This report provides an update on all our projects, starting with the lead project of 2023. This is the initiative to get formal protection for the Oyster Bay Dunefield.
Lead Project – Oyster Bay Dune Field
As chairman I have personally been driving this project with the support and guidance of Wentzel Coetzer from Conservation Outcomes and the GKS initiative.
Our aim is to have designated sections of the Oyster Bay dune field declared as protected areas on environmental grounds. The dune field, nearly 16 kms long, is a unique natural asset that more than qualifies for protection for both environmental and heritage reasons. It hosts countless archaeological sites of significant heritage value as well as being an integral part of the natural hydrological system and containing valuable flora and fauna.
Although there are some private landowners, the greater part of the Oyster Bay dune field is owned by Eskom. A proposal was presented to Eskom in the latter part of 2023, outlining our objective of protecting the dune field from further human interference, specifically, sand mining and prospecting. Applications were made in 2022 and again in 2023, the latter still an active application although it is under appeal from the Thyspunt Alliance.
The feedback from Eskom to the proposal has been positive and we look forward to further discussions with them in 2024. The Oyster Bay Dune Field project will continue throughout 2024 as the lead project.
Wildlife Sanctuary
The Wildlife Sanctuary, the legacy of our previous chair, Warren Manser, has been taken in hand by new recruit Mandy Cromarty. She is well qualified with over ten years in animal rescue and dived straight into the deep end with the sanctuary. She has undertaken some temporary restoration to the sanctuary itself and now plans to upgrade it and introduce a bird aviary to extend the ‘treat and release’ programme of the sanctuary.
Our thanks are extended to Dr Nerine Botha, our local St Francis Bay Vet, with whom Mandy consults and seeks treatment for many of the rescued animals. Nerine offers her help and support voluntarily despite her heavy workload and for that, we are truly grateful.
Eco-Kids
We revived the Eco-Kids educational programme in 2023, with a joint event with St Francis College, a rock pool morning at Seal Point.
This was followed by three sessions sponsored by Rotary St Francis. Johan de Wet from Roaming Lions in Jeffreys Bay competently led these events, which were held in the Community Garden (Explore nature through your senses), at the Irma Booysens Nature Reserve (Discover the small things around you) and back in the Community Garden (Learn about birds). We reached many children between 4 – 10 years of age.
Eco-Kids 2024 begins in February: we are set to present eight events – six educational activity mornings and two clean-up/community activities involving the children.
Bruce’s Ocean Cafe
Since 2019, the success of Bruce’s Ocean Museum Café has mushroomed and it is now a well-loved and established meeting place for residents and visitors alike. Our partnership with the operators of the cafe, Nikki and Ernest Benderman, continues to be a happy and close one. The coffee shop has many dedicated followers who regularly visit the venue and this can be attributed to the wonderful and welcoming atmosphere from a dedicated and motivated team. Bruce’s continues to provide access to our museum, which we are hoping to extend during the course of 2024. We are proud to have Bruce’s as part of the home base of the Enviro-Trust, a partnership that works both well and to the benefit of us all.
Ocean Museum
Creating a meeting place of people, thoughts and ideas, with a focus on the beautiful environment we find on our doorstep, remains the focus of this museum.
Although no major changes were made this year in the museum, apart from the new shell exhibit, which was well received especially by children, the Ocean Museum at Bruce’s Café has attracted an increased amount of visitors this year.
The Greater Kromme Stewardship (GKS)
One of our most important initiatives is the Greater Kromme Stewardship. It was established in 2015, and it exists to create nature reserves and protected areas in this district. Its members include ourselves and the Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm, the Gibson Bay Wind Farm, the Oyster Bay Wind Farm and the Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm, and in 2024 three new wind farm members – the Impofu Wind Farms – will join the ranks.
The GKS has contracted a conservation NGO, Conservation Outcomes, to implement the initiative, through the outstanding work of Wentzel Coetzer, our Biodiversity Facilitator. We have an internship programme and the current intern is Sivu Mapapu, and we hope to soon employ a second biodiversity facilitator to assist Wentzel in what has become the conservation hub for this area.
Over the eight years of GKS operation, over twenty sites have been assessed and fifteen of those submitted to the environmental authorities for formal protection. There have been six completed or near-completed declarations so far – the Krommensee Nature Reserve, the Sand River Private Nature Reserve, the Oubos-Grootrivier Nature Reserve, the Kromme-Geelhout Protected Environment, the Thula Moya Nature Reserve, and the Vorentoe Nature Reserve – and continuous support is provided to those reserves: we will not countenance ‘paper parks’.
Some of the valuable biodiversity is on state land. For example, three reserves are on provincial land – the Cape St Francis Reserve, the Seekoei Reserve, and the Kabeljous Reserve. They are de facto reserves but still need to receive formal protection. The Irma Booysen Flora Reserve is on municipal land and consent is needed from the Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs Department for it to be formally declared. And then there is Papiesfontein, owned by the Department of Human Settlements and currently impacted by a land invasion.
The Greater Kabeljous Partnership
Papiesfontein is an exceptionally important site for threatened biodiversity, supporting the largest intact stretch of Humansdorp Shale Renosterveld on the planet and providing habitat for the highly threatened raptor, the Black Harrier. It is an intrinsic part of a proposed Black Harrier refuge area to be funded by the Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm and so we are invested in ensuring its protection. Consequently, the Enviro-Trust is a member of the Greater Kabeljous Partnership, set up to lobby for the formal declaration of both Kabeljous and Papiesfontein as protected areas. The land invasion is an ongoing threat to the preservation of the integrity of the land and its biodiversity, and the Greater Kabeljous Partnership is working actively to surmount this threat and achieve nature reserve and heritage site status for its protection.
Response to Development Threats
In Sept 2022 Total Energies Exploration and Production (TEEPSA) applied for environmental authorization for drilling exploration wells for off the Cape St Francis coast.
We submitted comments on the Draft Scoping Report and subsequent Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) in early November 2023. It is expected that the final ESIA will be submitted to the CA for approval soon, after which there will be a period for appeals should the EA and PR be granted.
We are also a registered I&AP for the proposed speculative 3D seismic survey for which CGG submitted a Reconnaissance Permit Application to the Petroleum Agency SA (PASA) in January 2023. The area of interest comes to 45 km from the coast at Cape St. Francis. We made a submission on the Basic Assessment Report in May 2023. PASA issued an EA for the project on 16 November 2023 and we lodged a formal appeal against the decision in early December. The outcome of the appeals process is still unknown. The earliest start of the project is January 2024 should appeals be unsuccessful.
The Enviro-Trust also supported the St. Francis Activation organised by Juliette Godfrey and Harry Bateman to protest against CGG’s seismic survey on 9 December. This was just one of at least 26 protests that were taking place along the west, south and east coasts of South Africa protesting the project and the impact it will have.
Environmental Clean-ups
The Kromme Enviro-Trust has hosted the International Coastal Clean-up locally for a number of years. It normally takes place during the third Saturday of September, and it is a means of encouraging people and communities to collect and dispose of rubbish, particularly plastics that plague the beaches and the coastline in general. It has become a global movement with over 6 million volunteers taking part across 90 countries.
The 2023 event took place on 1st October in collaboration with other local organisations and businesses . A significant amount of rubbish was collected along our coastline and was disposed of by the Municipality who were also involved in the day’s events.
An earlier clean-up in June also collected a significant amount of rubbish and it is clear that this is an ongoing environmental need.
Two Harbours Walk
The storms of 2023 caused extensive damage to the popular coastal walk. Boulders were dislodged onto the pathway, areas of dune plant life were uprooted and all 10 sections of boardwalk installed over previous years were smashed by the storm swell, much of it beingT washed out to sea. The sections that were retrievable have been put to good use in the Romazini valley bridge installed by Neale Grobler’s crew, making negotiating around the natural stream that flows through the valley somewhat easier.
The rocky 200m section along the high-water mark close to Bruce’s had to be repacked to make it walkable again. This work was tackled by the Sport For Youth Soccer Academy.
We are presently updating the signage along the coastal walk. New oval signs are presently being manufactured and will be visible on the pathway in the coming months.
Community Garden
This is one of those special places. Of course, the gardens don’t maintain themselves and a great deal of thanks must be directed at a number of individuals in the nearby community. Firstly, our thanks to Dr James and Glynn Potts, their own gardener, Dennis Titus, and also to Ed and Dusty Elton, all of whom take on the task of maintaining the gardens, cleaning the pathways and repairing steps as and when required.. Our thanks are also extended to Sibuele and Masibuele from The Links who kindly cut the lawns each month.
A particular focus this year has not just been the clearing and tidying up of the pathways but making them more accessible to those who are frail or have limited movement on foot.
Areas that need to be focused on during 2024:
- Continuing restoring the pathway steps, so if we have any members or contacts who know where we can source railway sleepers, then please do get in touch
- Tackling the invasion of Brazilian Pepper trees within the gardens. This species is an invasive tree that was first introduced to South Africa in the 1900’s as an ornamental plant.
Fundraising
All projects involve some expenditure and our policy is to raise funds to cover that expenditure so that we can keep our membership fees as low as possible to allow everyone the opportunity to join us and make a difference in the environmental world of the greater St Francis area.
Fundraising starts with a solid foundation in our monthly contribution from Bruce’s Coffee Shop. Then there is our annual golf day on World Environment Day in June, and our thanks to St Francis Links who host this event, to Wendy Wills at BUCO St Francis who were the headline sponsors, and to all the sponsors of golf holes or prizes. This was a highly successful event in 2023, raising in excess of R90,000. Finally, nearing Christmas, we assist landowners in the removal of alien pine trees from their land to sell as real Christmas trees. Clint Carstens from the Farm Yard Nursery assists with storage and selling of the trees, which is a huge help and our sincere thanks to Clint for all his support.
As well as our own fundraising events in 2023 we have also received some generous donations. These include notable disbursements from:
- St Francis Beer Run hosted by The St Francis Brewery in aid of Two Harbours Walk maintenance. Our sincere thanks to Olinka, Lance and the crew at St Francis Brewery
- St Francis Flash Float in December 2023. Grateful thanks to Cathryn Hempel, Clairwen Praetorius and all the organisers.
Plot Clearing
Some of our members brought to our attention the destruction of habitat and lack of control regarding the clearing of plots, with no regard for threatened vegetation or topsoil erosion. We took this up with the authorities and Kouga Local Municipality declared a moratorium on plot clearing in August 2023. We have requested that Stella Plantinga be appointed as an environmental officer to advise on best practice for future plot clearing and await the response.
Grannies Pool & Two Harbours Walkway Refurbishment
We are working with the municipality to make good the storm damage to the Grannies Pool and Two Harbours coastline. The immediate priority is re-nourishment of the beach at Grannies, followed by rebuilding the natural rock walls of the pool itself and then securing the collapsing grass bank above the beach. The longer term plan is to repair the damage to the Two Harbours Walk infrastructure and to refurbish the braai area next to Grannies Pool.
Fishing Line Bins
Fishing line bins are placed strategically across the St Francis (13 bins) and Cape St Francis (6 bins) areas near fishing spots to encourage fishermen and walkers alike to safely dispose of fishing line. We are confident that this goes some way towards ensuring the removal of fishing line from the environment and preventing wildlife entanglement, injury or death.
Our thanks to Denys Rothero, a member of the Enviro-Trust, who has taken on the responsibility of ‘Co-ordinator’ and who maintains the bins in good condition. Thank you too to the team of volunteers who have been clearing the bins – Brian Saunders, Janine Prins and Jani Ellis.
Communications
We continue to run our two main communication feeds, the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com › krommetrust (which has over 2.1 thousand followers) and the website https://stfranciskrommetrust.co.za/ .
A new member to the team in 2023 was Marion Burger, a graphic designer by profession, who has brought a new sense of style to our communications and who has assisted in maximising viewing figures.
We can also be found at the St Francis Saturday Market on the last Saturday of the month. We extend our thanks to Hantie and the the market organisers who continue to let us place our stall and display our projects at the market at no cost.
We have representation from FOSTER and Rotary on each other’s committees and work closely with each other on projects and events.
Finally, at the start of 2023, we introduced a Members Newsletter. Committee member Sandra Galer prepared a number of newsletters during the year to provide updates of projects and environmental threats and also upcoming events.
Ward Committee
We provide a representative to handle the environmental portfolio for the Ward 12 Ward Committee of Kouga Local Municipality. Some of the issues raised in 2023 include the storm damage to the Grannies Pool and Two Harbours coastlines, the destructive plot clearing situation, and the effect on wildlife of water balloon fights on the canals.
Talks
Another victim of the Covid crisis was our programme of environmental talks and lectures. This was re-booted in 2023 and the year’s programme of talks included –
- In May, supporting the lead project of the Enviro-Trust for 2023, ‘The Dune Fields of St Francis and Oyster Bay’.
- In July, the ‘Welcoming of the Whales’ presentation at Cape St Francis Resort by Dr Deborah Robertson-Andersson.
- Also in July, our committee member Peter de Wet presented a talk on the birding and scenery of the Zimbabwe Highlands and Gonarezhou Game Reserve.
- In August, Jenny Cullinan presented a talk on solitary bees and honey bees.
We extend our thanks to the St Francis United Church, particularly Laurin Guether, who makes arrangements for access to the church hall for the talks as well as our AGM.
Books and Reference Sources
One of the books we sell is ‘The Monument Around Us’, which was first printed back in 2006 by the late Robin Simpson and covers the history of St Francis and the Hulett family. The Enviro-Trust was appointed to curate the proceeds. Funds raised from the selling of the book, once the costs of publication have been recouped, are to be used towards projects which are of benefit to the community. 53 copies were sold over the last 12 months which equates to nearly R21,000, going partway to recouping the cost of recently reprinting the book.
One of our own publications, ‘Our Coastal Treasure’ which was in circulation as a paper back, is now available online (since 2022) and can be found at our website, https://stfranciskrommetrust.co.za/ . The subject areas covered include plant life; wildlife; amphibians; snails; birding; marine life; shipwrecks and the Heritage Centre and Community Garden.
Thank You
Thank you to all our members and supporters. In particular, we extend our thanks to:
- All the NGO’s within the greater St Francis area. The commitment, time and dedication applied by all those involved cannot be under-estimated and this is reflected in the amazing results that these organisations are able to achieve. We are privileged to work with many of them.
- The Kouga Municipality, with direct support from Councillors Lorraine Maree and Shena Ruth, who bring invaluable input to the table.
- Rotary St Francis and particularly Peter Long who not only represented Rotary at our meetings but got personally involved in a number of our projects throughout the year
- Matt Gennrich and Trevor Gascoigne of FOSTER, for our closer co-operation and relationship throughout 2023.
- St Francis Tourism for their constant support for what we do. The latest joint project is the pack of playing cards featuring stunning photographs of well known spots in the greater St Francis area. Our thanks to Hantie who suggested that the Enviro-Trust should share the proceeds in support of our ongoing projects.
- Our thanks and appreciation to Trudi Malan who has driven the appeal submission on the current sand mining application with the support of her team and lawyer.
- We would like to extend a heartfelt and big thank you to Rotary St Francis for making the Eco-Kids programme possible. A further Thank-You to Lynn Phillips who is always there to lend a hand.
- In 2023 Rotary also provided sponsorship for Eco Kids T-shirts and caps. The T-shirts have been printed and the caps are on order
- Our thanks to Bruce’s Coffee Shop, Nevermind, Just Property, Slipway Surf Crew, FOSTER, Rotary, Sport For Youth Soccer Academy, Bayview Boating, St Francis Safaris , St Francis Tourism, Kouga Municipality and St Francis College for their support and involvement in the critically important and necessary coastal clean ups
- Our sincere thanks to BUCO St Francis, both Wendy and Larry, who have come to our assistance by generously donating R5000 worth of materials for refurbishment of the Two Harbours Walk. This donation is already being put to good use. The steps originally installed by Frank Dabrowski approximately 500m from the port were also washed away and were subsequently replaced by the local community and we extend our thanks to Jaques who donated the stairway and to the Coriander Crew / Tom Brown Crew for the installation of the steps.
- Maintenance of the Two Harbours Walk is an ongoing job, whether it be picking up litter, cutting back the bush or in the case of larger jobs, repairing boardwalks, steps and the pathway and its parameters. Currently the section in front of Tom Brown Boulevard is maintained by Frank Dabrowski. The Coriander Crew have kindly volunteered to look after the section from Coriander Crescent back towards the Port. Our sincere thanks to them all.
- Severe storms devastated the Two Harbours Walk in 2023 and we made a plea for donations on all social platforms. An amount in the region of R13,000 was raised for this cause and our sincere thanks and gratitude to everyone who kindly donated.
- Our thanks go to St Francis Tourism office, Bruce’s Ocean Museum Café, Cape St Francis Resort, Trade Wind Cafe and Kouga Print, all of whom stock and sell The Monument Around Us.
- And a heartfelt thank you to the committee of the Enviro-Trust for their hard work, great attitude, and dedication to the environmental cause.