SHAROLDINE BOCKCONSTRUCTION at the coast and environmental pollution are the two greatest threats to marine life.
Bridget James, a student at the Namibia Dolphin project, revealed this to The Namibian recently on the planned activities for World Oceans Day, which was commemorated globally yesterday.
James added that environmental pollutants that threaten marine life include plastic, noise in the environment coming from ships and construction in the ocean and chemical pollution, which includes waste treatment chemicals.
“The effect of such modifications may be subtle,” noted James, adding that noise in the environment affects animals. Dolphins are affected most, according to James, as they are sensitive to noise and end up migrating to quiet areas.
“The long-term effect of chemical pollution is that it affects cub survival or cub success. Female mammals [such as dolphins] take a long time to mature before they have their first calf, and absorb pollutants during feeding because many pollutants go through bio stimulation. The pollutants move from one consumer to the next,” she said.
James said as part of the commemoration of Worl Oceans Day they would visit several local schools to educate pupils on how this year’s theme ‘The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods’ relates to their lives and livelihoods.
“For conservation to succeed, people have to be aware of the animals and the impacts that people have on the marine environment for conservation to succeed,” stressed James.
James claims that many coastal residents do not fully appreciate the variety of species in Namibia.
Throughout the year, the Dolphin Project collects and analyses data about the dolphins to determine whether there are changes in these animals, and identify factors in the environment that might have caused these shifts.
Naude Dreyer, a co-founder of Ocean Conservation Namibia, added that plastic remains one of the main concerns for nature conservationists at the coast.
He said sea animals such as the cape fur seal are entangled by plastics such as nets, fishing lines and packing straps which end up in the ocean.
His organisation disentangles these animals and removes the plastics from the ocean.
“We are considering either doing a beach clean-up at Kuisebmond or doing a live stream of one of our seal rescue [missions] at Pelican Point through YouTube,” said Dreyer.
He added that they are also conducting outreach programmes to educate schools online due to Covid-19.
The Namibian Dolphin Project, Namibia Nature Foundation/Albatross Task Force and youth ambassadors from the Benguela Current Commission will have outreach activities at Swakopmund and Walvis Bay tomorrow and on Sunday.
