St Lucia goes with flow again

A massive project to restore Africa’s largest estuarine lake is nearing completion, with almost a million cubic metres of dredge spoil having already been removed from the mouth area of the Lake St Lucia estuary.

The R61.8-million Lake St Lucia restoration project is 70% complete and is expected to be finished by the end of June.

iSimangaliso CEO Andrew Zaloumis said there was already evidence that the project was bearing fruit —  with the 350km² Lake St Lucia system benefiting.

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“It is early days, but nature’s healing has begun. On the back of improved flows from the uMfolozi River, Lake St Lucia’s water levels have improved and now cover some 90% of the lake bed, up 80% from the coverage recorded in early 2016. Salinity also remains low and large sections are now fresh water.

“This is South Africa’s largest and ecologically most important wetland rehabilitation project. The health of Lake St Lucia is also material to the viability of local and national economic activities,” he said.

The project to remove some 1.4 million cubic metres of dredge spoil obstructing the natural course of the uMfolozi river began last year. Dredge spoil had been artificially deposited in the natural course of the uMfolozi River in an attempt to limit its inflows into Lake St Lucia estuary in the belief that it would protect the estuary from silt.

This significantly reduced the flow of fresh water into Lake St Lucia.

During the extended period of closed-mouth conditions from 2002 to 2012, there was virtually no exchange of fish between the estuary and the sea. Recruitment failure due to drought conditions and the closure of the estuary mouth during this period resulted in the collapse of the uThukela Bank prawn fishery.

Other fisheries also suffered. Shore angling lost R19.3-million in 2009-10 and commercial line fisheries took a R1.06-million hit due to the lake’s reduced estuarine functioning.

“With good flows from the uMfolozi river into Lake St Lucia, more than 90% of the lake’s surface is now covered.

This is not only good news for nature but also the many thousands of people who rely on iSimangaliso and Lake St Lucia for their livelihoods,” said Zaloumis.