A call has gone out to embrace the Gonubie River — for its waters and wildlife are an integral reason many people choose to live in the estuary and seaside suburban town.
“None so fine as thee, Gqunube!” was the title of the final slide in the key presentation at the inaugural meeting of a river activists, the Gonubie Estuary Management Forum and Community (GEM), at the Gonubie Bowling Club on Thursday evening.
The meeting decided to reach out to the public and ask people to get involved in an array of activities to protect and enhance the estuary.
The meeting heard that the river and humanity were locked in a dynamic dance of life and death and that the 10km estuary at the end of the river’s 110km journey from the catchment near Stutterheim to the ocean, was a sparkling stretch of hope.
There was some discussion among the focused and determined-looking group of 40 members of the public on how the forum would be taking part in the process of having an estuary management plan drawn up and integrated into law.
But a lot of the discussion, guided by architect and life mentor Alan ter Morshuizen and river ecologist Dr Mandy Uys, was on raising the profile of the river in the mind of the local public, and how to encourage people to get involved at any level in all aspects of the river’s ecology or life.
Problems were many. As a whole, the entire Gonubie River was beset with problems of water quality caused by the effects of fertiliser and sewage and was under pressure from the clearing of indigenous plants, bush and forest, and inappropriate development on floodplains. There was a broad lack of information about the river.
The 100km-long Gonubie freshwater river, which starts near Stutterheim and ends where the old national road crosses the river, faced human impacts of weirs and bridges which formed barriers, it was drained for irrigation, fertilisers were washing in and it was inhabited by alien catfish and bass.
For this, the freshwater Gonubie River is given an official eco-status symbol C and lower: its condition is “moderate to poor”.
The good news, Uys and Ter Morshuizen said, was that 10km estuary — where the ocean and river interact in a dynamic and exciting manner — had been afforded a rare category B status by the SA National Biodiversity Institute in its national biodiversity assessment.
The estuary forms a natural link with the Amathole Inshore Marine Protected Area and the Algoa-to-Amathole Ecologically and Biologically Significant Marine Area, which is a refuge for the biggest collection of significant and special marine features in SA.
The estuary serves as a wild fish nursery and the forests on its banks, especially the east bank, are an important corridor for wildlife movements, the meeting learned.
Uys said the estuary was “on average in a good condition” and in the top 41 estuaries out of 300 in SA flagged for extra care and compliance the moment developers or anyone came along to build or alter the natural environment.
However, the estuary, too, was being damaged. Their list of wicked acts included poaching — dog hunting, gill netting — boat speeding, vandalism, littering, sewage spills, inappropriate development, alien invasion and generally abusive public behaviour.
Uys and Ter Morshuizen drew the audience towards the positives — the incredible array of bird species on the river banks, the undisturbed nature of the indigenous forests, especially the east bank which served as a green lung, inhaling carbon dioxide and exhaling oxygen, the thrilling joy and tranquillity experienced by conservation-minded boaters, anglers, paddlers, strollers, picnickers, swimmers and birders.
One of their slides stated: “It is safe and mostly unpolluted!”
The call to build a public campaign around the health and care of the river — and to not be bogged down in slow legal-administrative process — led to a decision to have the forum’s constitution approved at a budget ticket dinner at the bowling club in two weeks.
All members of the public were invited.
The forum has proposed a suite of working groups but stressed that anyone could simply get going on their own, as long as their efforts were compliant with environmental legislation.
It was suggested members of the public joined in with clean-ups, permit-based alien vegetation removal, reporting vandals, bullies and destructive drunkards, talking to people who wanted to chop down indigenous plants, bush and trees, and generally promote an informed culture and pride in the river.
School clubs and nature groups would be encouraged to come forward and join the forum in its campaigns, or be supported with their activities.
It was also suggested that the forum encouraged residents to become honorary conservation officers or river guardians and receive proper training.
Incidents of concern or joy would be logged and shared with Buffalo City Metro, Samsa, and other authorities who would be kept informed and asked for their responses.
It was raised that one of the causes of sewage spills into the river — with catastrophic impacts on all river users and the river’s ecology — were property owners who illegally tied their storm drain pipes into the sewers.
During rain, roof water caused the pressure in the overburdened sewers to blow the inspection covers and the hazardous, pathogen-loaded waste flowed into the estuary, putting the health of children, adults and all life in the system at risk.
Uys told Off Track: “We have dealt with issues of legal process around drawing up the official environmental management plan, which will be followed by the GEM forum participating as a stakeholder, but there was a strong feeling that this process should not stop the public movement from going all out to protect the river.”
“We want to encourage our community to advance the love we intuitively have for the estuary and to set up a living heritage or way of life which is dedicated to caring for the river, living in harmony with it, and learning ever more about its fascinating ecological system where everything is connected, how it links to the upper river, to the ocean and to the land around it — where we actually live.
“We want to inspire a river of thought to run through our town about why the Gonubie River is important to us. We want people to join us as we go out into the public and embrace the river’s cause.
“We believe this is a chance to explore our connection to the estuary and we want this to evoke a sense of care. We really want to look after this river in a reciprocal manner — it has given something to our lives and history with Gonubie, so let’s give something back.
“We want to link the story of the estuary with all the positive community and environment projects happening in the community.”
DispatchLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.