State of Management of South Africa’s ... - WWF South Africa

STATE OF MANAGEMENT OF SOUTH AFRICA’S MARINE PROTECTED AREASprovided) were required. Maintenance of equipment was taking place in accordance withmaintenance schedules to a satisfactory standard.INFRASTRUCTURE (63%)There are two office blocks in the reserve that are both adequate for management purposes.The road to the Nature Reserve is a dirt track that is most suitably accessed by four-wheeldrive vehicles or at least with vehicles with high ground clearance. Four-wheel vehiclesdrives are needed for most of the roads within the reserve. There was one potential launchsite at the Msikaba River that was identified. It was indicated that an education orinterpretative centre was required. Maintenance of most of the facilities was taking place to asatisfactory standard but could be improved on in some areas.BUDGET (67%)The MPA is jointly funded by MCM and ECPB. Currently the budget is sufficient for criticalmanagement needs. The funds from MCM were secured via the contract between ECPB andMCM and had been used to purchase capital equipment.ProcessesBOUNDARY DEMARCATION (33%)The zones along the shoreline at Mkambati were legally defined but not adequatelydemarcated. Beacons and arrows have been established at the various boundaries but therewere no signs to indicate what the beacons represented. The signs adjacent to the MPAwere old, rundown and outdated. There was no interpretative signage along the coastindicating that the area was an MPA and specifying the regulations applicable to the area.PATROL AND ENFORCEMENT (33%)The rangers did not have the capacity to enforce the MLRA and therefore could noteffectively implement enforcement mechanisms. Averages of 18 foot patrols along the coastwere undertaken each month.There had been some monitoring in the MPA but results have not yet been utilised inadaptive management. The revision and subsequent implementation of the managementplan is expected to improve this. The monitoring activities that have been conducted include:MONITORING (55%)Resource use and activities in the MPA were recorded during patrols and patrol formsare filled out and sent to ORI. Workshops were conducted by ORI to aid the staff infish identification.A catch and release monitoring system for offshore reef fish had been implemented inthe restricted and controlled offshore zones of the MPA.Pg 117