It's a Blue Flag summer for SA

©Aleksandrs Tihonovs via 123RF

Beaches, boats and marinas

Earlier this year applications for the prestigious Blue Flag eco-label were reviewed by a rigorous multi-stage approval process involving both national and international assessments. The announcement of the 2016 International Blue Flag Jury results revealed that a total of 45 South African beaches have been awarded Blue Flag status this year, along with five marinas and eight sustainable tourism boats.

The Western Cape has achieved the highest number of Blue Flag sites, with 29 of the beaches, all eight boats and four of the five Blue Flag marinas falling in the province. KZN has nine Blue Flag beaches for the 2016/17 season. Seven beaches and one marina have been awarded this eco-label in the Eastern Cape. An additional 22 beaches across the three provinces have been given Pilot Blue Flag status – an important developmental stage for potential Blue Flag sites, during which WESSA works with beach managers towards the longer term goal of achieving Full Status. Internationally, almost 4,300 beaches, boats, and marinas have been awarded Blue Flag status for the 2016/17 season.

The value of a blue flag

The annual Blue Flag Awards also celebrate the sustained partnerships that WESSA has built with key municipalities around the country, who have recognised the value of Blue Flag not just to environmental management and education, but also to tourism, economic development, and job creation.

Their commitment to the programme is evident in the fact that 26 beaches have been on the programme for five or more consecutive years, while nine beaches have achieved Blue Flag status for more than 10 consecutive years. Marina Beach, which provided the idyllic backdrop for the launch event, celebrates a remarkable 15 consecutive years on the programme this year. Humewood Beach in Port Elizabeth along with Grotto Beach in Hermanus has participated for all sixteen years that the Blue Flag programme has been running locally.

Louis Genade via Wikimedia Commons - the suburb of Voelkip in the background and Grotto Beach

©Aleksandrs Tihonovs via 123RF

The launch event was hosted by the Ray Nkonyeni Municipality (formerly Hibiscus Coast Municipality), which has seven Full Status Blue Flag beaches.
The regular attendance of Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom, is a confirmation of government’s ongoing support for the Programme, and speaking at this year’s launch event he said that we have an incredible diversity of marine life along our country's 3,000km of coastline. We need to double our Blue Flag coverage to protect our natural heritage as this creates tourism and tourism creates jobs.

The Mayor of Ray Nkonyeni Municipality, Nomusa Mqwebu, who delivered the opening address at the event said: "Blue Flag is the ideal catalyst to improve tourism."

The Tourism Blue Flag Project

This year’s event also marked the launch of an exciting new coastal tourism project to be managed and implemented by WESSA in partnership with the National Department of Tourism. The Tourism Blue Flag Project aims to improve tourism facilities and services offered at Blue Flag beaches across South Africa, while also providing youth employment opportunities.

Through this project, 200 participants will be employed in the role of “Beach Stewards” and hosted by local coastal municipalities at Blue Flag sites. The participants will also receive accredited training in environmental education and practical work experience, with the ultimate aim of developing them for further employment in the coastal tourism sector (the “Blue Economy”).

Blue Flag accreditation for boats

An exciting development in the Blue Flag programme internationally has also been the expansion of Blue Flag accreditation programme to acknowledge sustainable boating operators in the tourism industry. In the past, sustainable boating operators have simply signed a code-of-conduct with Blue Flag around operating sustainably, but now operators offering boating activities – such as bird, seal and whale watching, cage diving, recreational diving and recreational fishing – can be awarded formal accreditation if they comply with Blue Flag’s newly defined set of strict boating criteria.

South Africa is at the forefront of this new development as one of only three Blue Flag member countries to have received accreditation for sustainable boating operators in the 2016/17 Season.

View all the 2016/7 International Blue Flag Jury results for South Africa