Residents in Jeffreys Bay remain concerned about the Seekoei Estuary, and now the Aston Bay Beach, as the Kouga Municipality recently requested the Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT) to breach the mouth of the estuary as the disgusting smell continues to fill the area.
As previously reported by the Kouga Express on February 23, residents in Aston Bay and Paradise Beach were left feeling frustrated with the disgusting stench from the Seekoei Estuary.
Since the smell has continued to linger in the area for a long period of time, residents were determined to get answers and solutions from the municipality.
Due to the extent of the smell many residents believed that it was because sewage was being allowed to travel into the estuary.
However, on February 7, the Kouga executive mayor, Horatio Hendricks, released a statement denying all allegations of deliberately dumping raw sewage into the estuary.
The statement indicated that the offensive smell in the area around the estuary was from a natural process called eutrophication which resulted in dead zones, fish kill and algae bloom, with its characteristic extremely unpleasant smell.
To update the residents in Jeffreys Bay on the way forward for the Estuary, on 5 March Hendricks released a statement indicating that the municipality has requested the DEDEAT breach the mouth of the Seekoei Estuary to effectively counter the impact the closed mouth has on the estuary, as well as the surrounding community.
“The DEDEAT has granted permission for the breaching of the mouth, but advised that this should ideally be forestalled until the next spring tide which is around March 20. The department also advised that should the mouth be breached now and silt up before spring tide, they will not necessarily be able to permit a fresh breach later in the month,” said Hendricks.
He said that guidance is needed from the Estuary Management Committee in terms of when the breach should occur.
“Managing the estuary will remain a very high priority to the municipality. A new management committee and updated plan will be communicated by the municipality shortly,” said Hendricks.
According to community leader and founding director of non-profit organisation Masikhathalelaneni, Freddie van Rooyen, since the Kouga region is in a drought, it was concerning that the water levels of the estuary continued to rise.
“Questions need to be asked about where the water is coming from to cause the water levels to rise in the estuary, so much so that it now has to be breached,” said Van Rooyen.
He said that the fish in the estuary have died and breaching the estuary would put the ocean’s ecosystem at risk.
Van Rooyen said before breaching the estuary it is important that the municipality considers the effect it will have on fish and how it will impact the local fishermen.
“By breaching, they will be allowing the problem faced at the estuary to travel to the ocean. This could possibly affect the livelihood of the fishermen who depend on the fish in the ocean to feed their families,” said Van Rooyen.
He said that he would like the municipality to release tested water samples from the estuary to ensure that there is scientific evidence that the water is safe to be breached.
“I believe that breaching the estuary should be put on hold because the ocean might be polluted,” said Van Rooyen.
Hendricks said studies have shown that since the late 1980s the estuary has experienced mass mortality of fish that is attributed to drought and excess water extraction in the catchment areas.
During the most recent accusations that fish were dying in the estuary, he said from inspection and looking at the photos taken of dead fish, most of the fish are juveniles which points to the fact that during the mouth open phase, which lasted a few months beginning last spring, recruitment of small fish was good.
“We learnt that these small fish spawned in the nearshore environment and entered estuaries deliberately. For some of the species this estuarine phase of their life cycle is obligatory,” said Hendricks.
He said that the hyper salinity in the estuary is due to high temperature and evaporation rates which increase during the warmer seasons.
Hendricks said that plant growth in the shallow water is also high and because plants produce oxygen during the day, levels of oxygen deplete after dark.
“All of this leads to declining water quality, exacerbated by rotting aquatic vegetation. The situation gets worse as hydrogen sulphide builds up in the sediments and causes invertebrate die-off,” said Hendricks.
He further said that many small fish washed over the sand berm at high tide recently – a phenomenon well documented.
“These small fish are then probably shocked by the water quality issues in the estuary – no acclimation period that might give them a better chance. It is to be noted that as we move into winter, current problems will probably abate,” said Hendricks.
He said that the municipality, in consultation with professionals from Nelson Mandela University, are investigating and implementing short term solutions to improve the situation.
Hendricks further said that a review of the estuary management plan will be done for medium and long-term solutions.
For more information on the estuary, the municipality is inviting interested and affected parties and residents to a meeting on March 15 at 16:00 at the Aston Bay Community Hall.
