State of the Bay Report 2011-Final.pdf - Anchor Environmental

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State of Saldanha Bay & Langebaan Lagoon 2011 Birds Figure 11.7. Map showing changes in the distribution of the Western Pea crab Pinnixa occidentalis in Saldanha Bay and Langebaan lagoon in the period 2004-2010. 244 ANCHOR e n v i r o n m en t a l
State of Saldanha Bay & Langebaan Lagoon 2011 Recommendations 12 MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING RECOMMENDATIONS Monitoring of aquatic health and activities and discharges potentially affecting health of Saldanha Bay and Langebaan Lagoon has escalated considerably in recent years owing to concerns over declining health in the Bay. This section provides a summary of the state of health of Saldanha Bay and Langebaan Lagoon as reflected by the various environmental parameters reported on in this study. It also briefly describes current monitoring efforts and provides recommendations as to management actions that need to be implemented in order to mitigate some of the threats that have been detected. It also provides recommendations on how existing monitoring activities may need to be modified in the future to accommodate changes in the state of the Bay. 12.1 Activities and discharges affecting the health of the Bay 12.1.1 Human settlements, storm water and sewage Human settlements surrounding Saldanha Bay and Langebaan Lagoon have expanded tremendously in recent years. This is brought home very strongly by population growth rates of over 9% per annum in Langebaan and nearly 7% in Saldanha over the period 2002 to 2004. This translates to a doubling in the population size every 8 years in the former case and every 10 years in the latter. Numbers of tourists visiting the area every year are increasing a similarly rapid rate. This rapid rate in development translates to an equally rapid increase in the amounts of waste and waste water that is produced and has to be treated. Expansion and upgrades of treatment facilities have for the most part not been able to cope with such a rapid rate of expansion, with the result that much of the effluent produced is discharged to the environment without adequate treatment. The amount of hardened (as opposed to naturally vegetated) surfaces surround the Bay and Lagoon have also expanded at break-neck speed in recent years, with concomitant increases in volumes of contaminated storm water running off into the Bay. The contaminant loads in waste water running off into the Bay is not adequately monitored (e.g. there is no monitoring of storm water quality or run off from Saldanha or Langebaan, trace metals in ballast water have not been assessed since 1996, trace metals in bivalves assessed through the mussel watch programme was last available in 2007), nor is it adequately controlled at present (e.g. the Saldanha and Langebaan waste water treatments works still operate off an exemption issued under the old Water Act of 1956 in spite of the fact that the new National Water Act with attendant water quality guidelines came into force in 1998). The contribution to trace metal and organic loading in the Bay from these sources is thus largely unknown, but is of concern. Provision has not been made for adequate buffers zones around the Lagoon and Bay with the result that development encroaches right up to the waters’ edge and is now widely threatened by coastal erosion. Disturbance from increasing numbers of people recreating in the Bay and lagoon of is taking its toll of sensitive habitats and species, especially seagrass, water birds and fish in Langebaan Lagoon. Urgent management intervention is required to limit further degradation of the environment from these pressures, and should focus on the following issues in particular: Ensuring that all discharges to the Bay are properly licensed and adequate monitored (both volume and water quality) and that the quality of the effluent is compliant with existing South African Water Quality Guidelines for the Coast Zone and any other legislative requirements; Development setback lines are established around the perimeter of the Bay and Lagoon that are compliant with new national legislation (specifically the Integrated Coast Management 245 ANCHOR e n v i r o n m en t a l
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Afrolittorina knysnaensis (no/0.5 m
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Lynch Point State of Saldanha Bay &
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