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. 

Violation of our economic rights in terms of section 24 of the South African Constitution

 Rights violations

Rights violations in terms of section 24 (b) (iii)  of the South African Constitution are rather complicated issues. Especially when one talks of our economic rights, which come along for the ride but, are ULTRA Important aspects of the intent of the law.

PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION TO THE PREMIER OF KZN

Now as discussed in the 4x4 BAN blog pages here #Section24 of our constitution discusses our collective environmental rights, and we all, as South African citizens, , have the constitutional right to make reasonable economic gains through the sales and consumption of our local renewable natural resources.

Section 24

Section 24 of the South African Constitution does not discriminate between Juristic Persons or Natural Persons which makes some issues less complicated and others more complex. Section 24 of the South African Constitution also views renewable natural resources in the same light as non renewable natural resources, which is very helpful for us as consumers of natural renewable resources within the coastal environment of South Africa.

Section 24 of the South African Constitution is our lever to pull, and institute a claim of violation of our collective economic rights, which are disguised within our Environmental rights as a Ryder, which the mining industry use to ensure mining rights.

If the Economic Ryder within section 24 of the South African Constitution, which the mining industry uses to ensure that their access to natural non renewable resources, is not denied, was not in place, the South African mining industry would not exist and Environmental activists would have closed down all mining activities within South Africa a very long time ago.

Mining Rights and fishing rights

So we as environmental activists, who want our local environment protected and restored to natural functionality, where our renewable natural resources can flourish, need to use these same clauses within section 24 of the South African Constitution ( which the mining industry uses ) to acquire access rights, consumption rights and sales rights to the natural renewable resources within lake St Lucia and surrounding waterways within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage site in KZN South Africa

Now being a world heritage site does complicate these issues of rights to both non renewable natural resources and renewable natural resources, but we need to remember that legislations associated with the world heritage convention act also guarantee us as South Africans that any rights we had before the area was declared a world heritage site, would not just disappear, but that we would maintain those rights.

Before the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park was declared a world heritage site in December 1999, we as citizens of South Africa had the right to consume the natural renewable resources of the St. Lucia estuary system. The IWPA or iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority do not appreciate the economic Ryders in section 24 (b) (iii)  of the South African Constitution, and as such the IWPA has introduced legislations to ensure that our access rights, consumption rights and economic rights associated with the renewable natural resources of lake St. Lucia and the St. Lucia estuary system have been eroded, denied, and criminalized.

This criminalization of our collective environmental rights by the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, previously known as the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park Authority, has caused great hardships and really nasty economic problems and associated social distress for the folks of Umkhanyakude district Municipality. 

What happened

So how did this situation come about and what can we as residents of Umkhanyakude district Municipality do to restore our economic rights, consumption rights and associated access rights.

Well this violation of our collective environmental rights happened because the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, through ROD's ( Records Of Decision) Legislative processes as well as well as actions and activities of their predecessor, the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands park Authority, which excluded true and meaningful public participation in the mandated integrated management plans of the park. ( IWPA IMP )

Now we do need to remember that the greater St. Lucia Wetlands park had a name change forced upon it through actions taken by the United Nations who manage international issues associated with world heritage sites, where UNESCO was the main driver of this name change. This name change became necessary when the Island of St. Lucia in the caribbeans also acquired world heritage status and confusion existed about which St. Lucia world heritage site was being discussed.

We got a new name for our world heritage site here in Zulu Land, South Africa, so as to remove the confusion. This name change was just that. A name change. This was a name change and not anything else.

No rights, duties, Obligations or any legal matters were impacted by this name change from Greater St. Lucia Wetlands park to iSimangaliso wetland park. How ever the guys that actually managed the world heritage site at the time, thought very different, and they used this name change to adjust the way that they viewed and implemented many laws and legislations. The Andrew Zaloumis management team at the IWPA were rather ruthless, and used this name change and related legislations to their advantage in many strange and devious ways. 

The first was by excludung local municipalities and provincial authorities from their zone of influence by claiming that the IWPA as the custodians of a World Heritage site, are above these two levels of governance, and so only report to national government.

There were many other issues, but those are for other discussions but this discussion and related conversations is about our socio - economic and Environmental rights.

This makes things rather complicated and allows the IWPA many advantages to hide things away and side step a number of issues that impact on the local Municipality and provincial management activities and actions. Municipal planning strategies are problematic, as the IWPA falls into three of the four local municipalities within Umkhanyakude district Municipality.

Mtubtuba

Big 5 Hlabisa

Umhlanuyalingana

This assumption of powers and management duties by the Andrew Zaloumis management team at the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority left many folks on the ground confused and perplexed. The IWPA did not submitt their IMP's or Integrated Management Plans to the local municipalities, thus allowing the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority to evade the mandated public participation process meetings mandated by legislations associated with the national planing act.

The IWPA did not, and still does not include their IMP development strategies and planning at 

Local Municipality IDP level

District Municipality IDP level

Provincial IDP level

The IWPA STILL CLAIM that because they are a world heritage site management team, they are above local Municipality laws, district Municipality laws and provincial management teams get similar treatment being told to speak to the national department. 

This attitude by the IWPA management team is currently being addressed internally, as the new IWPA MANAGEMENT TEAM has a different view on public participation and is keen to get the local rural populations living adjacent to the park to be included at all levels. 

This new management team at the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority are awear of the impacts caused by the collapse of the prawn industry on the Tugela Banks as they discuss that in this YouTube video.

The question now becomes "What is the IWPA doing about the economic losses associated with the collapse of the prawn fishing industry" 

The IWPA does not tell you that there were TWO (2) and not one prawn fishing industries. The one that everybody knows about was owned and managed by I&J , the frozen foods guys. The second #PrawnFishingIndustry was a secret that was well gaurded and kept very quite, coz the Andrew Zaloumis management team at the IWPA had successfully closed down the legal prawn fisheries that were opperational within the iSimangaliso wetland park. They just simply refused to renew the existing netting licences, citing the world heritage status of the park as the reason for this closure.

The licence holders went bankrupt and did not have the resources to take legal actions against the state. There was a true collaborative effort by a number of different state departments to ensure that the entire fishing industry within the St. Lucia lake and estuary systems was shut down and destroyed. The Andrew Zaloumis management team at the IWPA managed this destruction of the local fishing industry in Umkhanyakude very well. 

The fact that this management team only reported to the office of the president, and had special privilages, as the IWPA did not report to any local government or provincial government structures, allowed them to do as they please, leaving the folks on the ground excluded at every opportunity. The Andrew Zaloumis REGIME was not a pleasant time for the folks on the ground within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, as they were treated as poachers who should be dispised at all costs, and denied access to natural renewable resources.

The economic impacts of these rather nasty actions and activities by the IWPA, when they refused to renew fishing permits and netting licences was huge, and to make matters worse this went down at the same time as the 4x4 ban. The issue was truly confused within the public domain, coz the IWPA painted these folks as "POACHERS" and ensured that these issues were clouded out by the noise about the 4x4 ban.

With hindsight and a little joining the dots, one can understand what the other contributing factors to the economic losses within the Umkhanyakude district Municipality are. The missing economy is all about the missing natural renewable resources. 

The local population living on the shores of lake St Lucia have the constitutional right to harvest and sell the natural renewable resources of the St. Lucia estuary system. The issue of sustainability is always a problem point. Now if the system is not managed as a whole, and the sustainability of individual species is not connected to the sustainability of the whole, then we will have a big fail… 

This big failure by the state and it's appointed custodians of our natural renewable resources and associated environmental spaces is a reality. Unfortunately this is hidden from the public by very clever public perception management STRATEGY based within the national government at the highest levels with the guys at Tourism and Environmental Affairs taking the lead roles.

The current situation is not acceptable, coz the whole St. Lucia system ( estuary and lake ) is at risk of total collapse. Some folks say that we are already past the point of no return to natural Estuary Management, and that the human race must now take collective responsibility and manage the St. Lucia estuary and lake systems proactively.

Just do some #CriticalThinking and evaluate the serious environmental consiquences caused by the draing of all marshlands, Swamps and waterpans in north east Zulu Land, or the Maputu Land Coast, which was an extremely high malaria zone in the past, to eliminate mosquitoes, and the impacts of this on waterflow patterns within lake St Lucia.

So many different problems all neatly rolled up into one big spaghetti ball. What to do about the environmental health of the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands and the iSimangaliso Wetland Park depends on which side of the environmental fence you live and play. These are serious issues that need to be addressed at National level.

What are your views ? Leave a comment !! Or not ?

HASHTAGS for this post.

#Frankie2Socks

#4u2fish

#EnvironmentalRights

#EconomicRights

#IWPAIMP 

Thanx for your eyeballs on my content.

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

Fishing in the St. Lucia estuary is a waste of your time

Today, 9 October 2019, I took a drive to the beach at St. Lucia with Petrus Bierpens pens of #BierpensTV and then walked to where the whale watching boats launch. It was such a beautiful morning, unfortunately my finances do not currently allow me the privilege of a camera to take some pics and upload them here.  Any way on the way from Ingwe Beach to the beach launch  location I walked along the estuary side and not the sea shore.

I was once again saddened by the mud flats full of flamingoes and a variety of fresh water ducks and other water birds in the space where we should be fishing the incoming tide. After the recent north east winds which blew the water from  lake St. Lucia into the Umfolozi and Umzinduze river deltas, and this mornings calmness, the water in the St. Lucia Estuary Mouth area was flowing happily from South to North, returning  into the lake systems north of St. Lucia.

Most folks have no idea of the vast volumes of water that the winds move around the St. Lucia lake system, or the scary figures of water evaporation which takes place  on the surface of the waterways connected to lake St. Lucia and the St. Lucia estuary systems. When trying to explain how the St. Lucia estuary system should be functioning as a breeding ground for many marine fish species, the current situation confuses most folks, and they battle to understand the connections between water flow and phytoplankton as the primary food source at the extreme base of the food chain.

Phytoplankton does not do very well in standing water, and also prefers a mix of fresh  or sweet water and sea or salt water. Phytoplankton is the primary diet of Zooplankton, and zoo plankton is the second tier in the food chain.  So the fact that the St. Lucia estuary is closed, and there is no sea water mixing with the fresh water from the Umfolozi and other rivers in the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park, means that the base of the food chain within lake St. Lucia and the St. Lucia estuary system is dysfunctional and not really able to support  the current biological load within the many different bio zones of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

Very few of the folks that I speak to here in the streets of St. Lucia actually connect the dots between the food chain in the estuary and the food chain in the terrestrial areas adjacent to Lake St. Lucia and the St. Lucia Estuary system, or the food chain on our offshore reefs which have just recently been included in brand new MPA's  ( Marine Protected Areas )

Now that these new areas are protected to conserve our fish stocks,  I am truly Confuckumalated, because there is NO mention of JUVENILE RECRUITMENT that I could find.  Most of the fish species that these new legislations are attempting to protect are dependant on a functioning estuary for their breeding and the protection of their fry, before they are big enough to venture out into the ocean and populate our off shore reefs. Many of the reef fish in the new MPA's also consume biological bio mass connected to a functioning estuary such as prawns, crabs and the juvenile fish of many different species of fish and other marine species that breed and mature within the safety of the reed  beds, mangrove swamps and other safe havens encountered in Lake St. Lucia, the St. Lucia estuary system and surrounding waterways.

So taking into account that there are no juvenile fish entering the St. Lucia estuary and lake systems, and that the ocean is not connected to the St. Lucia estuary system, you are truly wasting your ti me, effort and financial resources if you go fishing in the St. Lucia estuary
.
Once again, thanx for reading here...

Please support the 4u2fish campaign by speaking about these problems and asking others to read and comment here.  If you are in a financially positive situation and want to donate to our  cause  then click here

Hash tags relevant to this post
#ReviveStLucia
#Frankie2Socks
#BierpensTV
#whalewatching
#4u2fish