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

State of Saldanha Bay & Langebaan Lagoon 2011
Introduction
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Saldanha Bay is situated on the west coast of South Africa, approximately 100 km north of Cape
Town and is directly linked to the shallow, tidal Langebaan Lagoon. The Bay and Lagoon are
considered to be one of the biodiversity “hot spots” in the country and an area of exceptional
beauty.
A number of marine protected areas have been proclaimed in and around the Bay, while
Langebaan Lagoon and much of the surrounding land falls within the West Coast National Park
(Figure 1.1). Langebaan Lagoon was also declared a Ramsar Site in 1988, along with a series of
islands within Saldanha Bay (Schaapen, Marcus, Malgas and Jutten).
Figure 1.1.
Regional map of Saldanha Bay and Langebaan Lagoon showing development (grey shading)
and conservation areas.
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