Let's get the 4u2fish campaign working

 Greetings from Frankie2Socks on this over caste  8 day of February 2024.

I have been a bit reluctant to push the 4u2fish campaign very hard, but after lots of thought and a few different conversations with independent thinking people and many folks here in St. Lucia, I have eventually decided to push the 4u2fish campaign into action.

The focus has shifted slightly, and the intentions, aims, objectives and purpose are a bit better defined, so outside folks will feel an awful lot better about many different aspects of the 4u2fish campaign.

The shift away from a totally environmental approach, to a tourism development approach, means that the public perception of the 4u2fish campaign can now be focused on the desired outcome and not the troublesome start position, which is the situation on the ground here in St. Lucia KZN South Africa today, where very few beach access permits are issued through out the year. Only seriously disabled folks get to drive on the beach, after very difficult paperwork application.

The tourism associated with beach access is actually rather significant when one looks into the whole issue, and the community bennifits associated with improved tourism numbers is taken into account and put into the correct perspectives from a financial view point.

The number of job opportunities that are instantly created when reasonable motor vehicle access is granted to the public is truly thought provoking. The losses associated with the 4x4ban are hinted at here.

This document ( Occasional paper 20 ) issued by KZN TOURISM, hints at the fact that more than twenty thousand (20 000) folks lost their economic opportunities due to the knock on impacts of the 4x4ban and associated legislative actions put in place for environmental management purposes, which deliberately and with malice intent, excludes any economic or social issues, so job opportunities are lost, and our local communities are frustrated.

We do need to find a balance between economic issues, environmental issues, social issues and how these three rather different issues are all intertwined and intermarried in such a fashion that these three separate issues need to be managed as a single entity with three parts that are interlinked and managed co-operatively. 

If you are interested in being part of the management team which will push hard for tourism development issues associated with the recreational use of our coastal zones within Umkhanyakude District municipality, then send an email to 4u2fish@info4u.co.za

 There is one rather unfortunate problem, which is that every single beach within the Umkhanyakude District municipality is also within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World heritage site . 

So enjoy life, smile and do what is right for your personal well being first, then look after your own local community next. #Frankie2Socks. #4u2fish 

estuary managment in South Africa is getting attemtion from the govermenet

Estuary Management in South Africa has been neglected by the government for some time.  The issues around harvesting, consumption and sales of natural renewable resources within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World heritage site has caused a stir at parliamentary level, and the portfolio management committee for the Department of Forestry, Fisheries  and Environment has been discussing the related issues in detail.

The minister requested a scientific review of the reasons behind the Jan 2021 breaching of the St. Lucia Estuary, and this is about to get lots of attention. Some back ground info can be gleamed form this YouTube video.

 The minister has launched the report discussing reasons for Jan 2021 breach of the St. Lucia estuary. 

more about the issues around the Jan 2021 breaching of the St. Lucia estuary by the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority 

#Frasnkie2Socks

#4u2fish 

the 4u2fish campaign supports the 7474dash21 campaign

The 7474dash21 campaign is in place to raise funds for us (4u2fish Campaign) to raise funds for our legal action against the minister and the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority.

This is a very complicated affair, where access to and sales of natural renewable resources is at stake. The IWPA or iSimangaliso Wetland park Authority has iplimented policies and regulations that makes harvesting of natural renewable resources illegal. This is violating our economic rights in terms of section 24 (b)III

This is a huge problem as there are many different local communities who have been using these renewable natural resources as a  abstantial portion of their personal income and living resources. With these natural renewable sources out of the picture, these folks are in real economic distress, and basically destitute

which way to move and how to take legal actions against the authorities and relevant government departments which are violating our economic rights in terns of section 24 (b) (iii) is quite a serious issue. finding a legal team who are willing to take on the negative feed back and associated public critisism  from the GREENIES like those who ensured that the 4x4 Ban was successfully implemented is rather difficult. The reason here is the very high level, government assisted public perception management strategies which the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority (IWPA) have implemented over the years. this has caused a major misconception within the public debate spaces and associated news paper 

Our best bet is to sue the Minister of Environmental Affairs for violation of our economic rights . We have started by requesting the public Protector to investigate these matters, and our file reference number  with the Public Protector is 7474 /  21 / KZN

more info coming just as soon as we have the resources to put it here and make any such info available to you our valued readers. so please subscribe to this blog should you want to be kept upto date with the issues connected to the FUNCTIONALITY OF THE ST. LUCIA ESTUARY SYSTEM .

My Good Friend Petrus Viviers runs a few YouTube Channels discussing many of the issues that impact on the ecology and related domestic tourism associated with a functional estuary and lake system Take a #PEEPSEE at his work and get informed about the St. Lucia Experience

Other links the St. Lucia Experience

Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment to visit Nibela on 1Drvrmber 2021

 The issuesurs of lost biodiversity within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park is about to boil over into mass a tion by some negatively charged folks, who's forefathers have fished lake St. Lucia and surrounding waterways since before the times of SHAKA ZULU.

This biodiversity loss has been caused, then exacerbated by the management style and related policies, procedures, actions and inactions of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority.

The IWPA (iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority) is the mandated Juristic person in terms of the World Heritage Convention act and associated legislations, which is appointed by the minister to manage the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World heritage site.

It is thus the duty of the IWPA to manage all the Environmental assets within the park, in the interests of the land owner as well as all of us as South African citizens , and ensure that the rights we had before the area was declared a world heritage site are not erroded or denied for any reason  or by any actions taken by the IWPA.

The government has introduced many new laws, acts and legislations since the IWPA took office in December 1999

The one that we are concerned about is the Integrated Coastal Management Act, which mandates estuary management plans for all estuaries in South Africa at three distinct and seperate levels. National, provincial, and local.

So the question becomes who is responsible for the local government component of the St. Lucia estuary management plan ? 

Because of the way that the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage site was declared as a DMZ or district Management Area, to ensure that local municipality influence was removed from the IWPA PLANNING mandates, it is our opinion that the IWPA should take excludive responsibility for the negative economic impacts caused by the current (December 2021) biodiversity problems within lake St. Lucia and surrounding esturine systems, including the Umfolozi flats and Sokhulu flood plains.

It is the IWPA duty and mandate to ensure that our rights to access natural renewable resources are protected and enshrined in the IWPA plans, policies and Procedures. The IWPA has failed miserably here, and needs to be taken to task by the minister. We will be pushing hard for this at the meeting on 1 December, where to buyhe disappearance of a local fisherman during a anti poaching opperation within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park along the northern sections of Eastern shores in mid November 2021 is the main item on the agenda.

Feed back will follow on December 2 

#Frankie2Socks

Panel of experts discuss St. Lucia estuary management issues

St. ucia lake and estuary systems stake holder engagement meeting held at Elephant lake hotel, in St. Lucia on 15 and 16 November 2021

St. Lucia lake and estuary systems stake holder engagement meeting held at Elephant lake hotel, in St. Lucia on 15 a

Meeting notes and feed back for online audience.

#Frankie2Socks attended the first three legs on behalf of the #4u2fish campaign.

1. Agriculture on Umfolozi Flats and surrounding areas

2. Tourism issues in St. Lucia toursim node

3. Fishing issues within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park focusing on estuary and lake issues

The first two legs were well attended with suitable representatives who were knowledgeable on their areas of concern. The third leg where fishing was the core theme was very poorly attended with just three concerned citizens showing their faces (including myself #Frankie2Socks)

The purpose of these stake holder engagement meetings was defined each time as being a source of information for the panel . What the panel instruction was or is was not discussed in depth, besides that this panel will make a recommendation to the minister on a way forward regarding the ecological and Environmental MANAGEMENT of the St. Lucia lake and estuarine systems.

One  person from Khula area arrived late, coz he found out about the meeting late. He represented some  land claimants in the area, but did not make a presentation, as he was not prepared. He did however say most of the same things that others had said at earlier stake holder meetings, which was very helpful in putting one solid well supported story in the picture,  and not a bunch of separate private issues and individual petty complaints.

All stake holders were on the same page at each meeting. All stake holders require a functional estuary system, and all stake holders have issues with the manner in which the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority behave and interact with the public and our concerns about our livlihoods. 

All four of us pushed the same core theme, that the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority are responsible for the current catastrophic collapse of the biodiversity within the St. Lucia lake and estuary systems.

During all three sessions the core complaint was that the estuary is nonfunctional, and the silt levels within these interconnected systems are unacceptable and exceptionally problematic to remove, as tidal ebb and flow will not have the scouring power needed to agitate, then pick up and remove this SILT.

The panel of experts did seem to understand our concerns, and asked some relevant questions. This panel of experts is set to deliver their findings and recommendations in March 2022, which is on the other side of our rainy season. We are currently in an extended drought, from the late 1980's so we do have serious issues with water quantity and quality. Then there is so called GLOBAL WARMING which is somehow not properly in the picture.

The amount of silt that will enter our lake and esturine systems before actions are taken to separate the Umfolozi mud stream from the St. Lucia  lake system in the far north is going to cause some real nasty problems. The burm between the Estuary systems and the ocean is (currently Nov 2022) quite high, and wind born sediments coming from the North are accumulating on the burm, growing it higher. This wind born sediment is rather serious, as the beaches between first rocks and the estuary mouth are currently rather long,  in some cases being in excess of 500 meters at low tide. This can change overnight with one big wind and associated sea current moving all this sand in less than 24 hours.

So things are dynamic, and can change Rather suddenly. These sudden changes will not, and can not remove compacted dried silt on the estuary basins or the water flow channels due to the excessive reed growth within the system which was exacerbated by the 2017 ecological and Environmental terrorist activity by the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, ( GEF PROJECT) which was sanctioned and approved by the minister. 

The joining of the Umfolozi River and the northern sections of the lake was a true disaster, which the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority put forward as REHABILITATION. 

This so called rehabilitation was in my mind not rehabilitation, but an active ecological disaster in the making. Over the years the Umfolozi River has been manipulated by different groups, and the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority has contributed greatly to these bad river management tactics through their attitude towards problem solving and being extremely autocratic and non co-opperstive at many levels, including the local municipality IDP PROCESS,  which the IWPA refuses to acknowledge and participate in, claiming "WORLD HERITAGE STATUS" 

This needs to be addressed, as the iSimangaliso Wetland Park no longer meets the criteria for world heritage status, and many folks would now like the area to be stripped of this world heritage status as things have just deteriorated since the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority took over management of the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park way back in December 1999. Name changes aside, this management structure is not conducive to co-,operative governance and this task team investigating the estuary management issues needs to be pro-active and place blame for bad decisions  where it belongs.

Folks here on the ground tried many different approaches to discuss these problematic issues with the IWPA, but AUTOCRATIC LEADERSHIP by the Andrew Zaloumis management team at the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority (IWPA) did just as they please. This management team should be held accountable for their actions, and be criminally charged with crimes against the environment.

The panel of experts was tasked to hold stake holder engagement meetings, then generate a report on the way forward as far as estuarine management of the St. Lucia lake and connected estuarine rivers within the iSimangaliso  Park World Heritage site and surrounding areas is concerned. One of the panel members is a hydrologic specialist with deep level knowledge of waterflow and related  siltation load distribution factors. The rest of the team are mostly involved in socioeconomic studies, so we are hopefully on a good wicket, but ball tampering and damaged bats are an issue of concern. In the past those appointed by the minister have not played fair, and team selection was for party political purposes and not outcome driven.   Let's hope this team has been selected to achieve community engagement and good relationships between all role players. 

Let's hope that the panel of experts puts forward in their recommendations that  Andrew Zaloumis along with his management team need to be held accountable, and that criminal charges be laid against them for CRIMES AGAINST THE ENVIRONMENT which is now unable to support the ecological processes that ensure the natural renewable resources within lake St. Lucia and the St. Lucia estuary systems is functional and able to sustain the local economy of the area in question.

The Andrew Zaloumis management team has prepared the area for mining, the lake and estuary systems are silted beyond the point of no return, and now the only solution is to remove the silt load mechanically.

This problem was created by deliberately, and with criminal intent,  by passing the natural filter system of the Umfolozi Flats, and allowing the Umfolozi mud stream to drop it's silt load within the extreme northern sections of the lake, where nature can not create sufficient water flow volumes to scour the bottom of the lake and the rest of the St. Lucia estuary systems. 

What to do ?

 Which path to take? 

How can we solve these problems ?

Your views and comments will be helpful in establishing a better path forward. 

 Please share and ask others to share as well. We need diverse opinions and open minds to solve this rather nasty problem which was exacerbated by the Andrew Zaloumis management team at the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, when they implemented the GEF PROJECT,  even after being warned of the drastic silt problems that would follow, which we now need to remove by mechanical means. 

The Andrew Zaloumis management team need to be held accountable for the biological and biodiversity collapse within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage site. 

Looking forward to the next step along the path to restoring the functionality of the St Lucia Estuary and lake systems.

The #4u2fish campaign is greatful to our sponsors and those who made attending these meetings possible.

Black Hawk Security supplied transport to and from the meetings.

Accommodation in St Lucia supplied by Bundu Basher Inn 

Research and internet publication by Info4u and associates. 

Social media marketing by #Frankie2Socks and associates

Our first Stakeholders Engagement meeting with DEFF

 #PUBLICNOTICE

STAKEHOLDERS ENGAGEMENT MEETING.

The department of Forestry Fisheries and Environment will be holding a SPECIAL STAKEHOLDERS ENGAGEMENT MEETING in the St. Lucia area discussing the St. Lucia Estuary Mouth management from 15 to 16 November 2021.

This is big for us at the 4u2Fish campaign. It is our first major event we will be attending. Most of these type of public participation processes meetings bhave been held in secret in the past. Well at least that is our perspective, coz the marketing / advertising for such meetings has been exceptionally poor, and few folks have attended.

The IWPA or iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority is the government appointed body which runs the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage site, and they have been mandated by a vast number of different laws and legislations to have an IMP (Integrated Management Plan) in place. The Integrated Coastal Management Act dictates three levels of estuary management plans.

1) local government level

2) provincial level 

3) national 

Due to how the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority (IWPA) has been structured and  their mandate from central government, the IWPA is the responsible agent to implement the local government level mandated Estuary Management plan.  This mandated estuary manager plan is by rights meant to be a sub plan of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority  Integrated Management Plans

Now this is where things start to ge tout of hand, and every body starts avoiding responsibility, side stepping mandated public participation processes meetings (STAKEHOLDERS ENGAGEMENT MEETING)  and making plans that exclude some of the bigger stake holder groups, with the IWPA ignoring many of their other mandated responsobilities in terms of the world heritage convention act. 

The 4u2fish campaign would be truly apprciative if you could share this post and ask others to make a plan and either send a person to represent your interests or be there yourself. 

The 4u2fish campaign supports consumptive tourism

 The 4u2fish campaign was brought to life with many intentions, one of the primary intentions is to establish a network of folks who have have the environmental health of the St. Lucia Estuary and lake systems at heart.

Well this sounds simple and straight forward, how ever there are many strange issues that define an environmental activist, and then there are individual personal agendas.  

Some of these personal agendas are not directly related to the environmental health of the St. Lucia Estuary and lake systems, but are all about preventing others from benifiting from the natural renewable resources within the isimangaliso Wetland Park.

This very harmful and disrespectful attitude has come about because of the diverse  cultural makeup of the folks who are interested and affected parties in the management and consumption  or NON CONSUMPTION of the natural renewable resources,  as well as the the tourism associated with the isimangaliso Wetland Park.

These different economic,  cultural  and social  attitudes are not easily interpreted, and those who have been appointed as custodians of the isimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage site, are pushing the agendas of out siders who have completely different intentions, aims and objectives, which are not conducive to community benificiation, community development or community participation in public participation process meetings .

These personal  agendas, as well as some corporate agendas and certain  state based policies exclude  some   user groups as  well as the many seperate and diverse local population communities, which live and work within, or on the shores of Lake St. Lucia, from participation in the planning strategies of the IWPA.

This planed systematic exclusion tactic has been very successful, and the current poor state of the St. Lucia Estuary and lake systems  is as a direct result of this success.

 Read more here 

The folks living on the shores of Lake St. Lucia and in the nearby rural areas have used these natural renewable resources, such as prawns, fish and Reed's, for their income streams and personal consumption since the days of Sharka Zulu. 

The attitude of the outsiders who  have taken over political control  and environmental management of the area  is not conducive to co-operative management of our natural renewable resources, as they view the local population groups as poachers, and vilify them at every opportunity that they get. 

This is done as part of a well managed and properly planned public perception management strategy, so as to exclude the resident local population of the areas surrounding the IWP  ( isimangaliso Wetland Park ) from all planing and stratgising tactics of the IWPA . 

The IWPA or iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority is the juristic person appointed by the South African Government  to manage the area in terms of the WHCA or World heritage Convention act. 

Read more about that here

There are many laws, acts records of decision and related legislations that impact  on the use and management of natural renewable resources within the isimangaliso Wetland Park .

Most of the folks whose economic rights, in terms of section 24 of the South African Constitution,   have been violated by the IWPA, have never been consulted about compensation for loss of income and access to natural renewable resources, do not understand what has happened.

These folks have no access to information, and the careful, well managed public perception management strategies of the IWPA has ensured that these folks are painted as undesirables within the documents supplied to the different  parliamentary oversight committees dealing with the vastly diverse issues around the management and planning strategies of the IWPA 

The 4u2fish team has thus put a petition  online, seeking a mandate to take up these issues with the premier of KZN South Africa. Your signature on this petition will be appreciated. Once you have signed this petition please share in your social media platforms and ask others to do the same.

#Frankie2Socks for the 4u2fish campaign

IWPA IMP Emergency request for help

 The iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, as the custodian of the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park World Heritage Site, Now called the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritagge site is currently busy with their annual mandated review and update of their Integrated Management Plan or IMP.

This #MANDATED Integrated Management Plan is a very painful and disturbing experience for the majority of the folks living in and adjacent to the iSimangaliso wetland Park.  The IWPA or iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority have deliberately and with criminal intent side stepped the public participation process of these plans in the past, through political interference at the highest levels possible.

This IMP (Integrated Management Plan ) is supposed to be integrated into 

• all relevant local Municipalities IDP Process plans
• the Umkhanyakude District Municipalities IDP process plans
• The KZN provincial IDP process plans
• the NATIONAL IDP process plans 
  

In Terms of the ICMA or Integrated Coastal Management Act every estuary in South Africa should have an estuary  management plan in place, which should be registered with the IDP of the local municipality where any such estuary is found.

 Because each estuary is found in a local municipality, the Estuary management plan should by all rights be managed by that local municipality.

The St. Lucia estuary is however a very different story coz it falls into two local  local municipalities as well as the iSimangaliso Wetland park WORLD HERITAGE SITE, complicating things and adding frustrations to the St. Lucia Estuary Estuary management plan

It has thus become necessary to find a way to organise the various interested and affected parties and establish a single responsible entity to manage the St. Lucia estuary management plan. The 4u2Fish campaign has started working on this, and created a petition to the premier of KZN SOUTH AFRICA found here

https://secure.avaaz.org/community_petitions/en/Sihle_Zikalala_Premier_of_KZN_south_Africa_Support_the_4u2fish_campaign_in_our_efforts_to_restore_BIODIVERSITY_in_St_Lucia_Estuary/

Please consider signing this petition and sharing it further to your social media audience, asking them to sign and share again.

THIS IS NOW AN EMERGENCY ISSUE, AS THE ANNUAL ISIMANGALISO WETLAND PARK AUTHORITY INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT PLAN REVIEW PROCESS IS CURRENTLY UNDER WAY, and then I initial first round comments and Input session closesd on 31 October 2020

#Frankie2Socks for the #4u2fish campaign.

September 2020 update

 4U2FISH update 15 September 2020

We understand that this blog has been in-active, and the sole reason was #FINANCIALRESOURCES

Well that has been addressed, just a little, so you will soon be reading more about myself ( #Frankie2Socks )  and the many different efforts to get the issues of the closure of the St. Lucia estuary addressed at the highest levels, as the problems are diverse, plentiful and carry heavy financial burdens which the poorest of the poor are expected to bear the brunt of these costs. 

#PeepSee our petition here 

The primary issue here is the loss of economic opportunities associated with the natural renewable resources of Lake St. Lucia and surrounding waterways, which in the past sustained and supported  a very large rural population, before the state in the form of (1) the old NPB, then (2) in the form of the IWPA, and its allies, within the various different government departments, manipulated financial and socioeconomic information to mislead many different organizations and world bodies about the true situation on the ground.

Basically  the economies that were in place sustaining the rural populations around lake St. Lucia and interconnected waterways were ignored, then systematically destroyed, to ensure that the domestic tourism market, connected to the sustainable consumptive tourism associated with the natural renewable resources, within Umkhanyakude was removed from the equation.

In simple English  NO FISHING .... No tourism associated with fishing.... lots of job losses....

In my opinion this is all about control and management of the largest tourism attraction in KZN, the old #Maputuland Coastline, or the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, and the surrounding rural areas. Big tourism companies are pushing hard to exclude the domestic tourism market, and ensure that only the international market exists. National government is involved in this push for international tourism at the exclusion of the South African Domestic tourism market.

These are vastly complicated issues, where local folks have been vilified, and through efficient and effective  public perception management techniques, are currently perceived to be poachers, thieves and untrustworthy folks.  The folks on the ground need their dignity returned, and their rights in terms of section 24 as quoted here, need to be addressed.

Quote "Chapter 2, section 24 (b) iii  of the South African Constitution reads  as "Every one has the right to have the environment protected, for benefit of present and future  generations through reasonable legislative measures that secure ecological sustainable development and the use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development." end Quote

 

This stance needs to be tested at the constitutional court, so we need your support, mostly moral, coz if we have enough moral support, then financial support will flow like water.   the issue is to get the first 200 folks on board, then get them to assist by speaking about the problem, and asking others to #PEEPSEE and follow a hashtag or three (well just 2 #4u2fish and #reviveStLucia ) 

 

Please help this cause by sharing our posts and talking about the use of natural resources  within the sustainable tourism sphere of influence.

#Frankie2Socks @ Bird Island lodge on the #Nibela #Peninsula for the #ReviveStLucia campaign

Your views and opinion

Greetings and salutations to all who read here.

The 4u2fish campaign needs your views and opinions on the issues surrounding the current biodiversity collapse within the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park, which is currently managed by the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, an ANC APPOINTED management authority, in terms of the world heritage Convention act and associated legislations.

The IWPA or iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority is the appointed the legal custodian of the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park and other areas of  the Maputuland Coast that have been included into the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, and as such they ( The IWPA )  are responsible for the management of the St. Lucia Estuary management plan, as is envisaged in the ICMA or Integrated Coastàl Management Act and related legislations.

The IWPA has been side stepping this duty and needs to be  confronted and forced to develop and implement a Estuary management plan in terms of the ICMA and the NEMA or National Environmental Management Act

What is your opinion on this matter ?

How do you think that we, as South African citizens, should take up this very complex and rather thorny issue of enforcing our environmental rights in terms of section 24 in chapter 2 of the South African Constitution?

Read more about this view here

Your comments and views will be truly appreciated here.

Sea water flow issues in the St. lucia Estuary, KZN South Africa

St. Lucia estuary is in a very seriously degraded state. The IWPA or iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority are the government-appointed body that manages the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park in terms of the World Heritage Convention act.

This region was declared a World Heritage site in December 1999, and later renamed as the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, or the IWP,    the IWPA has been mandated by the government to manage the IWPWHS ( iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage Site)  and as such, this is the authority that is responsible for the ecological functioning of the IWPWHS, as well as the tourism business generated through the fact that the area is a World Heritage site.

The ICMA or integrated Coastal Management  Act mandates the state to have an estuary management plan in place for each estuary, and dictates who is responsible for the implementation of this plan.  the current situation is that this plan is not clearly attributed to any speific body to implement,  and we as local residents within the St. Lucia area have no idea who to turn to solve our problems that come along with an ecologically degraded and non-functional estuarine environment. 

In my opinion, the IWPA has failed us, and we need serious government intervention to fix the problems caused by no seawater flowing in and out of the St. Lucia estuarine system as the ocean tides change.   this is due to many factors, with the current drought conditions being the major driver of these problems.

#FRANKIE2SOCKS Has done a little digging and some research producing this report for us at the #4u2fish  blog.