Wandering albatrosses on the west coast of Prince Edward Island
Picture: Fitzpatrick Institute UCT/WWF

WATER and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa has declared South Africa’s first offshore marine protected area, spanning 180,000km² around the Southern Ocean’s Prince Edward and Marion islands, the Department of Environmental Affairs said on Tuesday.

The area is of significant global importance as a breeding ground for fish and sea birds, but is not being patrolled by South Africa after the government’s mismanagement of patrol ships and their upkeep.

The declaration is in line with South Africa’s new National Protected Areas Expansion Strategy, which seeks to structure the way in which protected areas are declared to maximise conservation benefits, said Zolile Nqayi, the department’s oceans and coasts director.

The conservation zone includes a 12-nautical-mile "no take" zone, four restricted zones (where fishing is limited) and a controlled zone linking the four restricted zones. The controlled zone would be managed as a "low-impact zone", Mr Nqayi said.

World Wide Fund for Nature biodiversity unit head Deon Nel said the declaration of the protected area opened up opportunities for South Africa to put in place an effective management system ­ still being finalised ­ and to sort out the problems with patrolling.

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, which is responsible for the policing patrols, last week signed an emergency contract with Dutch shipyard Damen to bring South Africa’s fleet of six fisheries patrol and survey vessels into operation.

The department reclaimed the vessels from the navy after the latter failed to ensure they carried out their duties of patrolling and quantifying the sustainability of the country’s fishing stocks.

The navy took over the management of the fisheries fleet in April amid protests, after Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson halted Smit Amandla Marine’s R800m contract to manage and operate the seven vessels and gave it to black empowerment company Sekunjalo.

This decision was later reversed and the ships handed to the navy.

With acknowledgement to Sue Blaine and Business Day.

The sentiment is excellent.

The practicality is currently practically zero.

The for fisheries patrol vessels will be hard-pressed even after repair to patrol this 80 000 km² area.

In any case they first need to patrol our own coastal boundary and exclusive economic zone.

It's the SA Navy's deep blue ocean going frigates and planned new offshore patrols vessels (OPVs) which are meant to to do the long range deep water patrols.

But now the one frigate SAS Amatola and occasionally the SAS Drakensberg do anti-piracy patrols off Mozambique.

There are no other navy vessels capable of any long range tasks.

Currently four strike craft are being resurrected in advance of the acquisition of the OPVs.

But they will not withstand for long the rigours of the Southern Atlantic. I doubt that the navy would send them there on patrol.

The solution is to get Project Biro on track.

Maybe to increase the OPVs to six or even nine and sell the less than useful frigates to pay for them.

The acquisition cost of an OPV is about R500 million as opposed to R5 billion for a frigate.

The annual running cost of an OPV is about R20 million as opposed to R200 million for a frigate.