Eastern Cape conservation has received a R8,1-million boost from the National Lottery to build a marine rehabilitation centre in Port Elizabeth, the beneficiary, the SA Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre Trust (Samrec), said on Monday.
The centre would be used to treat injured and oiled gannets, seals and seabirds, including Algoa Bay’s endangered African penguins.
The trust’s main aim has always been to have a marine rehabilitation centre up and running, particularly before the industrial development zone, Coega, is completed.
Samrec chairman Clive Sharwood said: ”Algoa Bay in Port Elizabeth is a national and a natural treasure. It is fitting that its environmental future is now being secured by all South Africans who play Lotto.”
The centre was needed urgently — if there was a single small oil spill in Port Elizabeth’s Algoa Bay, there would be no facility to cope with the injured marine animals.
”Our environmental paradise could be irreversibly damaged in a flash. In fact, if nothing is done to preserve our African penguins, in 30 years time the population will be zero. Just a drop of oil can destroy a penguin’s insulation and prevent it from
entering the sea to feed.”
The islands in the bay are home to 35 of the 91 recorded southern African seabird species and six of the 14 resident species breed there.
The global population of the endangered African penguin had slid 90% in the last century to less than 200 000, Samrec said. More than half of these live in the bay.
It is also the only breeding spot in the world for the rare roseate tern of which only 400 remain, while Bird Island in the bay is home to the largest Cape gannetry in the world.
The new centre should be able to deal with up to 200 African penguins, 10 to 12 seal pups and 20 to 30 seabirds at one time.
In an emergency up to 2 500 birds could be accommodated in temporary facilities. There would also be space for turtles, other seabirds and about a dozen seal pups.
At present Bayworld aquarium staff and volunteers handle over 350 penguins and mammals stranded annually.
Since the Lotto award was announced last week, the National Ports Authority, builders of the new Coega port, and the Coega Development Corporation have apparently pledged additional financial aid. – Sapa