Stakeholders unite to save Beachwood Mangroves Nature Reserve
Over the course of several days, the stakeholders set plans in motion to rehabilitate damages to the reserve’s mangroves after storm surges.
IN recent months, heavy sea swells and storm surges have wreaked havoc on the Beachwood Mangroves Nature Reserve.
First, several sand dunes bordering the reserve were washed away, and much of that erosion led to tons of sand deposited onto the reserve’s creek and a section of the mangroves forest.
The sand deposit also led to the blockage of the reserve’s creek, home to a myriad of fish and crab species.
What is more, the dune vegetation on the beach side and many of the mangroves (black and white mangroves) in the reserve were dying and in urgent need of rescuing as they were drowning in stagnant water or covered in sand, starved of oxygen.
This led to the formation of a Multi-Agency Task Team (MATT) project to save the mangroves and the reserve spearheaded by Oceans Alive, an environment conservation and protection organisation.
The stakeholders involved in the project included the eThekwini Municipality, South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), The Oceanographic Research Institute (ORI), the North Durban Honorary Officers and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.
Over the course of several days, they set plans in motion to first open up the creek and then rebuild the dunes in front of the reserve.
A Section 30 permit under the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), which relates to the events that may cause significant harm to the environment, was applied for and enacted in order to speed up the rescue mission.
CEO of Oceans Alive Colin Levine explained that the mangrove forest, and the marine wildlife inside it, are completely reliant on the intertidal exchange of seawater and nutrients for survival.
He said in order for the two ends of the creek to be reconnected, heavy-duty specialist equipment was needed.
“The Beachwood Mangroves were in serious crises, being completely cut-off from the river and the ocean and the necessary tidal exchange, and very urgent emergency action was needed. We are grateful to Teichmann Civils and Morgado Plant Hire who agreed to come on board to help us with this project. We are also grateful to Marshall Guarding Services who provided night-time security and protection of the equipment on the site. We followed the natural path of the original Beachwood Creek, as agreed with all the environmental authorities on site, and we had to dig and then reconnect all the cut-off areas in three sections.
“We used Virginia Beach and Beachwood Golf Course as a launch site. The massive excavator made a huge difference and also made short work of scooping out all the sand covering the creek, and we used a front-end loader to pick up the removed stockpiled sand to rebuild the protective dune barrier on the ocean side in front of the reserve. The wildlife officers from Ezemvelo will vegetate the dunes in order to help keep them together. At the end of the day, we just cannot afford to lose this truly amazing and critically necessary marine reserve due to its huge environmental importance to the whole of Durban as it is a Natural Monument. We are extremely pleased to have achieved success with this massive project, thanks to a committed and gracious team effort, in such a short space of time,” he said.
