to outsiders and poor local communities. It is a situation fraught with conflict and in many cases has resulted in angry confrontations.
An example is the Mtentu estuary, 25km south of the Wild Coast Sun hotel. For centuries tribal fishermen have caught giant king fish in the estuary, even though the area has been declared a nature reserve and fishing is prohibited. The authorities largely turned a blind eye to the subsistence fishermen. This upset recreational fly fishers, who believed what was sauce for the goose was sauce for the gander, so they too flaunted the law.
“Both sides felt the laws were unfair as no one had been consulted when the legislation was put in place,” says McKenzie. “There was a lot of frustration because nobody seemed to know what to do or how to approach the authorities. We helped facilitate the process and in the end everyone ended up winning.”
The local community has been given the responsibility to manage and utilise the Mtentu estuary. Subsistence fishing on a controlled basis is allowed and a programme of catch-and-release fly fishing has been put in place. But not many fish are taken from the water.
“The locals have now come to realise the most valuable fish is a fish in the water,” says Duncan Hay, director of the Institute of Natural Resources. “We calculated the direct value to the community of each fish returned to the water is around R700. About R85 000 was paid to the locals last year.” Southside Media