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Other recreational activities are of more concern. There is reportedly also some use of the estuary margins by quad bikers that may be causing environmental damage. Aircraft such as gyrocopters and microlights have been observed flying low over the estuary, and causing disturbance of birds. With increasing development pressure in the area, disturbance of wildlife is likely to increase. Appropriate management measures such as protected areas and zonation could be developed to guard against impacts associated with increased use. 5.7 Potential for protected area status Legislative context The White Paper on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of South Africa’s Biological Diversity (1998) recognises the importance of estuaries and commits the government to a number of strategies to protect wetlands in general, such as facilitating the development of appropriate legislation to secure their conservation, promoting the establishment of a National System of Protected Wetlands, preventing inappropriate activities and development around wetlands, finding ways to recognise wetlands in planning and decision-making, determining the impact of fishers and developing guidelines for managing them. Marine reserves were previously proclaimed under the Sea Fishery Act 12 of 1988 or under the National Parks Act 57 of 1976. Now all marine reserves have been re-proclaimed under the Marine Living Resources Act. However, this only affords protection up to the high tide mark. Estuaries can also be protected within regular protected areas (see below), though the latter do not have jurisdiction over the use of estuarine living resources. Estuaries may also be protected within World Heritage Sites under the World Heritage Convention Act 49 of 1999. The General Policy in terms of the Environment Conservation Act – Terrestrial and Marine protected areas (1994) categorises protected areas into 7 categories (based on IUCN and one additional category). It prescribes the management objectives and criteria for selecting and managing each category. The policy suggests that estuaries, fish, spawning areas and seascapes should generally be treated as Category IV – Habitat and wildlife management areas, regardless of who owns those resources. In reality, estuaries could fall into any category. Those such as Kosi could be classified as Category V – Protected land/seascapes, while others could be classified as Category VI - Sustainable Use Areas. Each estuary should be classified on the basis of the management objectives of the estuary (Smith & Cullinan 2000). The Biodiversity Act (2004) provides for the conservation of biological diversity. It requires identification of important landscapes, ecosystems, ecological process and species for biodiversity conservation, and promotes monitoring of these. It also provides for the proclamation of protected areas, recognising South Africa’s obligations to international conventions. The Protected Areas Act (2003) provides for the declaration and management of protected areas, and can also provide for co-operative governance, the sustainable utilisation of protected areas that preserves their ecological character, and the participation of local communities in the management of protected areas, where appropriate. A consultation and public participation process is outlined in the Act. It also contains the requirement that marine and terrestrial protected areas with common boundaries must be managed as an integrated Uilkraals Estuary Situation Assessment 67 Anchor Environmental
protected area by a single management authority. It is also important to note that under this Act, commercial prospecting or mining is prohibited in any nature reserve. Potential for protection of the Uilkraals Estuary The Uilkraals Estuary is rated as a very important estuary in South Africa from a conservation perspective, having a Biodiversity Importance Score of 75.3 for its size, habitats, and type rarity within its biogeographical zone, and biodiversity (Turpie et al. 2004). It ranks highly for birds and macrophyte diversity. Based on these criteria, there is justification for establishment of a protected area which encompasses at least part of the estuary. Although it would be highly desirable, based on the above arguments, to provide no-take protection to the estuary in its entirety, it would probably not be feasible to achieve complete protection of the system. Turpie & Clark (2007) conducted a conservation planning exercise in conjunction with the estuarine research and management community of the CAPE region under the C.A.P.E. Estuaries Management Programme. The study aimed to elicit the minimum set of estuaries that would be required to meet conservation targets (i.e. set percentages of habitats and populations of estuary-dependent species). Without worrying about costs, this can be done with the partial protection (50% of estuary as a sanctuary area) of some 50 of the 159 temperate estuaries. The Uilkraals Estuary was not included in this primary set of 50. When costs and benefits of conservation measures were incorporated into the analysis, the configuration changes, and it makes sense to afford partial protection to about 80% of estuaries. This creates a good argument for a general zonation system to be applied to most South African estuaries in which 50% of the estuary is declared a no-take zone. The Uilkraals Estuary was included in this latter selection - when estuary value and management costs were taken into consideration. Recommendations and procedure for establishing a protected area With the lack of development around the estuary, the establishment of a protected area is highly feasible and would be strongly recommended. The protection should include a substantial no-take zone or zones and the protected area should extend to supratidal saltmarsh areas and to some of the fringing terrestrial area. Under current regulations, this would require establishment of a nature reserve that contains a marine protected area, both of which would be managed by a single authority. A nature reserve is needed in order to protect areas above the high tide mark (important fringing habitats) that the marine protected areas act does not cover, and in order to protect the estuarine habitat areas a marine protected area needs to be established so that zoning of the estuary can be developed. Specific recommendations, to be further developed in consultation with stakeholders, are as follows: 1. Establish a nature reserve encompassing as much of the land around the estuary as possible including supratidal estuarine habitats; Uilkraals Estuary Situation Assessment 68 Anchor Environmental
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C.A.P.E. Estuaries Management Progr
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ubble spanning almost two-thirds of
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estuary’s functioning is catered
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ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS WMA BAS
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The reserve determination process .
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construction of the Kraaibosch dam
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The Uilkraals catchment lies within
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The Kraaibosch dam (Figure 6) was c
Page 17 and 18: eaches and tourism and fishing indu
Page 19 and 20: 3. ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND F
Page 21 and 22: The first time in recorded history
Page 23 and 24: 3.2 Water chemistry The distributio
Page 25 and 26: other associated high water levels.
Page 27 and 28: 3.6 Fish Estuaries provide an extre
Page 29 and 30: Table 2. Species composition, abund
Page 31 and 32: For this study, a count of water-as
Page 33 and 34: score of 55 (van Niekerk, unpubl. d
Page 35 and 36: 4. ECOSYSTEM SERVICES 4.1 What are
Page 37 and 38: isolation, but only inasmuch as it
Page 39 and 40: 4.8 Genetic resources Genetic resou
Page 41 and 42: 5. LEGISLATION AND MANAGEMENT ISSUE
Page 43 and 44: Land use & management Water quality
Page 45 and 46: Table 10. Provincial and local gove
Page 47 and 48: Goal # Goal Strategies practices do
Page 49 and 50: 5.4 Exploitation of living marine r
Page 51 and 52: In terms of ICMA, all land within o
Page 53 and 54: (e) stabilising walls; (f) building
Page 55 and 56: Table 14 (Overstrand Local Municipa
Page 57 and 58: Table 13. Overberg District Spatial
Page 59 and 60: Component Strategy with spatial imp
Page 61 and 62: Component Strategy with spatial imp
Page 63 and 64: Table 14. Overstrand Local Municipa
Page 65 and 66: Component Description Policies 9. S
Page 67: Issues of surrounding land use and
Page 71 and 72: 6. REFERENCES Adams, J.B., Bate, G.
Page 73 and 74: Smith, N & Cullinan, C. 2000. Revie
Page 75 and 76: 8. Plan for awareness-raising and p
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