The St. Lucia lake and estuary system has suffered a very serious biodiversity collapse following the 2017 GEF funded project that connected the Umfolozi River to lake St. Lucia and associated estuarine systems in the northern areas of the Greater St. Lucia wetlands park. The iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority is the management authority for these lands.
The IWPA or iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority pushed forward with this planned intervention, even though many folks here on the ground objected in the strongest possible terms. Our objections fell on closed ears, and nobody had the resources or political will to take legal actions to stop the IWPA from pushing ahead and ensuring that any future flood waters coming from the Umfolozi River would take vast quantities of troublesome silt directly into the low energy tidal flow loops of the St. Lucia estuarine lake systems.
This troublesome silt is now sitting in the primary estuarine basin and also in the early lake inlet zones at the northern edges of the St. Lucia Narrows
(GPS ref -28.260434, 32.446320)
Link to map https://goo.gl/maps/YKJNF3KXDubqDbQEA
These very serious and nasty silt deposits now interfere with fish migratory routes as well as migratory routes of crabs, prawns and other creatures. question now becomes how will we be able to repair these areas so that these migratory paths become functional.
If these migratory routes remain dysfunctional for an extended time period, fish stocks along our entire coastline will start to decline. the IWPA published a video that states that the St. Lucia lake and estuary system covers more than 60 percent of the fish breeding and fish nursery zones
The mouth of the St. Lucia estuary system is currently(November 2022) open, but the water flow issues are not what they should be. The silt within these systems has ensured that there is no marine water retention in the system,
marine water retention is needed for marine species that use the system as nursery grounds to actually survive between tidal cycles, from one high tide to the next. We do need some marine scientists to come and do a little research, then come back and tell us the true story, and not just pure speculation.
Public participation process meetings are essential, but we have not seen any in recent years. the new planning season has been started, as the IWPA has a draft plan listed here https://sahris.sahra.org.za/sites/default/files/additionaldocs/iSimangaliso%20Integrated%20Management%20Plan.pdf
Please take a #peepsee then let us know how you think we should react.
your comments and views will be appreciated
THanx for reading here, looking forward to your comments.
#Frankie2Socks for the #4u2fiah team
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