WESSA Coastal Newsletter March 2021

WESSA COASTAL NEWSLETTER MA R CH 2 0 2 1

Blue Flag

Best practice at Grotto Blue Flag beach in Overstrand

A new cigarette butt disposal idea was implemented at Grotto beach in the Overstrand municipality during the holiday season. The paper mache cones were made by the Overberg Wheelchair Association. The WESSA Tourism Blue Flag Project stewards helped implement the project while they were on the beach. The project was well recieved by beach users and will be implemeted at more beaches next season! This is a great idea to reduce cigarette butt litter on beaches.

Brand new Ford Ranger for Blue Flag thanks to the Ford Wildlife Foundation!

WESSA was excited to receive a brand new Ford Ranger sponsored from Ford South Africa and the Ford Wildlife Foundation. The vehicle will be used to support the WESSA Blue Flag programme and WESSA Tourism Blue Flag project all along the SA coastline. The vehicle will be travelling to all Blue Flag beaches, boats and marinas throughout the year making sure each of our partners are supported to provide the healthiest and safest coastal tourism sites to the South African public. WESSA is grateful to Ford for the continued support!

Vince Shacks and Tevya Lotriet recieving the new vehicle from Ford Mekor in Cape Town.

Blue Flag Beaches in South Africa with amphibious wheelchairs Amphibious wheelchairs are innovative in that they can move easily on sand and float in water. This allows people with mobility challenges to have universal access to the beach and ocean.

You can find beach wheelchairs or amphibious wheelchairs at these beaches in South Africa:

Muizenberg Kleinmond Grotto Lappiesbaai Still Bay Robberg 5 Western Cape

Dolphin Kings Humewood Hobie Eastern Cape

uShaka Point Amanzimtoti KwaZulu-Natal

Tourism Blue Flag beach stewards welcome beachgoers

In mid-December 2020, 75 Beach Stewards reported for duty at 20 Blue Flag beaches along the South African coastline. These stewards were placed to offer support to these beaches in beach monitoring, visitor assistance, crowd control (encouraging Covid-19 social distancing and mask wearing), and incident management . They also had a pivotal role in arranging and running enviro-education events and edutainment at their beaches. Stipends for the stewards, their tourism training and resources to support them are funded by the National Department of Tourism; with WESSA managing the stewards.

Education talk on plastic pollution being conducted at Humewood beach in Port Elizabeth for 400 kids from local communities.

Tourism Blue Flag youth graduate into the blue-green economy

The graduating beach stewards received their certificates of competency for their year-long accredited tourism guiding training as part of the Tourism Blue Flag project (TBF). The placement of these youth with host institutions also aimed to support municipalities managing Blue Flag beaches and marinas. The project also supported private tourism companies working to build back better from the severe impact of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

31 KwaZulu-Natal youth at the TBF graduation ceremony in Durban

WESSA TBF Project Manager, Morgan Griffiths, shared his concern of how the tourism industry had significantly contracted due to Covid-19 impacts; however he was encouraged at how the graduating stewards have earned themselves a place in the blue- green economy, helping to develop a more sustainable future for themselves and for their local communities. A key element of their training, which continued virtually over lockdowns, was how to start their own small businesses to create innovative tourism products. Of the youth who exited the programme over the course of the year, a number left to start their own small businesses or took up full-time employment. WESSA is proud to implement this highly impactful youth development programme, and together with our stakeholders, the National Department of Tourism, municipalities, and private host institutions, will induct a new group of 104 Tourism Blue Flag Beach Stewards in early March 2021.

22 Eastern Cape & Garden Route youth at the TBF graduation ceremony in Port Elizabeth.

I6 Western Cape youth at the TBF graduation ceremony in Cape Town.

Western Cape hosts, WESSA staff and TBF stakeholders pictured at the graduation ceremony in Cape Town.

ChildSafe Movement

New ChildSafe project launches in Durban WESSA has partnered with the Childhood Foundation and Friends International in order to introduce the ChildSafe Movement to South African shores. The ChildSafe Movement is a global initiative that recognizes that we are all responsible for protecting children. The ChildSafe Beaches Project is integrated into WESSA's Beach Stewards programme as part of the Tourism Blue Flag project and aims to improve the protective environment for children in and around popular coastal tourism sites by adopting and adapting the award winning ChildSafe methodology. The 7 Tips for ChildSafe Beaches is an awareness campaign that was implemented during the festive season on Durban Blue Flag Beaches. The campaign aims to raise awareness around child protection risks within the beach environment, and also to empower citizens to act in the best interest of children and their protection.

Follow these 7 Tips to protect children at our Durban beaches! More detailed information can be found at https://wessa.org.za/our-work-sustainable-tourism-child-safe/

The Durban beach stewards undergoing training at the ChildSafe workshop.

The stewards also played a social role at the beaches, in helping to reunite parents with lost children, as well as raising awareness around exploitation of children in the beach tourism industry (as part of the international ChildSafe Programme).

Green Coast

About the Green Coast Programme

Green Coast is a WESSA coastal award that was developed to recognise wild, less developed coastal areas that aim to protect species, habitats and cultural heritage.

Green Coast aims to promote sustainable tourism on the natural coastline of South Africa while protecting habitat, species or cultural heritage through monitoring programmes. A Green Coast site is not just another stretch of protected coastline but rather a platform for collaboration, innovation and local public participation. Where possible, all Green Coast sites should aim to include a local residents association or public group who are able to mobilise active citizens to participate in the management of the site. The South African coastline represents a unique part of our countries diverse heritage. It is a space that should be accessible for all of our citizens and a space that we all should be immensely proud of. Green Coast aims to provide the platform for this by improving access, awareness and pride in sensitive coastal spaces around our country. The responsibility of managing these sites does not sit with local government alone, but with every citizen that inevitably relies on this resource. The Green Coast award is an excellent opportunity for local citizens to act and become involved in efforts to improve and protect our incredible coastline. Joining Green Coast offers many benefits: · Promotion of sustainable tourism · Formal monitoring of Green Coast themes (species/habitat/cultural heritage) · Coastal environmental management · Building partnerships between municipalities and private organisations · Promoting citizen science · Recognition for effective coastal management

New Green Coast sites in South Africa

WESSA is proud to announce the 5 successful Green Coast applications at Bulungula, Chintsa, Kei Mouth, Morgan Bay and Qolora. They are now full status Green Coast sites!

Green Coast award ceremony held in Morgan Bay, Eastern Cape.

More about the new Wild Coast Green Coast sites

#1 BULUNGULA Theme: Habitat Habitat focus: Sandy Shores (Bulungula Estuary to Xhora Estuary) Monitoring activity:

Environmental degradation Waste removal monitoring Community waste management & requirements

Project implementers: Bulungula Incubator & Lodge Coastal Municipality: Mbashe Local Municipality

#2 CHINTSA Theme: Habitat

Habitat focus: Chintsa Estuary Additional monitoring activity:

Biodiversity Environmental degradation Cetacean strandings & storm surge events Cultural history and artefacts Fishing activity

Project implementer: Friends of Chintsa Coastal Municipality: Great Kei Local Municipality

#3 KEI MOUTH Theme: Habitat and species

Habitat focus: Kei Mouth mudstone shores Species focus: Great Kei River Mangroves Additional monitoring activity:

Cetacean stranding Storm surge events

Cultural history and artefacts Fishing and foraging activity

Project implementer: Kei Mouth Revival Project Coastal Municipality: Great Kei Local Municipality

#4 MORGAN BAY Theme: Habitat

Habitat focus: iGxara Estuary Additional monitoring activity:

Cetacean stranding & storm surge events Cultural history and artefacts Fishing and foraging activity #5 QOLORA MOUTH Theme: Species Species focus – Blue Duiker ( Philantomba monticola ) Additional monitoring activity: Project implementer: Trennerys Hotel Coastal Municipality: Mnquma Local Municipality Biodiversity of Morgan Bay Environmental degradation Cetacean strandings & storm surge events Cultural history and artefacts Fishing activity Project implementer: Morgan Bay Ratepayer's Association Coastal Municipality: Great Kei Local Municipality

News from Green Coast sites A MEGA wild coast twitch at Kei Mouth Article shared by Dr Deborah Roberston-Andersson

Twitchers are by definition a person or thing that twitches, or in this case birdwatchers . Twitchers are willing to go to great lengths to see any bird species they have not previously recorded, even traveling extensive distances at great expense to see a new lifer. The sooty gull was first recorded in the St Lucia Estuary in Northern KZN on birding big day (28 November 2020). And this is only the second record of this bird in South Africa, so on all the social media its being labelled as a MEGA-find, which means that twitchers will travel from far to see it. After the November sighting several people travelled up and down KZN trying to find it with no success. Kei mouth received a fantastic new year’s present with a sighting in Kei mouth on the 1st of January! The bird moves around the mouth with respect to the tides, at high tide it is on the northern sand bar in the mouth and has also been seen in the Tern roosts. At low tide, the bird has been seen further upriver towards the ferry. There are stories of twitchers traveling from all over to see the bird. Another sighting at Kei Mouth that deserves a special mention is the Broad-Billed Sandpiper ( Calidris falcinellus ) which is on the salt marsh on the northern bank near the ferry at low tide. This sighting is only the second for the Eastern Cape. This bird is identified by the bent tip on its bill and the white strip over the eye.

Ichthyaetus hemprichii - Sooty Gull

So grab your binos and see if you can develop a twitch or three at Kei Mouth!

Broad-Billed Sandpiper (Calidris falcinellus)

Bulungula Beach Clean-ups

Bulungula beach clean up crew smiling for the camera!

Blaauwberg Nature Reserve Beach Clean-ups

Blaauwberg Nature Reserve in partnership with the Friends of Blaauwberg Conservation Area (FoBCA) have restarted monthly clean-ups in February 2021. 39 volunteers assisted for the most recent week long clean-up. 53 bags of litter was removed for the week. The top 3 items counted (using The Beach Coop Dirty Dozen score sheet) were cigarette butts , bottle tops/lids and lollipop sticks. These clean-ups are conducted monthly as part of the Green Coast monitoring requirements for the Habitat theme. The public are encouraged to join in!

New banners made by the Friends of Blaauwberg Conservation Area displayed at Blaauwberg Nature Reserve helping to improve visibility and encourage public participation.

For more information, contact Elzette Krynauw elzette.krynauw@capetown.gov.za