More Marine Protected Areas for WCape

The Department of Environmental Affairs said that seven more areas between Lamberts Bay and Mossel Bay will get Marine Protected Areas.

Cape Town - The Western Cape stands to get seven more Marine Protected Areas that will enhance biodiversity, fisheries management, tourism and research in the region.

Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa has made public a draft notice and regulations to declare a network of 22 new proposed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as part of the Operation Phakisa initiative that will increase the area of protected ocean along the South African coast to 5 percent. Operation Phakisa is a presidential project to fast track the development of South Africa’s ocean economy.

The minister on Tuesday said in a statement that the new declaration of these MPAs aims to create about 70 000 km2 of marine protected areas.

The seven areas proposed as protected areas in the Western Cape are scattered between Lamberts Bay and Mossel Bay. There will be other areas in the Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. According to Molewa, at present less than 0.5 percent of South Africa’s ocean ecosystems are formally protected, compared to approximately 8 percent of terrestrial protected areas.

Molewa said the areas will secure the protection of marine habitats like reefs, mangroves and coastal wetlands which are required to help protect coastal communities from the results of storm surges, rising sea-levels and extreme weather. Offshore, they will protect vulnerable habitats and secure spawning grounds for various marine species, helping to sustain fisheries and ensure long-term benefits important to food and job security.

Molewa added that the draft regulations are aimed at accelerating the implementation of management for ecologically and biological significant area, species that stand to be protected include threatened seabirds; fish and turtles through protection of their feeding areas, nursery and spawning grounds as well as key migration areas.

In a statement the World Wildlife Fund South Africa welcomed the proposal to declare new offshore and inshore marine protected areas. The organisation said that it would contribute towards securing these key areas which are the foundation of healthy and productive oceans.

The organisation said the proposed MPAs are open to comments from the public for 90 days and have already gone through an extensive stakeholder engagement process over the past two years to find the most appropriate areas which meet the dual goals of protecting important and vulnerable habitats and supporting sustainable economic development in our oceans.

“When proclaimed, these new MPAs will take South Africa’s marine protected area estate to approximately 5 percent of our oceans. This is still significantly less than our national target of 10 percent, but a meaningful step in the right direction,” said the organisation.

However, spokesman for the Department of Environmental Affairs, Zolile Nqayi, said there could be objections to the new areas, which is why they have opened a platform for public comment.

siyabonga.kalipa@inl.co.za

Cape Argus