March 2021 – Duiwenhoks Conservancy

Duiwenhoks Conservancy AGM 2021

We completed our first digital Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 24 March 21.

Many thanks to all who attended it and gave us feedback, especially during the committee election section. We really appreciate your interest.

If you are interested in the recording, it can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfMPCgnWwnA

Our AGM agenda included:

Chairman’s Report + finances
Review of 2020 initiatives
Hessequa Municipality property valuation 2021
Wild fire: Vermaaklikheid fire fund & February 2021 fire
Alien clearing: Uitvlug case study
Duiwenhoks Estuary Report by Dr Lara van Niekerk & Dr Stephen Lamberth
Election of Committee for 2021/2

We will share more soon!

Duiwenhoks Estuary overview presentation (Lamberth)

Margaux Newdigate Uncategorized March 24, 2021March 25, 2021Duiwenhoks Estuary, dusky kob, Fish, research 0 Comment

Dr Stephen Lamberth has been sampling the Duiwenhoks Estuary for more than two decades. Stephen spoke about the state of the fish in our river, including some shocking data about the fish stock levels. There are about 50 breeding pairs of dusky kob in the southern Cape – it really is a critically endangered species. We need to protect it.

His talk is available here: Lamberth Duiwenhoks Talk 24 March fish-compressed

Dr Stephen Lamberth is a fisheries ecologist at the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF). He has been involved in about 30 specialist studies focusing on freshwater flow requirements of river, estuarine and marine fish. He was the project leader in a comprehensive biological and socio-economic study of the South African beach-seine and gillnet fisheries.

Here’s a sample of his presentation showing the categories of our 45+ species:

Duiwenhoks Estuary overview presentation (van Niekerk)

Margaux Newdigate Uncategorized March 24, 2021March 24, 2021Duiwenhoks Estuary, Fish 0 Comment

We had our AGM today, with fantastic presentations from our 2 estuary experts. Dr Lara van Niekerk has shared her presentation with us – and here it is if you want to see it:

Van Niekerk Duiwenhoks Talk – 24March 2021-compressed

Dr Lara van Niekerk led the team of specialists who assessed the health and ecosystem condition of all of South Africa’s estuaries as part of the National Biodiversity Assessment 2018 and 2011.

Dr van Niekerk is a senior scientist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). She specialises in the physical dynamics of estuaries; estuarine condition assessments; environmental flow requirements; and estuary management and policy. Lara played a lead role in the development of the generic framework for estuary management plans. Lara is also part of a core team that develop environmental flow requirements technologies for South Africa.