Estuaries

Abstract

This is the second report on estuaries in the Western Cape State of Biodiversity Report series. Estuaries from an integral part in the ecosystem connectivity between terrestrial systems, freshwater aquatic processes, and the ocean and cannot be managed in isolation. This report is based on the findings of the 2011 National Biodiversity Assessment (Van Niekerk & Turpie, 2012) with updates of the latest Department of Water and Sanitation Classification studies, DWS Ecological Water Requirement studies; and Desktop Estuary Health Assessments studies. The South African coastline is approximately 3 100 km with a total of nearly 300 functional estuaries along it length. A subset of the Western Cape data in the National Biodiversity Asessment, consisting of 56 eestuaries from the Sout Estuary on the West Coast to the Bloukrans Estuary on the South East Coast was analysed in order to provide this provincial perspective. This report summaries the estuary health and management interventions in estuaries in the Western Cape Province.