Marine

South Africa’s marine environment

The coastline of South Africa is one of the most productive and diverse marine systems in the world.

More than 11,000 marine species have been recorded in South African waters, more than 5% of all known global marine species. Amazingly, 31% of these species are endemic to the region and not found anywhere else.

The cold and highly productive waters of the West coast are the engine room for the majority of South Africa’s commercial fisheries while the warmer and more diverse East coast is the focus for international and domestic tourism. The East coast is also the home of some of our poorest rural communities that are directly reliant on the coast for their livelihoods. Some 30,000 subsistence fishers, supporting in the region of 150,000 people are located mostly on in the Eastern Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal coastlines.

Overall, South Africa’s off-shore fish stocks remain in relatively good shape compared to stocks in the Nothern hemisphere, however the present state of our inshore resources is of serious concern. Due to their close proximity to coast these resources are important for small-scale and traditional fishers and could potentially make a major contribution to alleviating poverty in rural coastal areas. However, poor management and in some cases well-organised international crime have had a devastating impact on these resources. Six of our 10 most popular inshore line fish are classified as collapsed, high value stocks such as Abalone are all but decimated, and in large stretches of our coastline intertidal resources have been stripped. Drastic measures are required to rebuild these resources if we wish to revitalize the socio-economic benefits they provide to coastal communities.

Our marine programme  works to ensure that there is adequate protection of our marine resources and environments through facilitating the establishing of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as well as promoting Sustainable Fisheries.