A shark research permit for a mega-chumming has been cancelled with immediate effect after a 20 year old bodyboarder, David Lilienfeld, was ripped to pieces by a shark, believed to be a Great White, yesterday at Kogel Baai, near Gordon's Bay.
To some degree we realize that across the globe our marine life is in a very dire state, beyond dire for some species. The Underwater world is linked to ours in ways we can only begin to imagine, and not simply as a food resource.
On its travels through South Africa the Climate Train has been creating unique spaces for community members - notables and ordinary people alike- to engage in meaningful discussions around climate change and the lively Pretoria was certainly no exception.
The AfriOceans Conservation Alliance (AOCA), a non-profit organisation at the forefront of marine education and shark conservation in South Africa, was delighted to announce that they have been allocated a total grant of R 5, 691 000 (five million six hundred and ninety one thousand rand) from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF). The funding has been granted for their exciting and innovative AfriOceans Warriors Environmental Education Programme.
There is a war going on in Antarctica, and South Africa's Rosie Kunneke is one of the soldiers fighting the good fight. She recently returned to the country after 94 days at sea, participating in the world famous reality television series Whale Wars.
Oceans cover 70% of the Earth's surface, yet less than 1% of these critical systems are under any form of legal protection. The Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) third edition of Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3) indicates that the world's marine ecosystems are in peril.
The end of seafood by 2048! The ocean without fish. Imagine the global consequences. The award winning film THE END OF THE LINE by Rupert Murray had me sitting at the edge of my seat ' and swallowing back the tears.
'Congratulations to South Africa's seafood consumers. By insisting on sustainably harvested fish and seafood you are significantly driving change.' This is the message from Dr Samantha Petersen, project manager of the Green Trust-supported Sustainable Fisheries Programme.
On the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's famous journey around the world, the three-masted 'Clipper Stad Amsterdam' sailed into Cape Town harbor for her last port of call.
Corals are vanishing at an alarming rate, and scientists warn that coral reefs are poised to become the first mass ecosystem extinction. Coral loss also spells trouble for the wide array of marine animals and coastal communities that depend on coral reefs.
Anna Breytenbach is one of our country's foremost animal communicators and a teacher in animal communication. She went to Kommetjie during the whale beachings and listened to what they had to say.
Children from various schools around the Cape Peninsula demonstrated their global commitment to sustainable packaging, water stewardship and ocean conservation when they gathered to pick up litter at Strandfontein Beach on Saturday, 12 September 2009. It was part of the 24th annual International Coastal Clean Up (ICC) which takes place globally on 19 September.
In 2004 Sir Robert Swan lead a team to the Antarctic, supported by Coca-Cola, where over 1000 tons of waste was collected from the icy landscape. Five years later, Peninsula Beverages, the Bottler of the Coca-Cola products in the Western Cape, continues to actively support projects that help clean up our planet. PenBev have partnered with the Environmental Action Group and put their efforts behind the Our School Cares Programme, an environmental clean up programme where school children are motivated and rewarded for cleaning up their own schools and communities.
An exciting research initiative is underway at the University of Cape Town. The research is running under the brand of Aqua d'UCT, which seeks to enhance water research by promoting integration and interdisciplinary study. The study is being driven my MSc candidate Raymond Siebrits from the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science as part of his thesis.
With floods causing havoc in several South African provinces earlier this year, it may be hard to believe that the looming water crisis that was debated in Parliament in 2008 remains an issue. Engineering Council of SA vice-president Thoko Majozi warns: 'the maximum consumption that SA's water resources can sustain will be reached in about five years'.
Millions of people living along the coast and elsewhere in rural Africa are dependent upon natural resources from which they harvest unsustainably. Some coastal communities are amongst the poorest in the world and are extremely vulnerable to the potential negative effects of climate change. They have no choice but to conÂtinue to use the diminishing resources upon which they depend, or face starvation.
Fertilizing the oceans to boost the growth of tiny plants that soak up greenhouse gases is unlikely to work as a way to slow climate change, a U.N.-backed study showed on Monday.
