A global celebration as SA announces 5% ocean protection expansion

The approval yesterday of 20 new and expanded Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by South Africa’s Cabinet, bringing the total protection of the oceans around South Africa up to 5% (from 0.4%), is a massive win for marine conservation in African waters. This bold action for our oceans has been spearheaded by the late Minister Edna Molewa of the Department of Environmental Affairs, who published the intention to declare a network of 22 new/expanded MPAs covering at least 5% of the nation’s mainland.

“We congratulate President Ramaphosa and his government for taking this bold step to underwrite the health of our oceans. It is a tribute to the visionary leadership of the late Minister Edna Molewa and her team who have worked so hard to achieve this important outcome,” said Dr Jean Harris of WILDOCEANS. “This will ensure South Africa is on track to meet our international obligation to protect 10% by 2020, and the scientifically recommended 30% by 2030.  Critically, it will safeguard marine resources for the benefit of all South Africans.”

A broad-based coalition of organisations including WILDOCEANS, Ocean Unite, WWF-SA, Centre for Environmental Rights and the South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR) have been supporting the expansion of South Africa’s marine protected areas. In June this year, this coalition launched a campaign called “Only This Much”, which seeks to mobilise a regional movement for increased protection across all African national waters and Africa’s Southern Ocean territories. is determined that the momentum of protection expansion must not slow down and ultimately wish to see 10% MPAs by 2020 and 30% of the oceans around South Africa strongly protected by 2030.

“This development is a massive first step towards greater protection and South Africa have now established themselves as an ocean leader in Africa,” said Karen Sack, Managing Director at Ocean Unite.

Youth Ambassador for the ‘Only This Much’ campaign, Ruth Mthembu, said, “I would like thank the Department of Environmental Affairs and government for putting marine protection first, not only is this wonderful news for South Africans but for the generations to come – as this is the ocean they will inherit.”

MPAs are key tools in an integrated ocean management toolbox required to address the multi-faceted and complex challenges facing our oceans, and to build long-term social, ecological and economic resilience. They are important means of reducing ocean risk from human impacts and providing long-term insurance against short-term threats. They provide refuges for threatened species, allow damaged ecosystems to recover and help rebuild collapsed fish stocks. They offer direct economic and social benefits to people, as well as climate mitigation services.

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Impactful partnership for the environment

The WILDTRUST, a leading South African environmental NPO, is partnering with multinational corporation, The Dow Chemical Company who are driving innovations that extract value from material, polymer, chemical and biological science to help address many of the world’s most challenging problems. Their support for the WILDTRUST will be rolled through a grant assistance programme known as the Dow IMPACT FUND, to deliver on a ‘circular economy’ programme that will enable a cleaner environment through recycling, job creation and social well-being.

Despite its magnificence and cultural diversity, South Africa is unfortunately plagued with two challenges which are unemployment and poor waste management. South Africa has a current unemployment rate of 26.7% which equates to 6 million unemployed South Africans, most of whom can be found in rural and peri-urban communities.

WILDTRUST CEO, Dr Andrew Venter says that to address these challenges, the partnership with Dow will support the expansion of the WILDTRUST’s Recycling Village model through which collection points are established in shopping centre parking lots, enabling the potential collection of over 1 200 000 kgs of recyclable waste from approximately 10 000 local homes.

Furthermore, the project will see the underwriting of a sustainable clean-up operation of the Durban Harbour. It will ensure the ongoing removal of the waste that accrues in the harbour, through the employment of a dedicated team of local community members as part of the WILDOCEANSBlue Crew (a team of local female entrepreneurs, who collect waste accumulating along our coastline).

This will enable the collection of over 100 000 kgs of recyclable waste from the Port, including 60 000 kgs of plastic material that would otherwise land up in the ocean.
“This important and impactful partnership creates a space to work together to achieve the outcomes that form part of our sustainability vision, and addresses South Africa’s waste and unemployment challenges”, concluded Venter.

The project will also support post-consumer end-use application innovation underwriting the establishment of an experimental extrusion line to test the ability to blend various combinations of multi-material, multi-layer and other unrecyclable plastic into a recyclate that can then be beneficiated into end-use applications like Green Desks, building materials and diesel. Based at the WILDLANDS’ Midmar Recycling depot, this will be run by the existing depot management team and create employment for additional depot-based community members.

Through the WILDTRUST School’s Recycling Programme, these initiatives will be further enhanced by educating the children about recycling, plastic, packaging and the circular economy with the aim of reaching 25 000 learners across 50 schools.

Javier Constante, Commercial Vice President, Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics, EMEA concludes, “We at Dow have made a commitment to sustainability, as we see the need for action is clear and urgent. Collaboration is key to everything we do in Africa. There are people here who are already making in-roads into tackling waste management infrastructure and recycling, and promoting a circular economy. It is these agencies, NPOs and partners that we want to collaborate with.”

Dow and the WILDTRUST also joined forces to launch Project Butterfly, an Africa based initiative started by Dow, to clean-up part of the Durban Harbour. Coming together with their customers, stakeholders, partners, government agencies and NPOs, they collectively cleaned part of the Bayhead Mangrove Swamps. Afterwards a networking session was held to further cement their commitment to those making inroads towards a cleaner environment, and to making a difference to local communities.

Students gather critical data about the oceans

WILDOCEANS’ Ocean Stewards recently completed the inaugural Canyon Connections expedition in partnership with the African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme (ACEP).
The aim of the Canyon Connections project is to understand the ecology around canyon heads in the ocean. This year’s work was focused over three canyons in the Delagoa Region, Diepgat, Wright and Leven Canyon.Initiated to provide infrastructure and associated funding support for ecosystem research centred on coelacanths, ACEP is a flagship programme of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the National Research Foundation (NRF). The initiative was triggered by the discovery of this rare species off Sodwana Bay, South Africa, but the scope has since extended way beyond coelacanths to doing extensive ocean research implemented through the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB). ACEP’s key partners are the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA – Oceans and Coasts) and the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON).ACEP has been in partnership with WILDOCEANS for the last 5 years and has also collaborated on the Spatial Solutions and Biodiversity Surrogacy projects which provided the first visual surveys of the mesophotic habitats in the ocean in the Natal Bioregion.The Spatial Solutions project focused on the continental shelf and shelf edge between Richards Bay and Port Edward where five (5) Critical Biodiversity Areas (CBAs) were identified. Spatial solutions, such as marine protected areas (MPAs), provide important mechanisms to ensure sustainability of fisheries and to buffer global impacts. MPAs offer a cost-effective tool for mitigating risk from industrial practices such as oil and gas exploration and extraction and preventing habitat loss from seabed mining and bottom-trawling.The WILDOCEANS Ocean Stewards programme is a strategic intervention, exposing students to offshore marine research, and an initiative creating a growing community of new generation ocean advocates.

The month-long Ocean Stewards Canyon Connections offshore research expedition onboard the 72 ft Research Vessel Angra Pequena, was to gather data that will be used to assist in the understanding of the biodiversity and ecology of the canyons and their shelf regions.

Collected eggs and larvae of fish, small organisms floating near the ocean surface as well as mapped measurements in the water column. Baited Remote Underwater Vehicle (BRUV) and Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV) data were collected on the benthic (seafloor) communities and the first pelagic (open ocean) BRUVs were trialled.

The experience was an eye-opener for the diverse group of marine biology students who come from all walks of life. Despite having an academic interest in the marine field, for many of the students it was their first time out at sea.

Jamila Janna, a 2018 Ocean Steward and UKZN marine biology honours student, said that for her the experience went beyond reading a textbook or watching research videos. “It was special being out at sea with scientists and crew. BRUV work required a lot of physical power which I enjoyed especially when we had to retrieve the plankton net. We looked at corals in our coastline and the fish that live there, it was an important expedition because we don’t have that much data on what happens in the benthos of South Africa. Doing this research for a long period of time will allow us to see if there are any changes that are occurring at the benthos. This will also help inform decision making related to the protection of our oceans moving forward.”

The young scientists had the opportunity to experience marine science research first hand while working with experienced scientists from a variety of fields. They were exposed to a range of offshore sampling techniques and research equipment. Their efforts will assist in identifying offshore areas in need of protection in support of the proposed expanded Phakisa Marine Protected Area (MPA) Network in South Africa.

Dr Jean Harris, Executive Director of WILDOCEANS said – “We hope to build support amongst public and ocean stakeholders for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by creating awareness of their value for provision of ecosystem services, ocean risk mitigation, food security, ecotourism benefits and moderation of climate change.”

This year’s data collection focused on BRUV and ichthyoplankton work in areas where ROV had already been collected. In total, the Spatial Solutions project has identified 127 fish species and ROV surveys collected over 60 hours of seabed filming.

Dr Harris said that since its inception in 2015, the Ocean Stewards programme has grown to include sixty-nine third year, Honours and Masters students from 5 universities across the country.  The programme provides a research platform for their projects, including research equipment and operational costs.  “We’re grateful to all our partners who’ve given us support on the programme. I’d like to thank Grindrod Bank and several other partners including ACEP, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the South African Institute of African Biodiversity (SAIAB), the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (UKZN), University of Zululand (UNIZUL), the Nelson Mandela University (NMU), Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and the KZN Sharks board,” she added.

Dr Angus Paterson, Managing Director of SAIAB said the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity strongly believes in sustainable development of the Blue Economy. “Government cannot do this alone and thus joint initiatives with Industry and NGO’s are required. WILDOCEANS Ocean Stewards programme is an excellent example of a partnership between Government and a leading NGO.”

17 new Ocean Stewards joined the programme in April 2017. In 2018 an additional 16 students have been recruited. This year has seen an increase in the intake of students at Honours level, resulting in 10 new Ocean Stewards; 6 from the University of Zululand (UNIZUL) and 4 from UKZN. The remaining 6 Ocean Stewards joining this year are all final year undergraduate marine biology students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).