Declaration of Uthukela Marine Protected Area in terms of section 22A of the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (No. 776 of 2019)

This gazette is also available free online at www.gpwonline.co.za 80 No. 42478 GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 23 MAY 2019 DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS NO. 776 23 MAY 2019 776 National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (57/2003): Notice declaring the Uthukela Marine Protected Area in terms of section 22A of the Act 42478 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: PROTECTED AREAS ACT, 2003 ACT NO. 57 OF 2003) NOTICE DECLARING THE UTHUKELA MARINE PROTECTED AREA IN TERMS OF SECTION 22A OF THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: PROTECTED AREAS ACT, 2003 (ACT NO. 57 OF 2003) I, Nomvula Paula Mokonyane, Minister of Environmental Affairs, hereby declare, in terms of section 22A of the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act, 2003 (Act No. 57 of 2003), the uThukela Marine Protected Area as set out in the Schedule hereto. NOMVULA PAULA MOKONYANE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS This gazette is also available free online at www.gpwonline.co.za STAATSKOERANT, 23 MEI 2019 No. 42478 81 SCHEDULE All geographic co-ordinates are determined in accordance with the WGS 84 datum. Boundaries of the Marine Protected Area The uThukela Marine Protected Area in KwaZulu-Natal is a coastal and offshore Marine Protected Area lying between the Mlalazi and Seteni estuaries, with the outer boundary being a series of straight lines sequentially joining the following coordinates: A, B, C, D, E and F and linking the first to the last along the high water mark and includes the Thukela estuary up to point d. The area includes the substrata, sea bed, subsoil and water column within these boundaries. Purpose The purpose for declaring this Marine Protected Area is: (a) To contribute to a national, regional and global representative system of marine protected areas by conserving and protecting interconnected coastal and offshore benthic and pelagic ecosystems of the KwaZulu-Natal Bight. These include estuaries, sandy beaches, rocky shores, fluvial fans, soft sediment, gravel and reefs on the shelf, submarine canyons, the shelf edge and slope ecosystems; (b) to conserve and protect the ecologically sensitive biodiversity and the ecological processes associated with these ecosystems, including: fragile coral and sponge habitats; threatened species and ecosystem types; the connectivity, spawning area and nursery function; and the critical role of fresh water riverine input as a supply of nutrients and suspended sediment; (c) to protect protected, threatened and overexploited species such as marine mammals, turtles, seventy four, geelbek, square tail kob, dusky kob, white edge rockcod, garrick, black musselcracker and hammerhead sharks; (d) to conserve and protect an area of life history importance for crustaceans and migratory species including marine mammals, turtles, sharks, seabreams, triplefins and other fish; (e) to support the recovery of linefish, rays and sharks by protecting spawning, nursery, foraging, aggregation and refuge areas for threatened and overexploited species; (f) to facilitate species management and sustainable use of linefish by supporting fisheries recovery and enhanced species abundance in fished areas; (g) to protect and regulate a scenic area to support sustainable nature-based tourism, spiritual and coastal assets and a functionally connected coastal marine system to retain a land-ocean ‘sense of place’; and (h) to provide reference sites for research and monitoring and to promote, and also promote and contribute to environmental education. Commencement This notice takes effect on 1 August 2019. o N u T h u ke la M a ri n e P ro te ct e d A re a uT hu ke la aM at ig ul u/ it V yo ni L uM la la zi M tu n zi n i d iZ in kw az i Z in kw a zi B e a ch ¡N on ot i uM dl ot an e B ly th e d a le B e a ch u M vo ti uS et he ni uM hl a li S a lt R o ck B a lli to uT ho ng at i M lo ti F uM hl at hu ze A B / J 3 1 ° 3 Ó '0 " E 3 2 ° l'0 "E 0 2 0 K ilo m e te rs I I This gazette is also available free online at www.gpwonline.co.za 82 No. 42478 GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 23 MAY 2019 Annexure: Figure 1: The boundaries for the uThukela Proposed MPA This gazette is also available free online at www.gpwonline.co.za STAATSKOERANT, 23 MEI 2019 No. 42478 83 Table 1: The exact geographic coordinates (WGS 84) of points in Fig 1. POINT LABEL X Y uThukela MPA A 31.868507 -28.932813 uThukela MPA B 32.25 -28.932813 uThukela MPA C 32.25 -28.946117 uThukela MPA D 31.8178 -29.616667 uThukela MPA E 31.3003 -29.616667 uThukela MPA F 31.3003 -29.43282 uThukela MPA d 31.424198 -29.199736