Environment Minister Mohammed Valli Moosa has announced his intention to designate five new marine protected areas, according to his department staff at Parliament on Monday. The areas will be designated in the government gazette on Tuesday.
The announcement at a news conference at Parliament coincided with a media conference at the Johannesburg International Airport by the minister — who is on his way to the seventh meeting of the Convention of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Malaysia.
The marine areas — which officials described as the sea equivalent of the South African national parks — will include the Aliwal Shoal, adjacent to Umkomaas, KwaZulu Natal; the coastal and marine environment adjacent to Pondoland in the Eastern Cape; Bird Island at Algoa Bay, Eastern Cape; Cape Peninsula in the Western Cape and Namaqualand in the Northern Cape.
This will put 19% of South Africa’s coastline into protected areas — only just short of the international target as recommended by the World Parks Congress of 20%.
Management of Bird Island, Namaqualand and Cape Peninsula will be vested with the South African National Parks Authority.
Once the marine areas were gazetted there would be 90 days in which public comment would be invited on regulations which would include the regulation of diving and fishing.
Officials said at the Aliwal Shoal steps would be taken to protect four species of soft corals and 15 species of hard corals. Agreement had been struck to stop the fishing of bream which had been heavily fished in the area.
In the Pondoland area between Port St John’s and the Mtamvuna River there was ”a unique mix of tropical and temperate ecosystems” The has been heavy exploitation of the linefish species spawned there and inter-tidal shellfishery ”also needs to be brought under control”, said officials.
The area will extend 15km out to sea and will cover 1 300 square kilometres.
The Bird Island Group — including Bird, Seal and Stag Islands in Algoa Bay — was the first step in the seaward extension of the Greater Addo Elephant National Park. Bird Island was the home to several species of red-data listed seabirds including Cape gannett, roseatte tern, African penguin — while the reefs around the islands were important for abalone and linefish ”many of which are threatened”.
The Cape Peninsula marine protected area included all the coastal waters around the Cape Peninsula from Mouille Point — a prestigious flatland area — in the west to Muizenberg in the east.
”Unfortunately the intensity of harvesting on the peninsula has exceeded the capacity of many of the fish species to replace themselves, and many are severely over-exploited,” said officials.
Closed areas will be located for the protection of abalone, rock lobster, linefish, penguins and scuba diving sites.
In Namaqualand – affected by diamond, oil and gas mining operations — the marine protected area will extend from the inter-tidal area between the Groen and Spoeg rivers and extending out to sea to include Child’s Bank. Its extent will be 9 700 square kilometres. – Sapa