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The Bushmans estuary
(33°42' S;
26°40' E)
is situated southwest of the coastal town of Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape. The river is approximately 293 km long with a catchment area of 2 675 sq. km. Agriculture accounted for about 6% of the catchment land-cover in the Bushmans system. Most of this consisted of a mixture of temporary commercial dryland agriculture, temporary commercial irrigated agriculture, commercial forestry, permanent commercial dryland agriculture, commercial forestry, and subsistence farming. Approximately 4% of the catchment appeared to be degraded and this mainly comprised degraded bushland. A high proportion (90%) of the Bushmans catchment was natural and comprised mainly forest and woodland, shrubland, and grassland. Urban development accounted for less than 1% of the land-cover and this was mostly residential and industrial development associated with the coastal resort of Kenton-on-Sea and the towns of Patterson and Alicedale in the upper catchment.
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