Specie Relocation - Invader or survivors?

The Sanitizing of ships ballast water is becoming a big International controversy. To understand the hype behind the war of words is to understand the relocation of Large  Mouth Bass. I never payed much attention until a local angler told me a story about a 20l water container filled to the brim with sea water that washed out on the beach in the Southern Regions of The iSimangaliso Wetlands Park.

The King fish/Travelly inside the drum could net get out the same way it got in. The whole was a couple of months to small for the poor entrapped fish bopping around in the ocean. The poor fish was still alive when the container washed onto the beach in the region of St. Lucia Estuary. Some how the little predictor fed on unlucky visitors that landed in the container with him.

This made me think about the ballast water trapped in the Barges Scuttled North of Cape Vidal in the Marine Reserve. Human interference in the Wilderness Area and the Marine Reserve has been limited and strictly controlled until the area was proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With the introduction of human made objects in such a sensitive area one asks the question .... was the ballast water inside the barges sanitized before their foreign content was introduced  to this sensitive eco-system.

Who will be responsible for the clean up of invading species ...

1. The Barge owners relinquished their responsibilities
2. The iSimangaliso Wetlands Park Authority protects this area on behalf of UNESCO
3. UNESCO  - do they have enough control over the management of this World Heritage Site?

Well let us pray to all things Holly that the ballast water of those barges where sanitized before they where scuttled....... Or do we think Big Mouth Bass is a sport fishing indigenous to South Africa ...

by Petrus Viviers

iSimangaliso Wetlands - St. Lucia Estuary and Lake System

	Details
Document Date: 2009/04/30 Document Type: Resettlement Plan Report Number: RP807 Volume No: 1 of 1 Country: South Africa ;  Doc Name: South Africa - Development, Empowerment, and Conservation in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and Surrounding Region Project : resettlement policy framework Keywords: access to information, access to land, acquisition cost, administrative procedures, adverse impacts, agricultural activities, agricultural land, agriculture, asset valuation, auditing, baseline surveys, biodiversity, biological diversity, biological resources, birds, carbon, clinics, coast, Coastal Zone, common property, communal land, community consultation, community involvement, comparative advantage, Compensation, compensation payments, Conservation, construction, conveyance, crops, data collection, description, displaced people, displaced persons, displacement, districts, dwellings, ecological functioning, ecological integrity, ecological restoration, ecological systems, economic benefits, economic conditions, economic development, economic opportunities, economics, ecosystems, employment, environmental, environmental conditions, environmental education, environmental functions, environmental management, Environmental protection, ethnic minorities, Eviction, expenditures, exploitation, Expropriation, farmers, farms, financial management, fisheries, fishers, fishing, floodplain lands, floodplains, floods, food production, food security, forest, Forestry, Forests, fresh water, fruit, health care, host” population, households, houses, housing, hydrological regime, Hydrology, images, impoverishment, impoverishment risks, income, income levels, income restoration, informal settlements, inhabitants, Institutional framework, intervention, interventions, inventory, Involuntary Resettlement, land acquisition, land ownership, land tenure, land use, land uses, laws, Legal framework, legal provision, legislation, local enterprises, Local Government, loss of assets, loss of income, mandates, market value, mitigation, National Parks, natural heritage, natural resources, natural wetland, occupation, parks, Peat, Phragmites, plantations, plots, poverty alleviation, poverty line, productive resources, productivity, property rights, Public Finance, public participation, quality control, RAP, Resettlement, Resettlement Action Plans, resettlement activities, resettlement assistance, resettlement costs, resettlement impacts, Resettlement planning, Resettlement Policy, resettlement programs, resource allocation, resource use, Restoration, River, rural communities, Safety, Security of Tenure, sediment, sediment load, settlements, shelter, social networks, social services, species, sustainable development, sustainable management, sustainable use, Swamp, swampland, technical assistance, timber, transaction costs, transport, vulnerable groups, water supply, Wetland, wetland habitats, wetland management, wetland restoration, wetlands, Wildlife, World Heritage Convention, youthShow More Language: English Major Sector: Agriculture, fishing, and forestry Rel. Proj ID: ZA-Development, Empowerment And Conservation In The Greater St Lucia -- P086528 ;  Region: Africa ;  Rep Title: South Africa - Development, Empowerment, and Conservation in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and Surrounding Region Project : resettlement policy framework Sector: General agriculture, fishing and forestry sector Topics: Environment ; Water Resources ; Social Development ; Finance and Financial Sector Development ; Communities and Human Settlements SubTopics: Wetlands ; Environmental Economics & Policies ; Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement ; Housing & Human Habitats ; Banks & Banking Reform TF No/Name: TF091694-GEF PPG-SOUTH AFRICA GRANT FOR PREPARATION OF ISIMANGALISO WETLAND PROJ Unit Owning: AFT: Environment & NRM (AFTEN)

The objective of the Development, Empowerment, and Conservation in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and Surrounding Region Project for South Africa is to improve access to information that addresses the availability of fresh water of adequate quality to the Lake St Lucia System, a wetland of global biodiversity importance, and to increase access among local communities to conservation, compatible economic opportunities. Negative measures include: loss of shelter, loss of assets or access to assets important to production, loss of income sources or means of livelihoods, and the loss of access to locations. Mitigation measures include: a) avoid involuntary resettlement where feasible, exploring all viable alternatives; b) where not feasible, resettlement must be a sustainable development program, providing investment resources that allow the displaced to benefit; c) the displaced should be meaningfully consulted and have opportunities to plan and implement the resettlement; d) those displaced should be assisted to improve their standards of living or at least restore them to the levels that existed prior to displacement; and e) restoration of incomes, the standards of living and the productivity levels of the affected persons constitute the core of the Bank's resettlement policy. Although resettlement programs should be designed to help improve the standards of living and income levels of the affected population, efforts must at least be made to restore them to previous levels.

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