Declaration of Amathole Offshore Marine Protected Area in terms of section 22A of the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (No. 763 of 2019).

This Notice of the Minister of Environmental Affairs, made under section 22A of the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act, 2003 (as inserted by the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Amendment Act 2014), declares the Amathole Offshore Marine Protected Area as set out in the Schedule to the Notice. The purposes for declaring this Marine Protected Area are, amongst others: (a) To contribute to a national, regional and global representative system of marine protected areas by conserving and protecting offshore benthic and pelagic ecosystems of the outer shelf and slope; (b) to conserve and protect the ecological processes and ecologically sensitive biodiversity associated with these ecosystems, including threatened, overexploited fish species; (c) to support the recovery of linefish by protecting spawning, nursery, foraging, aggregation and refuge areas for overexploited species; (d) to facilitate species management and sustainable use of linefish and south coast rock lobster; (e) to conserve and protect an area important for migratory species including seabirds, turtles, sharks, seabreams, wreckfish and other fish; (f) to support sustainable nature-based tourism opportunities in the area; and (g) to protect and provide an appropriate reference environment for research and monitoring particularly with regard to habitat and fisheries recovery.