BEN SCHOEMAN DOCK BERTH DEEPENING Specialist ... - Transnet

Bloubergstrand (Big Bay), which is the densest population of this species at the West
Coast (P. Nel, Marine Biology Research Unit, UCT, pers. comm.).
The above indicates that the benthic communities in Table Bay are typical for the West
Coast, are not unique to Table Bay and cannot be classified as locally, regionally or
internationally important biodiversity resources. This rationale also applies to the pelagic
fish and marine mammals occurring in Table Bay as these are widespread on the South
African west (and south) coast. Further Table Bay itself does not appear to be critically
important either as a foraging or breeding area for these fauna.
The resident seabird community is a strong exception to this, especially the endemic
African penguin and Bank cormorant. It is estimated that in 2005 >60% of the global
population of penguins were foraging in continental shelf waters in and adjacent to Table
Bay; these birds coming from the breeding sites at Dassen and Robben Islands (data
from Crawford 2006). Robben Island is also an important breeding site for Bank
cormorants as it represents the third largest breeding colony currently in existence. Both
of these species have undergone severe declines in population size over the last century
and are currently classified as Vulnerable under the IUCN criteria (Crawford et al. 1998).
However, as pointed out above there is justification to reclassify penguins to
Endangered. Due to their population size, endemism and conservation classification
these seabirds represent internationally significant biodiversity resources.
5.1.6 Beneficial uses of the natural environment
5.1.6.1 Table Bay
Aside from shipping five categories of beneficial use of the natural environment in Table
Bay are dominant:
o Commercial fishing, boat based linefishery for snoek, hottentot and predominantly
tunas in and adjacent to Table Bay, and abalone (diver) in the shallow rocky subtidal
zone south of Mouille Point and around Robben Island
o Collection of white mussel (Donax serra) for consumption on beaches extending
north from Milnerton to Blouberg
o Recreation, comprising mainly water sports such as yachting, kayaking, wind and
kite surfing, surfing, diving, swimming and whale watching as well as general beach
and coastal recreation,
o
o
Industrial (cooling) water use at the Koeberg Power Station, and
Nature conservation. Table Mountain National Park has an associated 'multi-use'
marine protected area (MPA) the northern boundary of which extends from Mouille
Point 14km offshore and then southwards to Cape Point. Commercial and
recreational fishing is allowed within the boundaries of the MPA but there are 'no
take' sanctuaries where any form of fishing is prohibited. The furthest north of these
in the Table Mountain MPA is the Karbonkelberg Marine Reserve. The area
encompassed within this reserve stretches from Oudekraal in the north to the base
of the Sentinel at Hout Bay in the south and extends westwards out to sea to
longitude 18° 17.797'E ( http://www.sanparks.org/parks/table_mountain/library/mpa).
The northern boundary of the Karbonkel Marine Reserve is 8.7km south of the
northern boundary of the Table Mountain MPA.
Robben Island is a provincial nature reserve but has no formal MPA associated with
it. There are, however, restrictions on fishing (abalone) and the island falls within the
Table Bay rock lobster reserve. For practical purposes the sea area encompassed
within a radius of 1.83km around the Island can be considered to be environmentally
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