Horsing No around with survey
KNYSNA - In the past few weeks, Scientific Services and the Knysna Lakes section of the Garden Route National Park have partnered with the NGO, OceansAlive Conservation Trust, to do a very special survey in the Knysna and Swartvlei estuaries. The aim: to determine the size of the local Knysna seahorse populations.
The population census was initiated after SANParks received a donation towards seahorse research from the Featherbed Company, which prompted SANParks to investigate the feasibility of carrying out a project of this magnitude. Knysna Park manager Megan Taplin contacted OceansAlive, that immediately agreed to partner and support the research project.
A long overdue survey
Since Wednesday 19 October, staff from SANParks and OceansAlive have been diving in the two estuaries and systematically surveying the seahorse populations. The project and the survey itself is spearheaded by SANParks Scientific Services marine biologist Clement Arendse, with divers from OceansAlive by his side. Arendse has divided the estuaries into grids and isolated specific target areas within each grid where they will dive and survey Knysna seahorse populations. This systematic approach will ensure that they obtain sufficient baseline data to draw up a realistic portrait of the seahorse populations. "The last time a survey of the seahorse population was done was more than a decade ago, and a lot may have changed since then," Arendse said.
Divers
To conduct the survey, SANParks enlisted the help of Colin Levin, CEO of OceansAlive, and his diving teams. The organisation selects elects and trains people from previously disadvantaged communities mmunities to become commercial rcial divers - giving them m invaluable training that goes a long way to changing their lives.
"The training they receive is world-class, and at the end of it any of our graduates is ready to work just about anywhere that has anything to do with diving," he said.
But, before they get the chance to land a commercial job, graduates of OceansAlive's programmes need to rack up work hours, and that's where the seahorse survey came in.
"They needed hours diving underwater, and we needed divers to help carry out our survey. It was a match made in conservation heaven," said Taplin. The divers also benefit by learning about estuarine conservation and ecosystems, while gaining work experience in a conservation and scientific setting.
Great progress
The two organisations joined hands and over the past three weeks have made great progress with the survey, with more than 250 transects surveyed, resulting in a better understanding of the seahorse distribution and habitat in the estuaries.
The two organisations have also agreed to continue the research in 2023 to provide more robust estimates of the Knysna seahorse populations in the two estuaries.
Levin expressed his gratitude to the Knysna Fire and Rescue Department that graciously assisted the Oceans Alive divers to refill their oxygen tanks at the fire station in Waterfront Drive.
The initial funding from Featherbed will be used in a second phase: to purchase equipment needed to survey the underwater habitat of the Knysna Estuary.
This will provide vital information, including identifying the extent of the habitats favoured by the endangered Knysna seahorse.