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BAYWORLD’S oceanarium is set to close at the end of this month to prepare for the de-commissioning of the 43-year-old dolphin pool and the transfer of 24 penguins and nine seals to Pretoria Zoo. It’s all part of “operation stop the bleed” in which Port Elizabeth’s much loved museum and oceanarium complex has had to make some tough decisions in order to deliver, hopefully, long-term bounty.
While the museum and snake park will remain open to the public, the aim is that the money saved in closing the oceanarium - like for instance the R30000 a month needed to run the seawater intake pump and other life support systems - can be used to run the complex sustainably.
And once operations are running on an even keel, the multi-party task team established for the purpose will be focusing its attention on finding a sustainable revenue stream or funding source that will allow for the establishment of a new world-class oceanarium to rise from the ashes of the old.
That’s the message from Bayworld director Sylvia van Zyl, who spoke exclusively to The Herald yesterday about the impending moves.
The flotilla of African penguins, seven Cape fur seals and two Sub-Antarctic fur seals will be transferred up to Pretoria by aeroplane, with SA Cargo having agreed to sponsor the cost.
The remaining transfer costs plus the cost of shutting down the oceanarium will be covered by a R1.5m contribution due to be made next month by the provincial department of economic development and environmental affairs.
Bayworld will be keeping behind 12 penguins which will be housed in a new enclosure that must still be planned and positioned.
Van Zyl and her oceanarium team have been talking to other institutions about letting them have the sharks and other fish and turtle species. If this kind of a move happens it will be done under the “principle of reciprocity” in which they or other individual animals or similar species will be returned to Bayworld when there is space for them to be taken back.
“This is the best scenario for us, as these species do have research value, as they have been in the oceanarium a long time. But if no suitable new home can be found for them, they will be released back into the sea.”
The residents of the two large aquariums including the two ragged-tooth sharks are not fed on live fish but experts have advised that this should not have impaired their foraging instincts and they will be able to survive if released in this way.
With the dusky kob in particular Bayworld has been talking to aquaculture operations because of the increasing popularity of this species in breeding programmes.
A selection of fish will, once again, be kept behind at Bayworld. They will be housed in five smaller mobile tanks installed either in the main museum marine hall under the whale skeleton or in the entrance of the existing oceanarium.
The old dolphin, seal and penguins pools will be drained once the animals have been re-located, and they and the surrounding public area will be boarded off from the end of the month to allow this work to start.
It is the end of an era, but Van Zyl said it is simply a strategic and business decision that had to be taken.
“Our infrastructure has served way beyond its usable tenure and it is impossible to continue to operate in a viable manner.
Besides the crippling electricity bill for the life support systems of the pool and aquarium, and the recent malfunction of the seawater-intake system, this infrastructure will also have to be refurbished, she said. The water has been inhibited since last week because of damage to the in-take pipe and the super-low tide which co-incided with the giant moon.
Just what is going to be built on the old oceanarium site is a decision that must be taken by the multi-party task team. The team comprises representatives from the provincial environment, arts and culture and education departments as well as the MBDA, the EC Parks and Tourism Agency, the Coega Development Corporation (who have featured as implementing agents for the development of some Bayworld infrastructure) and the Bayworld board.
A representative from Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is due to join the team after the up-coming local government election and a Friends of Bayworld representative is also due to join later this year.
“It is a decision that the team must take jointly with a clear vision that serves the city and the region,” Van Zyl stressed.
“But personally, it is my hope that the wherewithal will be found to create a new oceanarium for PE.”
This “wherewithal” has long been a sticking point. Bayworld gets an annual grant of R865000 from the provincial arts and culture department, a figure which has remained the same for three years despite inflation. The rest of the money needed to run the complex and maintain the animal collections comes from entrance fees paid by the public and a few other income-generating sources.
So Bayworld itself does not have the money needed for a big new oceanarium.
But a number of possibilities are being considered by the task team including a public-private partnership in which a separate entity would take over the commercial side of Bayworld, and this would be serviced by the scientific and education sections of the museum. Bayworld’s environmental education and research programmes have continued to grow year on year despite the problems at the complex.
If the money is found to build a new oceanarium to be proud of, the existing plan by top architect Tim Hewitt-Coleman will be taken into consideration as well as innovations that Van Zyl and her team saw for themselves earlier this year at Hong Kong’s Ocean Park, where Bayworld’s old favourites Domino and Dumisa the bottlenose dolphins now live.
Domino has sired potential offspring and, in terms of the agreement with Ocean park, every second calf belongs to Bayworld. Dumisa is now also now sexually mature and the same will apply to whatever calves she has in the future.
Bringing any of these offspring back will depend on there being a dolphin facility built here that meets international standards , she said.
THREE black rhino were darted and airlifted out of the Eastern Cape bush yesterday (March 29 2012) at the start of the biggest sale ever of this critically endangered species. The animals were transported across the Eastern Cape veld, blindfolded and suspended by their feet at the end of a long chain beneath a Super-Huey helicopter, that contracts out at R20000 an hour, and which once flew very different missions in the Vietnam War.
Three more bodies foundANOTHER three bodies believed to be that of the missing rugby players who drowned at Bluewater Bay after being swept out to sea on Sunday have been found by rescue workers. Police spokesman Captain Andre Beetge said that all three bodies were found between St Croix Island and the Coega Harbour. "We are currently busy recovering the bodies and only once the family have identified them will we be able to release their names," he said. The search will continue for the remaining missing body. This comes after police recovery experts yesterday found the body of Anelisa Mbuzeli, 21, floating about 800m from the Port of Ngqura sea wall, near Jaheel Island, at 11.30am.
Taking the plunge for a rhinoSEVEN media personalities took the plunge yesterday (March 28 2012) in honour of Themba the Kariega rhino who died at the weekend, after a vicious poacher assault a month ago. Aided by Skydive PE, they screwed up their courage and jumped out of an aeroplane 3kms above Uitenhage Aerodrome.
Call for bay to be SA's first green cityNELSON Mandela Bay can become South Africa’s first “transition city”, leading from the front to create a brave new model built around low carbon emissions, local economic development and “sustainable livelihoods”. That’s the view of political and social development activist Dr Janet Cherry, who is a lecturer at NMMU and also a leading member of Transition Network PE, one of the organisations that attended the Cop17 climate change summit in Durban in December, and which participated in the Cop17 Feedback Session at city hall last week.
Themba's struggle for life recountedFOLLOWING the death of Themba, veterinarian Dr William Fowlds struggled to hold back tears yesterday as he told 150 schoolboys from Grahamstown's St Andrew's Preparatory how the severely mutilated rhino - “who fought so bravely” to survive - collapsed and drowned in a rock pool at Kariega Game Reserve.
Chinese pair held after mussel bustTWO Chinese nationals have been arrested and a huge haul of 4611 mussels have been seized in a joint bust by department of fisheries officials and the PE flying squad. The bust took place yesterday (March 26 2012) afternoon in the dolosse area opposite North End prison. Mussels are plentiful from east of the harbour all the way to the New Brighton pier.
BBC film on hitman, husbandTHE family of slain bride Anni Dewani is anxiously awaiting the screening of a documentary that is promising to reveal the dealings of her husband and a hired hitman days after her execution-style murder.
Empty promises plague Eastern CapeON the eve of Human Rights Day, Eastern Cape residents have little to celebrate as the province still lags far behind the rest of the country with regard to service delivery in four key areas: water, electricity, sanitation and waste removal. In a recently released study done in 2009 - the latest to date - the province scored well below the national average on these.
Ex-Bay boy Alexander rubs shoulders with starsHE might have been too chicken to actually greet Ryan Reynolds, but former Bay resident Alexander Hart says being part of a big-budget Hollywood film was not a bad way to make a buck.
Woman tells of caring for kidnapped baby's siblingsIN a twist in the case of Dianne Wabanie's abducted newborn baby from Dora Nginza last week, a Gelvandale woman has revealed that the mother had her other two children removed from her care on grounds of alleged neglect.
Abducted newborn found?HEALTH officials believe they have found the newborn baby boy who was stolen from Nelson Mandela Bay mother Dianne Wabanie as she recovered at Dora Nginza Hospital last week after giving birth.
Kariega Park rhino fighting for his lifeA YOUNG male rhino is fighting for his life at the Kariega Game Reserve after his horn was brutally hacked off by poachers on Friday.
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Jofi Babobski [29 March 2011 19:47]
A very sad day for Port Elizabeth.........
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ANOTHER knife attack has occurred at Arlington Waste Disposal Site. The attack, which took place on Saturday afternoon, comes amid calls by the DA for an investigation into the chaotic state of the site and questionable swopping of contractors.
Schoenies otter takes fishing lessonsIT’S one of the iconic wild animals of the metro’s open spaces, but it’s not often seen - certainly not clambering onto the rocks right under your feet. But that was the experience of fishing buddies Gavin Curtis and Stuart Duckenfield who were trying their luck with light tackle and pilchards at Schoenies yesterday (August 10 2011).
Cause and effect of climate change explainedSO HOW to communicate the complexity and magnitude of climate change to youngsters from a little school in Zwide? The kids, in grades six and seven at Mzimhlophe Primary School, were given the answer to this question during their visit to the SA Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre (Samrec) yesterday (August 03 2011).
R1.5-million farming venture will fit Eastern Cape to a teaTHE Eastern Cape government has set aside R1.5-million to kick-start an expanded honeybush tea industry that could be ramped up to produce a turnover of R100-million a year and hundreds of new jobs. The good news follows on the results that have emerged from a study of the honeybush industry, commissioned by the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) on behalf of the provincial economic development and environmental affairs department.
Snowed-in guards airlifted to safetyNINETEEN stock-theft guards stationed on the top of the Drakensberg have been plucked to safety as heavy snow presses in on their lonely outposts. The guards are housed alone or in pairs in 10 shipping containers, at key points along the Lesotho border with the north-eastern Eastern Cape, in the Rhodes area.
Algoa Bay the best monitored in all of AfricaALGOA Bay is now “the best monitored bay in Africa” with millions of rands worth of equipment installed below the surface measuring a wide range of environmental conditions. That was the proud revelation yesterday (July 28 2011) from SA Environmental Observation Network (Saeon) co-ordinator Shaun Deyzel, who was speaking at a marine science symposium hosted by SA National Parks, at the Addo Elephant National Parks.
Mantis in new Nigeria dealPORT Elizabeth based tourism group Mantis Collection has announced a bold expansion into West Africa with a landmark, multi-million US dollar deal signed in PE yesterday (July 25 2011) to roll out a sumptuous suite of boutique hotels in Nigeria. Mantis founder Adrian Gardiner signed the deal at Shamwari Townhouse in Summerstrand with highly respected Nigerian businessman Nze Chidi Duru, who is the chairman of Abuja-based Grand Towers Plc. The Nigerian company has interests in the pension, banking, retail, communications, IT and hospitality sectors.
Surf event sets greening benchmarkBILLABONG Pro J-Bay is setting a benchmark for international surfing contests with a comprehensive programme to protect the local environment and combat global climate change.
Karoo farmers take their fracking probe to Jo'burg oil summitA SMALL Karoo farmers’ association is so concerned about fracking, and damning new evidence out of the US, it is funding the R10000 bill demanded for a four-day oil and gas conference in Johannesburg, to allow one of its members to attend.
Swell job for man with decades of experienceWITH the small waves prevailing yesterday (Sunday July 17 2011) for the Billabong Pro J-Bay, all surfing mojos are focused on the second week of the contest and the swell that, it is hoped, will still set things on fire. The man with un-paralleled expertise in this department is contest director Eric Stedman, 54, who has been scanning synoptic charts, fiddling with barometers and assessing wind direction since he was a grommit back in East London in the 1960s. It also helps that he began surfing Jeffreys Bay 43 years ago.
New official whale watching operator launch in the bayALGOA Bay’s first boat-based boat-based whale-watching operation in a decade has been officially launched - and already some exciting sightings are being reported. Lloyd Edwards of Raggy Charters, the company awarded the boat-based whale watching (BBWW) license for Algoa Bay, said yesterday (July 14 2011) he spotted the cow and calf pair of southern right whales off Algorax earlier this week.
Unique source of Bay waterHOW many cities in the world can say they get their water from a World Heritage Site? Very few, I bet. Yet, that’s the case with Port Elizabeth and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and in fact the Gamtoos River Valley vege farmers.
Super surf contest starts at J-BayTHE latest edition of one of the great global surfing contests, built around an iconic right-hand point break, was launched in Jeffreys Bay last night (Wednesday July 14 2011).
Bayworld raggies returned to the oceanTHE biggest baddest pair from Bayworld’s de-commissioned aquarium, two bulky raggedtooth sharks, were released yesterday (July 26 2011) back into the sea. It was a sad day for the oceanarium, where they have lived for nearly two decades, inspiring awe in hundreds of thousands of visitors - but it is good news for the species, as the pair are now part of a research project aimed at securing our waters as one of the few safe havens in the world for raggies.
Dairy farm could close soonBUSHY Park Dairy Farm, a flagship “proudly Port Elizabeth” business and a much-loved feature of the metro for the past 20 years, is facing closure. The shock news was confirmed yesterday (June 21 2011) by managing trustee Puffer Hartzenberg, who was responding to unconfirmed reports about the matter.
Unique study of great whitesA UNIQUE study into the abundance, distribution and movement of great white sharks in Algoa Bay, sponsored by the metro, has been launched. There has never been a fatal shark attack in Algoa Bay, but the metro has committed the R800000 grant as a pro-active step, taken in line with their marketing of Port Elizabeth as “the watersports’ capital of Africa”, researcher Dr Matt Dicken explained yesterday (June 21 2011).
Refurbished Skead book publishedA NEW book aimed at celebrating our natural heritage and guiding sound future conservation policy has been published in Port Elizabeth. Historical Incidence of the Larger Land Mammals in the Broader Western and Northern Cape (including the Eastern Cape as far east as Sundays River) is a complete re-furbishment - with summaries, maps, illustrations and two new chapters - of the original work of the same name by legendary naturalist Dr Jack Skead, who died in 2006.
Co-op sponsors two farmers on US missionTWO Karoo farmers have flown out of PE on a ground-breaking mission to the US, to get the low-down on fracking, in the country where it all began.
Link Refit to electric cars proposalIF WE CAN link Refit with electrical motorcars - then we could really be onto something. Speaking to The Herald yesterday (June 14 2011), department of environmental affairs deputy-director general for climate change, Peter Lukey, said the scheduled launch this month of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff (Refit), will likely lead to significant positive change.
Exciting reforestation project underway in TranskeiAN UNUSUAL re-forestation and carbon sequestration project is underway in the heart of the old Transkei, where savage erosion is a common feature. The R7600000 project is being run as a partnership between the Congress of Traditional Leaders’ of South Africa (Contralesa), the national department of environmental affairs and a Johannesburg-based company called Carbon Worx.
Green electricity programme set to launch this monthGOVERNMENT will this month launch the long-awaited Refit programme that will make funding available to pay private energy entrepreneurs who will generate their own green electricity and sell it to the grid.
EC investment boost to counter climate changeEASTERN Cape economic environment MEC Mcebisi Jonas yesterday announced significant new green economy investment to boost green economy skills in the province.
Branch recalls fascinating careerFOR world-renowned reptile and amphibian expert Dr Bill Branch, who retired this week from Bayworld after 32 years employment there - it all began in 1969, on the shores of a lake in East Africa.
EC leads climate change battleTHE Eastern Cape government has declared its intention to lead from the front in the war against climate change, with a landmark multi-benefit project agreement signed at the Eastern Cape Climate Change Conference in East London yesterday (June 08 2011).
Climate change conferenceEVERYONE change - a milestone Eastern Cape climate change conference, featuring senior political leaders and climate change experts, is set to start in East London today (Wednesday May 8). The Eastern Cape Climate Change Conference will focus on the strategy document that has been prepared by local role-players, and will look towards the UN’s Cop17 summit, the international climate change indaba in Durban in December
'Plenty of power for smelter,' says CDCBLACK-out fears notwithstanding, there is more than enough electricity for the megawatt-hungry Coega manganese smelter, according to the Coega Development Corporation (CDC). CDC communications’ chief Senzeni Ndebele was responding this week to concerns expressed about the power demands of the smelter and how this will affect Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality residents and existing businesses.
Motherwell eco-schools big recipientsTWO Motherwell “eco-schools” were the recipients this week of tens of thousands of rands worth of equipment and furniture to help them learn better. The 26 maths and reading software packages, 100 desks and 200 chairs were donated by ABB after the power and automation giant participated last year in a Wessa eco-schools’ workshop in PE.
Pollution plume off the beachfront raises concernsA STRANGE-looking plume of discoloured water has been appearing sporadically in the bay between Shark Rock Pier and Humewood Beach, resulting in a number of calls from concerned residents, Following an initial report on May 20 by Humewood resident Elize Pretorius, and then disappearing for several days, it reappeared again this week, prompting further calls.
Put the environment on agenda of new councils Concerns over Ngqura oil leak 'unfounded'CONCERNS have been raised that the oil and gas exploration rig in Port of Ngqura could be leaking oil into the bay. Both the Norwegian company that owns the ultra-deepwater drilling rig and the harbour authorities have rejected as unfounded the concerns raised by environmental group Ocean Messengers.
Ball of fire not the beginning of the end.Was it a bird? Was it a plane? Was it a comet hurtling to Earth in delayed fulfillment of Harold Campling’s doomsday prophesy? Well, no. In fact, it was the International Space Station (ISS) and space shuttle Endeavour, catching the last rays of the setting sun.
Ngqura a fish magnetTHE Port of Ngqura has become an extraordinary magnet for marine life, and could point the way to an important new role for harbours, according to Bayworld marine biologist and shark specialist Dr Matt Dicken.
Stately emperor pays family a flying visitTHERE are moths and there are moths - and then there is the pine tree emperor, one of the giants of the insect world. Gorgeous yellow in colour and “easily the size of a man’s hand”, one of these moths swooped into a Seaview home the other night.
Endangered forest clearing probedA SWATHE of critically endangered forest and new generation legislation formulated to combat climate change are at the centre of a confrontation in Deer Park. The forestry department has slammed as “reckless and malicious” the clearing of the area, which is over 100m long by on average 4m wide.
Male in search of good life turns up at beachfrontHE WAS a prickly customer - but in the end he came quietly. It was Patrick Mange, the cleaner and gardener at beachfront flatblock Bandle, next to the Beach Hotel, who found him.
EC operators performs strongly at IndabaTHE Eastern Cape has fared well at the Indaba tourism conference and expo in Durban, taking gold in two different categories in the main Welcome awards and only just falling short in the Eteya emerging tourism operators’ awards. The Welcome Awards winners are both from PE and are both family-owned businesses: the Plantation, the wedding, functions’ and accommodation venue on the Sardinia Bay road, and Economic Cars and Bakkies, the 20-year-old Walmer-based car rental firm.
NMMU microscope a global break-throughNMMU has been catapulted into the forefront of nanoscience research with the arrival of a state-of-the-art custom-built microscope from Japan. The high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) is the first of its kind that has been sold commercially outside of Japan and the last of a suite of four electron microscopes, costing a total R90-million, that have arrived in the past week from Tokyo manufacturer JEOL and a second manufacturer in The Netherlands.
'Port guards like the Stasi'FOREIGN tourists yesterday compared guards at the Port Elizabeth Harbour to the dreaded Stazi security police of East Germany, following an incident in which their driver was manhandled, forcibly detained and then bundled off to Humewood Police Station. The incident happened yesterday morning as the tourists, a group of five Russians and a Belgian, were about to enter the harbour at its southern entrance, headed for a day diving excursion in Algoa Bay with local dive company Expert-Tours.
Dad's call following son's deathSIMON Swart started drugging in his early teens and he had been through 15 rehabilitation centres before he died, alone in his room in a backpacker lodge in Central, a fortnight ago. But there was much more to this young man.
How to rejuvenate Baakens River ValleyI WAS chatting to permaculture activist and leading member of Transition Network PE Naomi Suzane the other day, and she came with a great idea of how to secure, rejuvenate and celebrate the Baakens Valley. We kicked her idea around, and this is how it turned out.
Nuclear moratorium callTHE concern group challenging the Thyspunt nuclear reactor has called on government to place a moratorium on all nuclear development in South Africa until the full extent of the Fukushima disaster is known. The call by the Thyspunt Alliance - a broad coalition of residential, cultural, environmental, tourism, fisheries, business and surfing interests in the Oyster Bay, St Francis, Humansdorp and Jeffrey’s Bay area - co-incides with the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, the historic nuclear melt-down in Ukraine.
Major show jumping event scheduled for PEPORT Elizabeth has been named as a host city for a world show-jumping championship qualifier event, sparking great excitement in the show-jumping fraternity, and the promise of an energising mid-Winter injection of tourist revenue. The event will be attracting the country’s top jumpers, so it is being celebrated in horsey circles - but it is much more than that, event co-ordinator Tanya Radke said yesterday.
Oceanarium seals readied for departureHOW do you transport eight seals to Pretoria? That’s the preoccupation right now of Bayworld’s oceanarium team, as the relocation of their animals moves ahead.
Chumming fines co-incide with issuing of whale permitNELSON Mandela Bay Municipality has issued four fines to marine tourism operator Lloyd Edwards related to the controversial chumming incident off Humewood Beach last month. The issuing of the fines at the Port Elizabeth beach office on Friday co-incides with the issuing this week of the long-awaited boat-based whale watching (BBWW) license for Algoa Bay - to Edwards.
Get out the Karoo, farmers tell ShellANGRY residents of the Middleburg area have called for Shell to “get out the Karoo” after the company failed to guarantee the security of their water if fracking goes ahead. Addressing Shell representatives at a hall in Middelburg’s Grootfontein Agricultural College in a hall packed with farmers in T-shirts saying “Don’t Frack with our Karoo,” members of the audience asked repeatedly if the multi-national could “guarantee no risk to our water”.
Nieu Bethesda farmers count flood costsIT COULD take some farmers in Nieu Bethesda a decade to get back to where they were before the flood that hit them Saturday. That’s the word from the mountainous catchment area north of Graaff-Reinet, where well over 100mm of rain fell in 24 hours, flooding the Gats River and all its tributaries, flattening stock fences, stripping roads to bedrock and bursting farm dams.
Sadly the fairy tale did not continue. In Germiston a number of Eastern Cape athletes missed their opportunity to participate in events and semi-finals because their bus, organized by the EC Team man...
TheRef 30 March 2012 3:18 pmAre these Chinese nationals South African Citizens? If not how have they gained entry,if they are who is behind this! This trend is a smack in the face of"Homeland Security" meaning anyone can walk in...
dokhotelo 29 March 2012 5:31 pm........they could not find the Galaxy syrup in the whole SA..........
mcstrange 29 March 2012 5:34 amit is too late already. the methane is being released in vast quantities from the arctic as I write this, the final forcing leading to irreversible change. Let's enjoy PE while we can. ...
mcstrange 29 March 2012 5:31 amErm, excuse me but why exactly would a municipal employee need a Galaxy tablet??? That is a waste of my ratepayers money. I'd like one but don't need one. Frivolous expenditure. ...
dokhotelo 28 March 2012 9:37 pm......as for the remaining ANC voters who are not well connected in the largest organized crime syndicate in power , they are the real slaves of the ANC lies, deceit and obscene corruption, but choose...
dokhotelo 28 March 2012 9:27 pm....Agree!!....They are not "refugees".........They are "one-way foreign exchange students"..............
thirsty 27 March 2012 5:40 pmLawrence what is stupid, confusing and nauseating, if not just pathetic, is that the department of education in the Eastern Cape is under administration. Mrs Zille did not call all blacks living in th...
mastermindPE 27 March 2012 1:33 pmWhat a load of codswallop !!!!! The truth hurts amongst the eyes hey??? Your Black South Africans are flocking to the Western Cape in droves in search of a better life instead of voting the ANC=pf Thu...
royboy 22 March 2012 11:00 amIt is about time that the media started showing pics of these thugs to name and shame,then we can see what these hyenas look like so we can recognise them if they are released....