Transcript Boyd Short Forum Talk October 2016

MARINE BIODIVERSITY EVIDENCE – A DEA
RESEARCH PRIORITY
MPA FORUM - 25 OCTOBER 2016
ALAN BOYD – DEA BRANCH OCEANS AND COASTS
Oceans and Coasts
Introduction and presentation outline
• DEA is implementing a programme that stresses the importance of an evidencebased approach to policy development and management.
• Oceans and Coasts have the responsibilities for implementing different aspects
of NEMA: the coastal specific ICM Act, plus marine and coastal aspects of the
Protected Areas and Biodiversity Act, as well as our own new policy, the Oceans
Bill which is now the Marine Spatial Planning Bill.
• As a branch, we both collect and collate evidence, to meet the obligations of
overall environmental monitoring and management, plus the more specific
examples of MPAs, Protected Species and Ecotourism, and evidence relevant to
the marine components of EIAs.
• The use of evidence can be from generic-international perspective, or may need
to be country- situation- specific, but often it is a combination.
• Sometimes the evidence for what needs to be done is good, but evidence
regarding “side effects” is not.
Main research areas of O&C Research,
are not only biodiversity related
• Oceans Research
– Operational Oceanography – measurements & models
– Ecosystem Functioning – including plankton and ocean
chemistry
• Biodiversity Research
– Marine biodiversity, including species, EBSAs and MPAs
– Marine top predators, ecosystem health, marine
ecotourism
• Cross cutting
– Coastal Research, including water quality, coastal
vulnerability assessment, estuaries
– Antarctic Research
Marine Protected Areas, EBSAs and MSP
• Have to show need for protection, and that the
proposals for expansion are evidence based.
• Need: In comparison to 8% terrestrial protection,
and noting the urgent need for increased freshwater
catchment protection, only 0,5 percent of our EEZ
under protection. This is insufficient to maintain
sustainable benefits from our marine ecosystems.
Objectives of the Phakisa Proposed MPA Representative
Network which comprises 22 MPA proposals
• Include all habitat types
• Protect last remnants of threatened ecosystems in good ecological
condition
• Protect sensitive ecosystems
• Protect key ecological areas: aggregation, nursery, spawning &
feeding areas
• Support fisheries management
• Spatially efficient with consideration of socio-economic data
Data layers used for MPAs…..
Sensitive areas maps Threat status map
Pressure
mapping
cumulative map
27 pressures
Good bits map
Focus areas for
offshore protection
Each MPA is
individually motivated
using best evidence
available
Orange Shelf Edge
•
•
1 960 km2
un-trawled sandy
shelf edge
Namaqua fossil forest
•
•
430 km2
Unique fossilised
yellowwood forest
• Cold water corals
Namaqua Coast
•
•
Approx 1 500 km2
First MPA in the
ecoregion - habitats
in good condition.
Cape Canyon
•
•
•
660 km2
West coast canyon
Lower socioeconomic cost
Robben Island
•
•
•
Agulhas Mud
•
•
207 km2
Good condition mud
habitat
620 km2
Island ecosystem
Endangered
seabirds
Addo Elephant
• 1 164 km2
• African penguin,
linefish &
abalone
Port Elizabeth Corals
• 500 km2
• Cold water coral reef
• Kingklip spawning
• 22 new MPAs were formally proposed in February 2016
• 16 EBSAs developed at regional workshops organised by
the CBD secretariat – “International benchmarking”
• At 14 sites EBSAs overlap with proposed MPAs
- EBSAs provide evidence for need of protection or risk averse management
- MSP provides means of securing EBSAs (e.g. MPAs or other measures)
EBSA Identification
(technical scientific
exercise) using SCP as a
tool
Vulnerability
assessment of EBSAs
using SCP approaches
Marine spatial planning process
(political and stakeholder
process)
Informs
Secures
Management needs and
options of EBSAs
(national, transnational)
Marine planning regulations and
plan implementation
Marine Protected Species: Key
ecotourism research considerations
• Areas and species suitable for ecotourism
• Animal behaviour protective measures, permit
conditions
• Monitoring of current activities
• Research into new activities
Noting that:
• MPAs are often suitable for ecotourism
• Some activities can occur nationally (BBWW)
• Others have specific focus areas (sharks, turtles,
seabirds)
Specific considerations: Ecotourism and marine research
Whales
1. Protecting calving areas to allow nursing.
2. As whales move back to feeding grounds in the southern seas,
do not exhaust animals by increasing their avoidance behaviour
3. Refugees created as not all whales reacted positively to tourism
4. Areas restricted to safe launch sites and relative high abundance.
5. Approaches carefully controlled to reduce impact.
White sharks
1. Restricted to seal islands which are already attracting sharks
2. Chumming and baiting limited and controlled to prevent
habituation
3. Shark attack risks taken into account.
4. Ecosystem changes taken into account.
Some tourist info for WSCD
Total number of trips per month per operator
in Gansbaai during 2013
70
Number of trips
60
Great White Shark Tours cc
Ibongo Holdings/T/a White Shark
Aventures
Marine Dynamics Tours (Pty)Ltd
Sharklady Adventures
50
40
Shark Diving Unlimited
30
White Shark Eco Ventures
20
White Shark Dive Company cc
10
White Shark Project CC
0
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Passenger Numbers
Months
Passenger numbers per Operator per
month during 2013 in Gansbaai
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Great White Shark Tours cc
Ibongo Holdings/T/a White Shark
Aventures
Marine Dynamics Tours (Pty)Ltd
Sharklady Adventures
Shark Diving Unlimited
White Shark Eco Ventures
White Shark Dive Company cc
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Months
8
9
10
11
12
Table 5.1: The estimated value of different sectors of the marine ecotourism industry to South Africa’s
economy in 201312.
Ecotourism sector
Number
permits
of Estimated Number of Estimated
number of tourists
average price
persons
per person
employed
(ZAR)
Land-based whale
watching
Boat-based whale 23 (16 active) 184
watching
42,812
500
Estimated
direct value of
sector (million
ZAR)
Estimated
overall value to
economy
(million ZAR)
80
400
21
105
5
25
Seals – viewing 2 main sites
and diving
30
White shark cage 12 (active)
diving
120
61,404
1,500
92
460
Tiger sharks
Aliwal Shoal
at 13
39
946–1,198
1,651
1–2
11–14
Other shark diving 18
90
20,000
400–1,200
20
100
750,000
55
25
125
Seabird watching
3 main sites
Turtle viewing
1 main site
12
3
15
SCUBA diving
90
540
60
300
Eco Filming
40 (in 2011)
400
120
600
428
2,130
Total
Important but not presented here
• Evidence needed for rezonation of MPAs
(biodiversity, species research, likely impacts
of exploitation)
• Information on vulnerability of species (eg for
CITES)
• Alien invasive species – information
occurrence and introduction vectors
Summary of evidence needs – Oceans
and Coastal Environment
• MPA habitat information and MPA effectiveness analysis
• Impacts of activities on habitats and species (damage or
disturbance) eg. mining, trawling, aquaculture, pelagic fishing,
seismic surveys, other underwater noise
• Protected species information /Conservation status/information
for CITES inputs/positions, invasive species, bio-prospecting
• Marine ecotourism opportunities and constraints, socioeconomics
• Water quality information (local and global) eg. estuarine health,
urban pollution; plastics; low oxygen, ocean acidification
• Spatial information for MSP
• Time-series information for state of environment reporting
• Emerging technologies, viability, benefits and constraints
• To achieve this evidence, DEA partners with other Departments
(eg DST), DEA Institutions (eg SANBI, SANParks), Provinces,
Academia