Systematic Marine Biodiversity Plan for the West Coast of South Africa Systematic Marine Biodiversity Plan for the West Coast of South Africa Majiedt et al. 2013 1 Systematic Marine Biodiversity Plan for the West Coast of South Africa Systematic Marine Biodiversity Plan for the West Coast of South Africa Prideel Majiedt1, Stephen Holness2, Kerry Sink1, Ané Oosthuizen3 and Peter Chadwick4. 1 South African National Biodiversity Institute 2 Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University 3 South African National Parks 4 Worldwide Fund for Nature – South Africa This report can be cited as follows: Majiedt P, Holness S, Sink K, Oosthuizen A, Chadwick P. 2013. Systematic Marine Biodiversity Plan for the West Coast of South Africa. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Cape Town. Pp 46. Acknowledgements The GREEN TRUST, Nedbank, WWF and SANBI are acknowledged for supporting this project. Guidance was also provided through the National MPA Expansion co- ordination group, staff of South African National Parks, Colin Attwood at the University of Cape Town and Professor George Branch who has a long history of involvement in MPA planning along the west coast. Mr Xola Mkefe from DEA Oceans and Coasts is acknowledged for leadership in advancing MPA planning in Namaqualand and Dr Stephen Lambeth provided important information and technical input relevant to planning for implementation. Other staff from DEA Oceans and Coasts and DAFF also made conceptual contributions to this project, building on contributions through the National Biodiversity Assessment 2011 and the Offshore MPA Project. Stakeholders from the fishing, mining and petroleum sectors are also acknowledged. The Offshore MPA project, also funded by the GREEN TRUST and WWF, and the National Biodiversity Assessment 2011 co-authors that provided data and expertise are thanked for their contributions to this report through the work provided through those initiatives. Majiedt et al. 2013 2 Systematic Marine Biodiversity Plan for the West Coast of South Africa Acronyms NBA National Biodiversity Assessment OMPA Offshore Marine Protected Area SAN Parks South African National Parks DEA Department of Environmental Affairs DMR Department of Mineral Resources NEBP National Estuarine Biodiversity Plan NPAES National Protected Area Expansion Strategy MPA Marine Protected Area SANBI South African National Biodiversity WWF World Wildlife Fund EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone DAFF Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Majiedt et al. 2013 3 Systematic Marine Biodiversity Plan for the West Coast of South Africa Table of contents Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. 2 Table of contents .................................................................................................................................. 4 List of Figures ....................................................................................................................................... 5 List of Tables ......................................................................................................................................... 5 1. Introduction: ................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Planning area ................................................................................................................... 9 2 Background .................................................................................................................. 11 3 Planning methods and inputs: ................................................................................... 13 3.1 Planning Methodology ................................................................................................... 13 3.2 Data inputs ..................................................................................................................... 15 3.2.1 Biodiversity features: ...................................................................................................... 15 3.2.2 Habitat Condition............................................................................................................ 20 3.2.3 Protected Areas: ............................................................................................................ 21 3.2.4 Planning units................................................................................................................. 21 3.2.5 Cost surface ................................................................................................................... 21 3.3 Targets: .......................................................................................................................... 25 3.4 Planning software and overview of technical methods .................................................. 26 4 Identification of Priority Areas: .................................................................................. 29 4.1 West Coast Consolidation: ............................................................................................. 36 4.2 Proposed Namaqua Marine Protected Area .................................................................. 37 4.3 North of Kleinzee............................................................................................................ 37 4.4 Rietpoort ......................................................................................................................... 37 4.5 Childs Bank .................................................................................................................... 37 4.6 Velddrif ........................................................................................................................... 37 4.7 Offshore of Dassen Island ............................................................................................. 38 4.8 Namibian border............................................................................................................. 38 4.9 Benguela hard ground ................................................................................................... 38 4.10 Browns Bank .................................................................................................................. 38 5 Next Steps: ................................................................................................................... 38 6 References: ................................................................................................................... 44 Majiedt et al. 2013 4 Systematic Marine Biodiversity Plan for the West Coast of South Africa List of Figures Figure 1: Protection levels for habitat types found in the planning area. ................................ 8 Figure 2: Map of the Benthic Ecoregions within the planning area. ..................................... 10 Figure 3: Existing and proposed MPAs. Existing - Table Mountain, Langebaan, Sixteen Mile, Marcus and Jutten Island. Proposed - The original proposed Namaqualand MPA as specified in the government gazette in 2004, and the industry suggested MPA along the Namibian border. ................................................................................................................ 12 Figure 4: Benthic and coastal habitat types used in this assessment. In addition, the iBhubesi Reef is indicated. .................................................................................................. 16 Figure 5: Pelagic habitat types used in this assessment. .................................................... 17 Figure 6: Estuaries data used in this assessment based on the National Estuary Biodiversity Plan for South Africa (Turpie et al. 2012). ........................................................................... 18 Figure 7: Species data included in the assessment. ............................................................ 19 Figure 8: Habitat condition in the planning domain. ............................................................. 20 Figure 9: Planning unit cost used in the analysis. ................................................................ 22 Figure 10: Overview of spatial prioritization process. .......................................................... 27 Figure 11: Marxan selection frequency in percent for planning units. .................................. 29 Figure 12: Existing OMPA priorities and proposed MPAs overlaid on the Marxan selection frequency in percent for planning units. ............................................................................... 30 Figure 13: Larger "Primary Focus Areas” and a set of smaller mostly inshore and coastal “Secondary Focus Areas” identified in this project. .............................................................. 32 Figure 14: The potential Namaqua MPA as proposed by SANParks for expansion of the Namaqua National Park. ..................................................................................................... 41 List of Tables Table 1: Available data layers on pressures, NBA 2011. ..................................................... 24 Table 2: Targets for biodiversity features used in this plan .................................................. 25 Table 3: Details on the habitat types in the West Coast Planning domain, showing the areas type found in each focus area. ........................................................................................... 33 Table 4: Evaluation of threatened habitats found in each