| 17/10/2005
- The Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Rejoice Mabudafhasi has today awarded Blue Flag status to
beaches at the annual Blue Flag ceremony held at Kelly Beach,
Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape. A Blue Flag is an international
annual award given to beaches that meet EXCELLENCE in the
areas of safety, amenities, cleanliness and environmental
standards. This event marks
the beginning of the departments National Marine Week
celebration which seeks to create awareness about the
importance of protecting and preserving marine live. The
National Marine Week has always been a major celebration
on the environmental calendar in South Africa. Tens of
thousands of young people across the country will participate
in environmental education activities to highlight the
importance of marine conservation.
The Blue Flag campaign is one of the
flagship programmes implemented by the department under
the Coast Care programme, an initiative to implement the
White Paper for Sustainable Coastal Development. The campaign
was officially launched in South Africa in October 2001,
and has since grown both significantly and sustainably.
Reflecting on success of the campaign the Deputy Minister
said. “I am proud to announce that for the 2005/6 season,
we will have 34 beaches participating in the campaign.
In October 2001, we had 3 full status beaches and a handful
of pilot beaches”.
“This is a remarkable achievement
in such a short period of time, especially as the requirements
of Blue Flag are demanding and only those who can successfully
achieve world-class standards get to fly the prestigious
Blue Flag” Said the Deputy Minister.
Growth in the campaign during this
past year highlights some noteworthy developments:
• Many of the participating municipalities
and local authorities continue to increase the number
of their beaches committed to Blue Flag.
• Growth in the number of beaches in the Eastern Cape
has been significant and it appears that this will continue
for the next few years.
• The presence of a Blue Flag beach within a municipality
brings about improved environmental management of areas
adjacent to the Blue Flag area.
• The CSIR in partnership with the DEAT undertook research
on Blue Flag, and has highlighted the significant benefits
of the campaign. This research is to be extended into
a national survey which will help ascertain the benefits
of Blue Flag and assist us identifying opportunities for
the future of the campaign.
Blue Flag, Adopt-A-Beach and the National
Interpretive and Informative Signage Programme seek to
educate South African’s about the importance of conserving
and managing our coastal assets. Since the release of
the White Paper on Sustainable Coastal Development, these
and other programmes have been remarkably successful in
achieving key aims of the White Paper.
The following are names of beaches
that received the Blue Flag status today.
Umhlanga Rocks Main Beach
South Beach Durban
Anstey’s beach on the Bluff near Durban
Bay of Plenty Durban
Addington Beach
Gonubie beach East London
Kelly’s beach Prot Alfred
Wells Estate Port Elizabeth
Humenwood Port Elizabeth
Dolphin beach Jeffrey’s Bay
Lappiesbaai beach Stilbaai
Grotto beach Hermanus
Bikini beach Gordon Bay
Mnandi beach Strandfontein
Clifton 4th beach Cape Town.
The following beaches have been given
conditional Blue Flag status pending the results of water
quality testing
Hibberdene beach South Coast KZN
Lucien beach South Coast KZN
Ovongo
Ramsgate
Marina/San Lameer beach South Coast KZN |
