Operations at Tsitsikamma MPA: Challenges and Solutions

1. PRESENTATION ON THE TSITSIKAMMA MPA OPERATIONS 25 – 27 October 2016 MPA FORUM, PORT ELIZABETH

2. Factual Information • Proclaimed in 1964 as the continent of Africa’s first marine park (Knobel & Robinson) and is situated on the southern Cape coast and forms part of the world renowned Garden Route. • Provincial boundaries of the park stretches over two provinces, to wit the Eastern Cape (Groot River East near Oubos) and the Western Cape (Groot River West near Nature’s Valley). • Local government structures within the management area of the park is the Koukamma Municipality in Kareedouw (EC) and Bitou Municipality in Plettenberg Bay (WC). • District municipal structures are the Sarah Baartman DM in Port Elizabeth and the Eden DM in George. • Liaise with two SAPS structures (Storms River and Plettenberg Bay) and two magisterial court structures (Humansdorp Magisterial District and Knysna Magisterial District) in terms of law enforcement efforts.

3. Map Overview

4. Staff Establishment

5. Operational Highlights • Reduction in the number of fines issued within the no-take zone of the MPA compared to previous years. • Pool of Fisheries Control Officers increased through the assistance of the DAFF which aids in higher number of FCO’s which can be deployed in the MPA.

6. Major Challenge… • Uncertainty with regards to the rezoning of the Tsitsikamma MPA and the operational challenges it holds for the current staff establishment to effectively deal with the challenges in terms of monitoring, compliance and research objectives of the MPA . • Tsitsikamma communities are becoming increasingly frustrated with the progress and process in terms of wanting access into the MPA for resource use which impacts on SANParks/community relations

7. Two Challenges MPA faced… • Instruction from National Treasury to change over to the Central Supplier Database (CSD) procurement system as from the 1st April 2016. • This has a major impact to effectively spend the budget due to limited suppliers on the system and fact that the contribution towards local economic development cannot be realized in terms of job creating opportunities. • This also had an effect in not being able to for example increase the number of boat patrols within the MPA due to shortage of suppliers for fuel and to enter into three year agreements with service providers to service patrol vessels. • & • Failure from the Department of Justice and Correctional Services to speed up prosecutions for marine related transgressions

8. Solutions to overcome challenges… • Embarked on a drive to motivate and encourage local SMME’s to register and to create opportunities to register on the CSD system through the utilization of own resources, i.e. staff members, IT infrastructure to increase the pool of registered SMME’s to be able to assist in terms of provision of goods and services associated with MPA management, i.e. maintenance projects. & • First meeting with DoJ held but no movement yet in terms of making progress to expedite prosecutions for “green crimes”. Follow-up meeting scheduled.

9. MPA Secretariat Assistance • Assist in arranging a workshop/training session for Prosecutors, SAPS in terms of environmental legislation, marine related legislation to be specific which will enable a better understanding of our mandate in terms of jointly combatting environmental crimes. • & • Development of a toolkit which will assist Prosecutors and SAPS punting the importance of biodiversity management and marine conservation.

10. What are we doing “right” • Upskill fixed-term employees, i.e. Environmental Monitors in terms of anti-poaching skills, Peace Officer’s training, basic field ranger training, map reading skills, Cybertracker skills, etc to effectively train them internally in various disciplines. • If positions becomes vacant, they would be the most obvious choice to employ since they have been subjected to the training and exposed to MPA operations, thus ensuring that we have a suitably skilled human capital pool.

11. Four major priorities… • Ensure that staff are trained in accordance with their Individual Development Plans (IDP’s) as per operational needs to effectively ensure compliance within no-take and controlled zones of the Tsitsikamma MPA. • Spending CAPEX funding to procure goods and equipment which will assist in the monitoring and management of the MPA. • Embark on a drive to facilitate environmental awareness campaigns on the MPA with various stakeholders, i.e. internal (People & Conservation Department, Scientific Services) and external (Nature’s Valley Trust). • Promote marine conservation and research initiatives with both internal and external stakeholders and to provide support to achieve this.

12. Progress made on issues… • Increased limited service providers to promote local economic development; • Three year service level agreement with service provider Knysna Marine to timeously and regularly service patrol vessels to ensure that boat patrol targets are met; • Increased the pool of Fisheries Control Officers for the Tsitsikamma MPA; • Increased the number of trained and appointed EMI Level 5 and Level 2 inspectors for the Tsitsikamma MPA.

13. Thank you