Cape Town: The Environmental Management Department of the City of Cape Town will be participating in 2025 World Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day celebrations on Saturday, August 02, 2025 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Helderberg MPA.
Theme for 2025 World Marine Protected Area is Ocean protection needs human connections and will include a guided biodiversity and photography walk followed by a beach clean-up.
Deputy Mayor and Member of the Mayoral Committee for Spatial Planning and Environment – Alderman Eddie Andrews said that the City of Cape has several Marine Protected Areas along sensitive and dynamic coastlines of Cape Town. These are an important part of the natural heritage and offer economic, social and environmental benefits to them all, as they require dedicated and careful management.
City of Cape Town is the designated management authority for the Helderberg MPA which lies between the Lourens River Mouth to the east and the Eerste River Mouth to the west and extends 500m offshore. It is dominated by sandy beaches with mobile dune systems, while offshore habitats comprise rocky reefs, kelp beds, sandy soft-sediment and pelagic environments.
According to Eddie Andrews, at the Helderberg MPA, the City of Cape Town is focused on Summer and Winter fish tagging, which provides them with important information on the life cycles, migration patterns and longevity of tagged fish.
They are also working on ensuring that coastal seabirds and other coastal wildlife remain undisturbed in this area and they ask that people keep their dogs out of the MPA as well as refrain from any form of fishing there.
The City of Cape Town has approached to protect the coast from natural and man-made threats which is mapped out in the Integrated Coastal Management Policy. Last Saturday, the team guided biodiversity walk that will be guided on paths which are formed, safe along the Helderberg MPA.