COASTAL AND MARINE BIODIVERSITY PLAN FOR KWAZULU-NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA Spatial Priorities for the Conservation of Coastal and Marine Biodiversity SeaPLAN Technical Report 2012 1 Citation Harris JM, Livingstone T, Lombard AT, Lagabrielle E, Haupt P, Sink K, Schleyer M, Mann BQ. 2012. Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Plan for KwaZulu-Natal. Spatial priorities for the conservation of coastal and marine biodiversity in KwaZulu-Natal. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Scientific Services Technical Report. 2 Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................................................................... 5 LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................................................................... 7 1 ACRONYMS AND DEFINITIONS ........................................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 ACRONYMS ........................................................................................................................................................................... 8 1.2 DEFINITIONS .......................................................................................................................................................................... 8 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................................................... 10 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................................................ 11 3 BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................................................. 14 3.1 IMPORTANCE AND BENEFITS OF COASTAL AND MARINE BIODIVERSITY .............................................................................................. 14 3.2 PROTECTED AREA TARGETS .................................................................................................................................................... 14 3.3 BIODIVERSITY TARGETS .......................................................................................................................................................... 15 3.4 HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF MPAS AND MARINE CONSERVATION IN KZN ............................................................................................ 15 3.5 ZONATION .......................................................................................................................................................................... 16 3.6 POLICY AND LEGISLATION ....................................................................................................................................................... 17 3.7 SYSTEMATIC CONSERVATION PLANNING PRINCIPLES .................................................................................................................... 22 4 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................ 24 4.1 PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PLAN ................................................................................................................................... 24 4.2 PLANNING PROCESSES AND PARTICIPANTS ................................................................................................................................. 24 5 BIODIVERSITY PLANNING METHODS ................................................................................................................................ 28 5.1 BIODIVERSITY MAPPING ........................................................................................................................................................ 28 5.1.1 General Layers ............................................................................................................................................................. 28 5.1.1.1 Planning Domain .................................................................................................................................................................... 28 5.1.1.2 Protected Areas ..................................................................................................................................................................... 30 5.1.2 Coastal Layers ............................................................................................................................................................. 30 5.1.2.1 Estuaries ................................................................................................................................................................................ 30 5.1.3 Marine Layers .............................................................................................................................................................. 31 5.1.3.1 Bathymetry ............................................................................................................................................................................ 31 5.1.3.2 Rocky reefs............................................................................................................................................................................. 34 5.1.3.3 Coral reefs .............................................................................................................................................................................. 40 5.1.3.4 Canyons ................................................................................................................................................................................. 41 5.1.4 Coastal Habitat Map ................................................................................................................................................... 42 5.1.4.1 Shoreline habitats .................................................................................................................................................................. 42 5.1.4.2 Sandy Shore Analysis ............................................................................................................................................................. 45 5.1.4.3 Final Coastal Habitat Layer .................................................................................................................................................... 46 5.1.5 Offshore habitat Map.................................................................................................................................................. 48 5.1.6 Species Layers.............................................................................................................................................................. 52 5.1.6.1 Fish Species (including Sharks) ............................................................................................................................................... 52 5.1.6.2 Turtles .................................................................................................................................................................................... 56 5.1.6.3 Cetaceans............................................................................................................................................................................... 57 5.1.7 Process Layers ............................................................................................................................................................. 58 5.1.7.1 Mesoscale Fronts ................................................................................................................................................................... 58 5.1.7.2 Mesoscale Eddies ................................................................................................................................................................... 58 5.1.8 Pressures on coastal and marine biodiversity features: Cost layers ........................................................................... 59 5.1.8.1 Rationale and identification ................................................................................................................................................... 59 5.1.8.2 Costs weighting ...................................................................................................................................................................... 61 5.1.8.3 GIS mapping methods ............................................................................................................................................................ 61 5.1.8.4 Pressure intensity mapping methods .................................................................................................................................... 64 5.1.8.5 Synthesis map - final cost layer .............................................................................................................................................. 66 5.1.9 Planning units layer ..................................................................................................................................................... 68 5.1.9.1 Feature coding ......................................................................................................................................................................