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The coastal region in the Northern Cape
Province extends over 3 municipalities within the Namaqualand
District Municipality and stretches over 313 kilometres of
coastline. The two regional fishing nodes are the towns of
Port Nolloth and Hondeklipbaai.
The Northern Cape has an
abundance of diamond deposits both onshore and offshore. This has
led to the development of a large diamond mining sector,
which is the dominant activity of the Northern Cape's coastal zone.
The overall picture of the marine and
coastal environment is one of a dry, sparsely populated area
dominated by diamond mining activities. This picture does not
reveal the potential of the area for significant fishing and
mariculture development and eco-tourism opportunities. The
Northern Cape coast is affected by the cold nutrient-rich Benguela
Current system and thus has rich marine and coastal resources.
As a result alternative activities supported along the coast (albeit
to a limited degree) include fishing, mariculture and tourism.
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| Access to marine and coastal
resources |
All mining concession areas have some level
of restriction in terms of public access to the area. This
access is often limited to employees of the mining companies and
sub-contractors. In some cases, recreational access is
permitted on
an informal basis.
As a result, the majority of the Northern
Cape population do not enjoy public access to the marine and coastal
resources of the Province. Marine and coastal resources can
therefore not be utilised to their maximum sustainable capacity for
the socio-economic benefit of the people of the Northern Cape. Due
to the limited use of coastal areas, the physical infrastructure of
the area is also poorly developed and those that do exist are mostly
related
to mining use.
From an economic perspective, lack of access
to marine and coastal resources has limited the development of other
economic activities such as fishing, mariculture and tourism.
This has implications for community development projects and the
long term sustainability of the economy
of coastal areas:
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| Resource use |
Fisheries along the Northern Cape coast
benefit from the presence of the Benguela Current Large Marine
Ecosystem (BCLME) along the coast, as this is an important centre of
marine biodiversity and marine food production. This high
level of productivity supports a rich biological diversity along the
Northern Cape coast. It includes an abundance of resource
species that are available
for human consumption.
In theory, this abundance of marine and
coastal resources could stimulate a successful fishing and
mariculture industry in the Northern Cape. However, only a small
fraction of the large number of fish caught off the Northern Cape
coast is landed in the Province. In addition to the commercial use
of marine and coastal resources, recreational use is also limited as
a result of controlled access to large parts of the coast. Resource
use
is measured using:
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| Resource value |
The greatest value from marine and coastal
resources is generated through the mining and fishing sectors.
However, recently these sectors have become sources of
concern. The downscaling and potential closure of mines means
that this sector will not remain the main economic generator for the
region in the long-term. In addition, the costs of mining such
as environmental degradation and limited physical access to the
coastline are increasingly being considered very high costs for
resource use. The low growth of the Northern Cape fishing
sector has also limited the value of this sector for economic
development
of the Province.
Alternative economic activities such
as tourism and agriculture have been limited and restricted to
non-mining areas. The
indicator selected is:
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| Resource management |
The introduction of the coastal management
function is new to the Northern Cape. Coastal management is the
responsibility of the provincial Department of Tourism, Environment
and Conservation, under the
Directorate Environmental Management.
At a local level, the municipalities have to
some extent addressed coastal management through Integrated
Development Plans. However, these plans have focused on
increasing the value of marine and coastal resources to economic
development in
their respective municipalities.
At present, there are no finalised plans for
the conservation of portions of the Northern Cape coast. At a
national level, the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
has proposed to declare the Namaqualand Marine Protected Area which
will lead to the conservation of the biological diversity of the
Northern Cape coastal zone. Resource management
is reported using:
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