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09 August 2019
Addo Elephant Park has a new marine protected area
By ATTA®A total of 1 127 square kilometres of sandy beaches, rocky shores, reefs, an estuary and islands, were last Thursday officially declared as the Addo Elephant National Park Marine Protected Area (MPA).
“A marine protected area is an area of coastline or ocean that is specifically protected for the benefit of people and nature,” said Fayroush Ludick, Regional Communications Manager at SANParks.
“They help manage part of the marine environment to rebuild fisheries populations, keep marine ecosystems working properly and protect the range of species living there.”
It is one of three new MPAs within South African National Parks (SANParks) which were gazetted by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) on May 23, 2019. The other two are the Robben Island MPA (to be managed by Table Mountain National Park) and the Namaqua National Park MPA, which form part of 20 new national MPAs.
“This declaration was the culmination of many years of work by South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI,) SANParks, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and DEA,” said Ludick.
MPAs are divided into controlled and restricted zones to allow for both protection and use of resources.
“The protection of the estuary and reefs are important for the recovery of valuable fisheries resources such as abalone and kob.
“It also protects important feeding areas for the 9 000 pairs of endangered African penguins breeding at St Croix Island and the 60 000 pairs of endangered Cape gannets breeding at Bird Island,” said Ludick.
The MPA will facilitate nature-based tourism and serve as an outdoor classroom for educational activities. This new network of MPAs increases the conservation footprint of South Africa’s oceans from 0.43 to five percent and is a major achievement for conservation.
“Planners and lawyers spent five years developing the shape, size and regulations for these MPAs with many compromises on all sides,” said Ludick.
Source: News24