South African Country Life – September 2019

I

n the laid-back village of Sodwana on

the far north-eastern Elephant Coast,

where, in a sense, the beach and the

sea are the meaning of life, I meet

a man with a dream to equip needy

children of the area to be champions of nature.

Peter Jacobs, who has been diving in

Sodwana Bay since the late 1980s, and is

perhaps more at home in the ocean than on dry

land, runs a community-outreach programme

teaching local youngsters about conservation

and the natural wonders of their region.

Life, he says, is grim for many children

there and they often roam the streets aimlessly.

“Some have never even been to the beach, so

we take them there to have fun. We teach them

to swim,andthento surf,andweincorporate

otheractivities,suchasturtletours,andtrips

to LakeSibaya,anddoregularlitterpickups.”

Theeffectonthechildren,hesays,is

remarkable.Theydareto dream.“They

developa differentperspectiveontheirhome

town.It becomesmorethanjusta place

to leave.”Instead,it’swheretheycanfind

opportunitiesto bepartofthevibranttourism

industrythatexistsbecauseoftheabundant

marinebiodiversitythere.

They’renottheonlyoneswhoselivesare

touchedbytheocean.Wearealldependent

onit. AsJacques-YvesCousteausaid,

‘...thewatercycleandthelifecycleare

one.’Andsothegazettingof 20 newMarine

ProtectedAreas(MPAs)earlierthisyearis

to becelebratedasanimportantsteptoward

protectingecosystems,alongwithourown

healthandwell-being.

TheInternationalUnionforConservation

ofNaturedefinesanMPAas,‘Aclearlydefined

geographicalspace,recognised,dedicated

andmanaged,throughlegalorothereffective

means,to achievethelong-termconservationof

naturewithassociatedecosystemservicesand

culturalvalues’.

SaysDrBruceMannoftheOceanographic

ResearchInstitute(ORI)in Durban,anarm

oftheSouthAfricanAssociationforMarine

BiologicalResearch(SAAMBR),“Theworld’s

approximately5 000MPAscoveranareaof

2.85millionsquarekilometres.Thisrepresents

0.8percentoftheworld’soceanspace.Prior

to therecentdeclaration,SouthAfricahad

25 MPAs[includingthePrinceEdwardIslands

andWalkerBay].AroundmainlandSouth

Africathisis madeup0.43percentofour

ExclusiveEconomicZone(EEZ).Withthe

recentdeclaration,SouthAfricanowhas

41 MPAsthatcoverfivepercentofourEEZ.”

Yetthetotalisn’tenough.TheAichiBiodiversity

Targetis fortenpercentcoverageby 2020 and,

saysBruce,moreMPAsarebeingplanned.

TheseMPAsrepresentdiverseecosystems

alongour2 850-kilometrecoast,fromthe

mostnorth-westerlyone– the1 200km²

NamaquaFossilForestMPAofftheWest

Coast,whereuniquesubmergedfossilised

TOP: Show-stoppingsunrisesaretheorderofthedayonIngweBeachatStLucia.ABOVELEFT:Turtletour

operators Peter JacobsandThembaNdlovuarecommittedtoraisingawarenessoftheseancientreptiles.

ABOVE RIGHT: Rod andDebzOscroft,amongthefirstdiveinstructorstobepermanentlybasedin Sodwana

Bay in the 1990s.

http://www.countrylife.co.za 059 September 2019

MARINE PROTECTED AREAS CONSERVATION