Fire At Redhill Contained, Hiking Trails Closed
Cape Town, SANParks - The Fire Management team at Table Mountain National Park has contained a fire that affected Redhill in the Southern Section of t...
Park Manager for the Garden Route National Park, Paddy Gordon has expressed relief that breaching was as closely aligned to the Park's Management Plan as possible. He affirmed the significance of keeping the mouth closed until the correct time and level of water measured above mean sea level. Swartvlei was ranked number 7 in South Africa by independent researchers for its biological diversity. “Managing the system is complex but water measured yesterday facilitated the decision made to breach/ open both the Swartvlei and Touws River mouths” he says.
Both the Swartvlei and Touws River estuaries were breached subsequent to rainfall yesterday. The Swartvlei Estuary system was monitored for 24 hours and rainfall was recorded:
Water height before the rain was at 1.74meters above mean sea level. However at 18:00 – 1.79 and at 22:00 – 1.79 – 01:00 – 1.79 but at 06:30am = 1.80
Residents from Sedgefield came out in numbers to witness the breaching of the Swartvei estuary. Channels were reportedly prepared days before and machinery on standby as reported by Jonathan Britton, marine ranger for Wilderness.
Scientist Dr. Ian Russel cautions against opening the mouth too soon as during the open and closed phase there is a unique ecological process that collectively works together to maintain a delicate foodweb. The estuary mouth will generally close naturally during the low rainfall periods as there is a reduction of the inflow of freshwater.
The closed phase is a time of “rest and recovery” when some interesting and important ecological processes come into play.
Wilderness Marine Rangers, Carel van der Merwe & Jonathan Britton
Touws River estuary breached in Wilderness
Media can contact: Nandi Mgwadlamba, 078 702 56333, [email protected]