Context and challenge 

Located at the intersection of three oceans (the Southern, Atlantic, and Indian), South Africa’s marine environment hosts an incredible assemblage of productivity and biodiversity with 136 identified habitat types. These habitats range from subtropical coral reefs and mangroves in the northeast to temperate kelp forests and seamounts in the south and west. With a coastline stretching more than 2,850 kilometers (1,770 miles), marine resources in South Africa underpin food security, jobs, climate resilience, and hold cultural and spiritual significance.  

Figure 1. Map of extractive exploration activities, rights, and applications in South Africa (Petroleum Agency SA petroleumagencysa.com).

There are several ongoing pressures as well as emerging threats to South Africa’s marine environments. Climate change alters currents in their paths and strengths and impacts sea-levels, increases water temperatures, worsens ocean acidification, and increases severity of storm events. Human activities including overexploitation of marine resources, fishing, and coastal development place additional pressures on system resilience. Additionally, there are emerging pressures on deep-water habitats as offshore oil exploration and proposed drilling and seabed mining threaten to alter these remote deep-sea habitats with little known to unknown consequences (figure 1).

Figure 2. Map of current South African MPAs as of 2020 (Image courtesy of https://www.marineprotectedareas.org.za/explore).

Approach

Throughout the course of the past decade, the South Africa Department of Environment, Forestry & Fisheries has developed a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) throughout their exclusive economic zone (figure 2). Up until 2019, the majority of MPAs were designated along the coast and islands with key design considerations that included areas of importance like spawning grounds or sheltered areas that serve as nurseries for young fish. Protecting these habitats requires consideration of ecological connectivity features. Many marine species, particularly commercially valuable fish species, migrate both as adults for spawning and as juveniles from nursery to adult habitats. It is not a viable option to protect all the routes swum by commercial fish, but understanding the connections between important life stage habitats helps populations recover and maintain sustainable fisheries (Save our Seas). 

In 2019, another key MPA design consideration came into play; habitat representation. Leading up to the designation of 20 new MPAs and with the potential pressures of offshore oil and mining exploration in mind, scientists in the Offshore MPA project (2007- 2011) mapped out habitat types in the deep sea, recommending that each identified type be protected, if not already. Thus, many of the new 20 MPAs in South Africa consist of diverse habitat types in the deep ocean, including those found on seamounts and deep-sea banks. As a result, the country’s protected waters jumped from 0.43 percent in 2016 to five percent as of 2020, notably protecting 87 percent of all identified habitat types that exist throughout the diverse national waters. This approach in considering habitat representation is key to ensuring that a network represents the diversity of species and habitats, and allows for ecological connectivity, given that disturbances between do not impede on natural processes and species movement. This protection of remote and poorly understood deep ocean habitats also preserves the potential for scientific discovery concerning species and habitats that we know very little about (Save our Seas; Marine Protected Areas South Africa).

Results 

As South Africa progresses towards the United Nation’s Ocean Economy and Sustainability goals, a main goal is to maintain a strong ocean economy while also protecting the valuable resources for future generations and for resilience to climate change impacts. Recent increasing interest in extractive deep-sea mining and drilling activities poses potentially unknown threats to habitats that are not well studied or protected. Therefore research and planning to identify and enforce protection in new MPAs is already in motion. Together, the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the National Research Foundation (NRF), and the African Coelacanth Ecosystem Program (ACEP) have funded research projects that seek to better understand South Africa’s marine environments and animals, for best informing future MPA design (Marine Protected Areas South Africa; Government of South Africa).

A 20-year strategy for National Protected Area Expansion indicates goals for MPA protection coverage of at least 25% inshore and 20% offshore with overall 15% designated as no-take zones. As scientists learn more about the deep habitats, it is anticipated that additional MPAs will be proposed in addition to the two gazetted but not yet implemented; Browns Bank Complex and Benguela Bank (Government of South Africa; Marine Protection Atlas).

References

Government of South Africa. National Protected Areas Expansion Strategy for South Africa 2008 – 2028. https://www.environment.gov.za/sites/default/files/docs/nationalprotected_areasexpansion_strategy.pdf.  

Marine Conservation Institute. Marine Protection Atlas. https://mpatlas.org/zones/. 

Marine Protected Areas South Africa. https://www.marineprotectedareas.org.za/.

Save Our Seas Foundation. 2019. South Africa announces 20 new marine protected areas. https://saveourseas.com/south-africa-announces-20-new-marine-protected-areas/.