Ironman South Africa has welcomed a decision by the Minister of Environmental Affairs that effectively puts the brakes on a proposal to site a fish farm off Hobie Beach in Port Elizabeth.
Minister Molewa announced the decision on Thursday following a deluge of opposition to the proposal from stakeholders in Nelson Mandela Bay who said they were not opposed to the idea of a fish farm but where it was going to be situated.
In an eight page document, Minister Molewa said that she had decided to revert the matter to the deputy director general of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for reconsideration after certain undertakings were made.
Ironman South Africa managing director, Keith Bowler.
"The News is extremely positive and we are happy that they are looking at alternatives" he said
The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber was also one of the opponents of the siting of the fish farm off Hobie Beach.
CEO, Kevin Hustler
"Our concerns, as we have submitted on more than one occasion to the Department of Environmental Affairs, in writing and during stakeholder meetings, were based on the impact the fish farm could have on tourism and the environment, as well as the apparent lack of consultation with all the stakeholders in the metro"
Excerpt from Chamber statement:
We call on the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to take immense care during their possible re-submission to assess the location of the proposed fish farm in Algoa Bay holistically in terms of the risk to both the economy and the environment. The potential for tremendous negative impact on the tourism sector as a key pillar of the economy must be taken into account. We also implore the department to ensure thorough stakeholder engagements in future.
The extended value of coastal and marine tourism in Nelson Mandela Bay runs to an estimated R13-billion per year, which supports thousands of jobs in the city. The economic value of our beachfront should not be undermined – any risk to this pillar of our local economy must be averted at all cost.
We commend the parties who have lobbied against the location of the fish farm, in particular Algoa FM who have campaigned extensively to involve the broader community of Nelson Mandela Bay in opposing the fish farm at Hobie Beach. We also congratulate those businesses who have been opposed to the location of the fish farm, and would have been directly negatively impacted by this type of development.
