Fast response boat boosts anti-poaching drive
POACHERS in the West Coast National Park will soon have nowhere to hide.
SANParks marine rangers were yesterday given a R100 000 fast response craft (rubber duck), which will be used to catch criminals.
It was a gift from honorary rangers to celebrate the park’s 30th birthday.
West Coast National Park manager Patricia Bopape used the occasion to announce some major projects in the park, one of which will be the upgrade of the gate on the R27 which gets very congested, especially during flower season when there can be a kilometres-long tailback.
Construction is expected to start next year and will include three lanes going into the park, which is near Langebaan.
There would also be an upgrade of ablution facilities and parking at Kraalbaai Beach – described by visitors as “a slice of heaven on earth” – and restoration of the Mooimaak homestead buildings.
There were also discussions about developing the SANParks offices in Langebaan into a hotel offering high-end accommodation. Bopape said when the park was proclaimed 30 years ago it was just the lagoon and surrounding islands.
She said SANParks had wanted the land around the park to be protected as well, and today the area comprises 47 458ha.
It is the third-most visited national park in the country.
The Langebaan Lagoon and the offshore islands in Saldanha Bay together form the Langebaan Ramsar site, a wetland of international importance.
Bopape said the park had evolved over the years to include tourism, overnight accommodation and restaurants.
Saldanha mayor Francois Schippers emphasised the need for a balance between job creation and protecting the environment.
Saldanha Bay was identified as an industrial development zone (IDZ) in 2013 for the oil and gas industry.
Schippers said an environment management framework would determine how development was conducted, but that it needed to be done in a responsible way.
This was echoed by SANParks’s regional general manager, Norman Johnson, who added that eco-tourism was what helped create a sustainable system of national parks.
He said the Saldanha IDZ and the Elandsfontein Mine, both on the borders of the park, were a challenge.
Strip mining for phosphate on a private reserve next door is expected to start next year and there has been concern about the impact on ground water.
But Johnson said they also had to consider job creation.
“We still have a mandate to protect biodiversity but we have a bigger role to play than just looking after the birds and the bees.”
SANParks said a large portion of Elandsfontein had been set aside for biodiversity purposes that would offset the mining.