{"id":2189,"date":"2019-02-07T17:08:56","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T17:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blueflash.co.za\/?page_id=2189"},"modified":"2019-02-07T17:12:25","modified_gmt":"2019-02-07T17:12:25","slug":"beauty-and-the-beast","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blueflash.co.za\/index.php\/charters-and-diving\/newsletters\/beauty-and-the-beast\/","title":{"rendered":"Beauty and the Beast"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Scuba Diving in the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) Marine Protected Area (MPA)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

by Grant Whitford<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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\"OA<\/a><\/h2>\n

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Beauty: This photo by Olivia Fraser really speaks for itself but here\u2019s the back story. \u00a0It\u2019s a Saturday morning and we\u2019re out in False Bay diving at reef within the TMNP MPA. Dive conditions are near perfect and colourful marine life of every description abounds.\u00a0 The underwater photographers are having a great time trying to get the perfect shot or video of schooling yellowtail. \u00a0Other divers are exploring this seldom dived spot, mapping the reef or removing plastic litter, old fishing boat anchor ropes and fishing line caught on the coral (if you look closely you can see that\u2019s what the diver in the photo is doing). Nothing is removed from the reef, there is absolutely no damage done to the reef and we actually leave it in better condition than we found it.<\/p>\n

The beast:\u00a0 What the photo doesn\u2019t show is up to a hundred hooks and lures from the 17 fishing boats catching the very same yellowtail the divers are photographing! That\u2019s because fishing, which is not policed and a virtual free-for-all, is allowed in the vast majority of the MPA. Strangely enough scuba diving is prohibited in large parts of the MPA. What?\u00a0 Also not shown in the photo is the damage done to the reef by fishing boat anchors (diving boats don\u2019t anchor because we know how harmful it can be) and the trail of litter that leads from the places where fishing boats launch to the places they fish.<\/p>\n

So perhaps now you think I\u2019m just anti fishing and those poor fisher folk trying to feed their families. Well actually I\u2019m not. They aren\u2019t the real beasts in my story. The real beasts operate from offices in the southern suburbs and the Waterfront.\u00a0 I\u2019m referring to SANParks, the Department of the Environment (DEA) and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF). But hold on,, those are the guys that are supposed to taking care of our MPA.<\/p>\n

The fact is \u2013 they\u2019re not.\u00a0 To understand why not we have to go back almost 20 years to when our MPA\u2019s were declared.<\/p>\n

Back then it was \u201cMarine and Coastal Management\u201d (MCM), a branch of the then Department of the Environment and Tourism (DEAT), that imagined scuba diving to be a potentially huge source of revenue.\u00a0 Because of this, they declared MPAs all around the country in specific areas where scuba diving took place and imposed permit fees on individual divers and dive operators for diving in these newly declared MPAs. Fishing in MPAs was hardly restricted at all because that would have been political suicide. \u00a0Highly harmful issues such as sewage and industrial effluent outfalls were side stepped by neatly excluding the outfalls from the MPA boundaries or just ignoring them.\u00a0 Essentially they created what are known as \u201cpaper parks\u201d with no real environmental benefit and extremely limited enforcement of regulations. \u00a0Looking back, I can hardly believe how ill conceived the whole thing was and how blatantly recreational scuba diving was targeted. \u00a0MCM soon discovered that the revenue source was much smaller than they had anticipated but kept trying to make it work and almost killed off the whole recreational scuba diving industry in the process!<\/p>\n

Fortunately, (for them not us) something wonderful happened when the then Minister of DEAT, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, received world-wide acclaim and awards for having created MPAs. The public at large and the bunny hugging organisations issuing the awards and acclaim just didn\u2019t get the paper parks memo. \u00a0So positively were the MPAs received that it motivated the current bumper crop of administrators to create even more MPAs (2018) and they are once again receiving high acclaim. \u00a0My mind boggles that the South African public are so blissfully unaware of how they are being mislead into believing that marine environmental conservation is being well managed. \u00a0I get a little steamed up when divers say how wonderful it is to be diving in an MPA with abundant marine life, when they have no experience of what it was like before the MPA existed. The simple truth is that is it would most likely be exactly the same. \u00a0That\u2019s because the beauty of our reefs is mainly due to their own innate resilience and diversity, and nothing to do with being in an MPA. \u00a0If MPAs don\u2019t have real physical positive actions associated with them they are meaningless and just distract us from the real issues that put our reefs and marine life in danger.<\/p>\n

So what are those issues? I think of them as the Big 5;<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Poorly regulated, managed and policed commercial and recreational fisheries.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sewage: Up to 50 million litres of raw sewage is pumped into the TMNP MPA every day.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Poaching: Abalone and Crayfish poaching are rampant.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pollution: Plastic litter and fishing line can be found throughout the TMNP MPA.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Whale entrapment; Every year a few whales die from becoming trapped in ropes or nets within the TMNP MPA.<\/p>\n

I could go into detail about each of these issues, or list several more but believe me they are bad, horrendously bad.\u00a0 Even the most casual observer of marine activities in the TMNP MPA would have observed this stuff and they can be easily confirmed by marine professionals working around the Peninsula.<\/p>\n

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\"JT<\/a><\/p>\n

\"JT<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Hout<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Litter<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

The responsibility to manage the MPA, and one would assume to deal with these issues, goes to the Department of the Environment (DEA) who formally delegate it\u2019s management to SANParks. And right there the pawpaw hits the fan: DEA and SANParks weasel out of accepting responsibility by just claiming that it\u2019s the other ones responsibility. \u00a0The buck never stops anywhere.\u00a0 It also becomes the City of Cape Town\u2019s problem, or the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries\u2019 problem.\u00a0 Lack of resources is also a popular cry, or, my personal favourite, it\u2019s not actually a problem after all \u2013 so don\u2019t worry.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year (2018) I sat in a meeting between representatives of the local recreational dive industry and SANParks in Tokai. \u00a0We had hoped to get some action underway to start to address the Big 5 issues. \u00a0Sadly, what we got was Mr Gavin Bell (TMNP manager) telling us that scuba diving in the MPA was not really as environmentally friendly as we thought it was because our outboard motors polluted the air. \u00a0He also said that they had many other issues to be concerned about such as dust particles blown in on the wind from as far away as North America, that contain micro-pollutants that settle over the whole area. \u00a0I kid you not! \u00a0When the park manager equates the infinitesimally minute amount of pollution from North American dust or a wisp of outboard motor smoke with\u00a050 MILLION LITRES of RAW SEWAGE per day<\/strong>, \u00a0you just know he doesn\u2019t comprehend what\u2019s going on at all. \u00a0This is terribly concerning for our those of us who care deeply about the environment.<\/p>\n

SANParks were, however, keen to discuss the permitting of divers and dive operators. \u00a0They confirmed my long held belief that they see divers purely as a source of revenue. \u00a0Permitting and permit fees are their game.\u00a0 Just ask the guys from the local film industry. You can\u2019t sneeze in the TMNP without an expensive permit!<\/p>\n

And DEA?\u00a0 Eish, don\u2019t even go there! \u00a0If you can find someone who actually knows we have an MPA to answer a phone or an e-mail, you\u2019d be doing brilliantly. And then they would just refer you back to SANParks.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s an ocean loving diver to do?\u00a0 Well I\u2019ve been involved in Cape Town\u2019s recreational scuba diving industry for almost 30 years and I honestly feel it\u2019s time to take the fight for a real MPA with real environmental protection to the next level. \u00a0The authorities are immune to criticism and bad press \u2013 so why do it?\u00a0 The time for writing articles, taking photos and having meetings is over \u2013 we need direct corrective action, Sea Shepherd style.\u00a0 When Paul Watson wanted to stop the killing of whales in the Southern Ocean he didn\u2019t write to the Japanese fishing authorities to try and convince them to stop. \u00a0He didn\u2019t write articles for the Japanese media to try and convince the Japanese public that their own people were up to no good.\u00a0 No, the got his own ship, went down to the southern ocean and got right in the faces of the people actually killing whales.\u00a0 That got results. \u00a0And with results came support and that allowed for more direct action, more ships, proper media coverage and with consistent direct action Sea Shepherd prevented the killing of an estimated 6 500 whales and turned the tide against Japanese whaling in the southern ocean.<\/p>\n

To do that here in Cape Town and take on the perpetrators of our Big 5 issues is surely the next step. It\u2019s going to be an epic battle,, who\u2019s with me?<\/p>\n

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Scuba Diving in the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) Marine Protected Area (MPA) by Grant Whitford   Beauty: This photo by Olivia Fraser really speaks for itself but here\u2019s the back story. \u00a0It\u2019s a Saturday morning and we\u2019re out in False Bay diving at reef within the TMNP MPA. Dive conditions are near perfect and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":31,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"charters.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2189","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueflash.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueflash.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueflash.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueflash.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueflash.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2189"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blueflash.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2194,"href":"https:\/\/blueflash.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2189\/revisions\/2194"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueflash.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueflash.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}