Gouritz River Estuarine Management Plan Draft June 2018 Gouritz Estuarine Management Plan i DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Document title: Gouritz River Estuarine Management Plan Project Name: Western Cape Estuary Management Framework and Implementation Plan Client: Western Cape Government, Department of Environmental Affairs & Development Planning Royal HaskoningDHV reference number: MD1819 Authority reference: EADP 1/2015 Compiled by: Version 1: Enviro-Fish Africa (Pty) Ltd (2009) Version 2: Royal HaskoningDHV (2017) Acknowledgements: Western Cape Government Environmental Affairs & Development Planning Chief Directorate: Environmental Sustainability Directorate: Biodiversity and Coastal Management Email:
[email protected] Date: June 2018 Gouritz River Estuarine Management Plan DOCUMENT USE The South African National Estuarine Management Protocol (‘the Protocol’), promulgated in May 2013 under the National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management Act (Act No. 24 of 2008, as amended by Act No. 36 of 2014), sets out the minimum requirements for individual estuarine management plans. In 2013/2014, a review was conducted by the National Department of Environmental Affairs: Oceans and Coasts (DEA, 2014) on existing estuarine management plans to ensure, inter alia , the alignment of these plans with the Protocol. This revision of the Gouritz River Estuarine Management Plan, including the Situation Assessment Report and the Management Plan itself, is in response to the comments received during the Department of Environmental Affairs’ review process only, to ensure compliance with the minimum requirements for Estuarine Management Plans as per the Protocol. In summary, this entailed: • Updating the terminology as per the Protocol; • Including a summary of the Situation Assessment; • Extending the monitoring plan to explicitly include a performance monitoring plan to gauge progress towards achieving Estuarine Management Plan objectives (i.e.