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Marine and Coastal Pollution Management
In order to support beneficial uses such as tourism, fishing and mariculture, the quality of South Africa’s marine and coastal water quality must be protected from all sources of pollution. South Africa is situated on one of the world's busiest shipping routes. Rough seas, an ageing world tanker fleet and human error, make oil pollution a real threat around our coastline. |
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The Department has invested in the development of an oil spill response capability, which allows equipment and manpower to be mobilized at short notice to protect beaches, estuaries, bird colonies and other sensitive areas. In 2005, the Department will train provincial and local authorities as part of its ongoing strategy to improve national capability in oil spill response.
Shipping also brings with it the threat of invasive marine species, which are brought into our waters through the discharge of ballast water. More than 22 million tones of ballast water is discharged in South Africa’s ports annually, presenting a significant threat to our marine biodiversity. The Department is currently the lead agent in a national task group of key stakeholders, and will coordinate the development of legislation and measures for the management and control of ships’ ballast water.
The dumping of waste at sea is now primarily limited to dredge spoil disposal, the sinking of obsolete vessels, and occasionally, spoiled cargoes. This activity is controlled by the Department under the Dumping at Sea Control Act 73 of 1980, which brings the London Convention 1972 into force locally, and which is being administered by the Sub-Directorate. An average of ten permits are issued per year. The Sub-Directorate is responsible for the establishment of dump sites, the screening of applications, the institution of monitoring programmes for dump sites, and for reporting on these activities to the Secretariat of the Convention.
Approximately 80% of marine pollution originates from land-based sources. A significant proportion of this comes from marine outfalls, which discharge around 800 000 cubic metres of sewage and industrial effluent into the sea daily. The Sub-Directorate provides advice on the management of these outfalls, to provincial and local water quality monitoring structures and to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, which currently regulates the outfalls. |
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