The Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Mrs BEE Molewa, MP, has declared the Prince Edward Islands, a Marine Protected Area (MPA).
The new Prince Edward Islands MPA, the first South African offshore MPA, will serve to significantly contribute to global initiatives towards protection of offshore and deep ocean areas.
The declaration is in line with South Africa’s new “National Protected Areas Expansion Strategy” which seeks to structure the way in which protected areas are declared in order to maximise conservation benefits. This strategy drew attention to South Africa’s lack of offshore protected areas, and put forward the Prince Edward Islands.
“The Prince Edward Islands MPA is a significant contribution to the conservation of global biodiversity. The new MPA will also contribute significantly towards South Africa’s national and international commitments to biodiversity protection,” said Minister Molewa.
Minister Molewa also added that, “the new MPA is intended, among other things, to contribute to the protection of unique species, habitats and ecosystem processes. It will also provide scientific reference points that can inform the future management of the area and to be able to understand better the impacts of climate change on the whole Southern Ocean. It will also contribute to integrated and ecologically sustainable management of marine resources of the area.”
The new MPA will comprise of three types of zones:
- A 12 nautical mile sanctuary (no take) zone
- Four restricted zones, in which fishing effort is limited
- A controlled zone, linking the four restricted areas. This zone is to be managed as a low impact zone that links the four zones spatially.
The rationale for the zonation is that the MPA will have a 12nm sanctuary zone for the preservation of the unique island ecosystem and to contribute towards the recovery of the toothfish populations. The MPA will still allow limited utilisation of Patagonian toothfish resources by South African vessels outside the sanctuary area.
The marine biodiversity of the Prince Edward Islands is of global importance. Given the scarcity of land masses in the Southern Ocean, sub-Antarctic islands contain vast populations of seals and seabirds, which use these islands to breed and moult. This means that these islands are critical to the conservation of such species as they are forced to aggregate in high densities where they are vulnerable to disturbance and the threat of introduced predators or pathogens.
Notes:
Three species of seals breed at the Prince Edward Islands, namely; Southern Elephant Seal, the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic Fur Seal. The islands support 33% (16 000 animals) of the world population of sub-Antarctic Fur Seals and 0.2 % (760 animals) of Antarctic Fur Seals. 0.26% (1800 animals) of the Southern Elephant Seals population is supported on Prince Edward Islands.
Four Species of penguin breed at the Prince Edward Islands: King, Gentoo, Macaroni and Southern Rockhopper. The islands support some 13% (450 000 birds) of King Penguins worldwide, 4% (750 000 birds) of Macaroni Penguins and 0,5% (3000 birds) of Gentoo Penguins. The population of Southern Rockhopper Penguins is about 5% of the world population. Penguins dominate the avian biomass on the islands.
Five Species of Albatross breed on the Prince Edward Islands, together with 14 species of petrels and five other species. The islands support 44% (7300 birds) of all Wandering Albatross, 10% (21 800 birds) of Grey Headed Albatross, 21% (15 000 birds) of Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross and approximately 10% (4400 birds) of Dark-mantled and 2% (700 birds) of Light-mantled Sooty Albatross.
For further information contact:
Zolile Nqayi
Cell: 082 898 6483
Tel: 021 819 2423
E-mail: znqayi@environment.gov.za
