Marine and Coastal Educators' Network (MCEN) Annual ... - Sancor

� Jenny Bennie (Bayworld) spoke on shipwrecks, especially the one found in the Coega Harbour, The
Duke of Pembroke.
� Jared Harding (Samrec) showed us his photographs taken during his year spent on Marion Island.
� Gareth Cook (Tanker Pacific) gave a fascinating first hand presentation on piracy in the Gulf of
Aden.
� The day was completed with a wonderful demonstration given by W/O S. Nagy and his sniffer dog
from Port Elizabeth's K9 unit. The dog has been trained to detect perlemoen, rhino horn, ivory and
crayfish.
3. Kenton Display
Ted Knott set up a display in the new lifesavers hut at Kenton on pollution and recycling which proved to be
very popular amongst the visitors to the area during the summer holiday.
Southern Cape
The Southern Cape held their mini conference on Friday, 23 July at the Bartholomeu Dias Museum in
Mossel Bay. The conference was attended by approximately 29 participants from WESSA, DAFF,
conservancies, CapeNature, George and Dias Museum, Eden District Municipality, Nature’s Valley Trust
including independents example volunteers and hikers.
The Programme included presentations on coastal vegetation, sharks, coastal birds, Early man – Pinnacle
Point research and leopards by the Landmark Foundation
The talks were interspersed with activities on sustainable fishing by Arno Munro (DAFF) and biodiversity –
story-telling; sayings and uses of plants and animals by WESSA.
A second southern Cape mini-conference and Ecoschools meeting was held on the 24th July at Dias
Museum, Mossel Bay. Twelve people attended, including 5 teachers.
The programme was similar to the previous one but just included more hands on activities.
International Coastal Cleanup
WESSA co-ordinated coastal cleanups with a number of schools however a couple of schools have
withdrawn because of the teacher strike action or because of other arrangements.
Northern Cape
As the Northern Cape was the host for the conference in 2011 they had several MCEN meetings in various
parts of the N Cape mainly in Alexander Bay, Kleinzee, Port Nolloth and Hondeklip Bay to visit the sites and
plan the conference..
Other Activities included
� a Workshop with Marine Educators on the 23 – 24 th April,
� Coastal schools workshop including a talk by Annelize Le Roux ( Ecologist)on West Coast
Vegetation and Biodiversity on the 7 th -8 th May
� PCC meeting. – Feedback with regards to MCEN activities
� 1 October: - Start of Marine Month Celebrations in Hondeklip Baai.
General:
Plans for March 2010 to April 2011:
It is envisaged that MCEN will grow stronger through regular contact between members. Contact is
maintained through the National Conference, Regional Conferences, Workshops and Meetings. The
telephone and e-mail serves as a very valuable means of keeping in touch with members to offer support
and encouragement for the work that they do.
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