Data used in the analyses below (ecological condition, threat status, protection, distribution of activities, cumulative pressure from activities) are from the National Biodiversity Assessment 2018: Marine Realm Assessment. See the NBA 2018 website for access to the report.

 

EBSA Status Assessment and Management Recommendations

Ecological Condition, Threat Status, Current Protection and Key Features in the EBSA

Relevant Pressures and Activities (impact, extent) | Management Interventions Needed for the EBSA

Activity Evaluation Per Zone: Zoning Feasibility | Management recommendations for MPAs

Management recommendations for MSP | Research Needs & Future Process

EBSA report download | Back to the SA EBSA status and management home page

 

 

EBSA overview

Browns Bank is an important fish spawning area for both demersal and pelagic species, which links to the nursery grounds in the Agulhas Bank Nursery Area EBSA. The area contains fragile reef-building cold-water corals and untrawled hard grounds, and is the only place where a Critically Endangered gravel ecosystem type exists. The shelf edge area is also important for many seabirds, and covers two proposed Important Bird Areas.

Click here for the full EBSA description

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Ecological Condition, Threat Status, Current Protection and Key Features in the EBSA

Browns Bank has several key features and ecosystem types that need to be protected for the area to maintain the features and processes that give it its EBSA status. There are six ecosystem types represented, of which the Browns Bank Rocky Shelf Edge and the mosaic (matrix of hard and soft substrate) ecosystem types contain fragile species that are especially sensitive to damage, especially reef-building cold-water corals.

 

Browns Bank proportion of area in each ecological condition category.

 

Browns Bank is heavily impacted, and largely in poor ecological condition (72%), with some portions that are fair (26%), and only a fraction (2%) that is in good ecological condition. Despite this, the bulk of the area (79%) and ecosystem types (5 of 6) are Least Concern because the ecosystems extend beyond this area where they are less impacted. However, the 21% that is Critically Endangered makes up a large part of the remaining extent of the Browns Bank Rocky Shelf Edge ecosystem type.

 

 Browns Bank proportion of area in each ecosystem threat status category.

 

Browns Bank proportion of area in a Marine Protected Area (MPA).

 

Protection afforded to this EBSA, and particularly Browns Bank Rocky Shelf Edge, occurred for the first time following the proclamation of the Operation Phakisa MPA network, with the EBSA area within reserves increasing from no protection to 6%. These new MPAs cover portions of the Critically Endangered Browns Bank Rocky Shelf Edge, raising its protection level to Moderately Protected.

 

Threat status, protection level and ecological condition of ecosystem types in the EBSA. Other key features are also listed.

Feature

Threat Status

Protection Level

Condition (%)

Good

Fair

Poor

Ecosystem Types

Agulhas Plateau Mosaic

LC

MP

0.0

37.5

62.5

Browns Bank Rocky Shelf Edge

CR

MP

0.0

6.1

93.9

Eastern Agulhas Outer Shelf Mosaic

LC

PP

24.5

47.2

28.2

Southeast Atlantic Upper Slope

LC

PP

0.0

40.8

59.2

Southern Benguela Sandy Outer Shelf

LC

PP

0.2

5.7

94.2

Southwest Indian Upper Slope

LC

WP

0.0

99.4

0.6

Other Features

  • Fragile reef-building cold-water corals and untrawled hard grounds containing fragile species, e.g., brisingid sea stars
  • Fish spawning area for demersal and pelagic species
  • Upwelling areas
  • Two proposed Marine Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, namely for Cory’s Shearwater and Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross
  • Other seabirds, e.g., Wandering, Shy, Black-browed, and Atlantic yellownose albatrosses and Pintado petrels

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Relevant Pressures and Activities (impact, extent)

  • There are seven pressures present in this EBSA, of which shipping and pelagic longlining cover the entire EBSA extent, with pelagic longlining and offshore trawling having the highest cumulative pressure profiles.
  • Key pressures in this EBSA that most directly impact the features for which the EBSA is described include: pelagic longlining, offshore trawling and hake longlining. These activities will need to be managed particularly well in order to protect the fragile benthic biodiversity, fish spawning areas and seabirds (in terms of mitigating bycatch) for which this EBSA is recognised. For all of these pressures, though, the larger portion of the activity is located in the Impact Management Zone.
  • Three of the seven pressures each comprise <1% of the EBSA pressure profile, including: linefishing, midwater trawling, and south coast rock lobster harvesting.
  • Activities in South Africa that are not present in this EBSA include: inshore trawling, squid fishing, small pelagics fishing, ports and harbours, alien invasive species, mean annual runoff reduction, coastal disturbance, coastal development, wastewater discharge, oil and gas (exploration and production), recreational shore angling, abalone harvesting, subsistence harvesting, mariculture, naval dumping (ammunition), oyster harvesting, mining (prospecting and mining), shark netting, prawn trawling, tuna pole fishing, kelp harvesting, gillnetting, west coast rock lobster harvesting, dredge spoil dumping, beach seining; noting that some of these are coastal pressures that do not apply to offshore EBSAs.

 

Map of cumulative pressure from all activities in the EBSA and surrounds. Darker reds indicate higher pressure intensity.

Pressure (in arbitrary cumulative pressure units, CPUs) summed for each pressure in the EBSA, per proposed EBSA biodiversity zone, ranked left (highest) to right (lowest) by the overall relative importance of pressures in this EBSA. Note that pressures from linefishing (commercial and recreational) to south coast rock lobster harvesting each comprise <1% of the EBSA pressure profile.

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Management Interventions Needed for the EBSA

Improved place-based protection of EBSA features should be pursued. In support of this, the EBSA is divided into a Biodiversity Conservation Zone and an Environmental Impact Management Zone, both comprising several areas within the EBSA. The aim of the Biodiversity Conservation Zone is to secure core areas of key biodiversity features in natural / near-natural ecological condition. Strict place-based biodiversity conservation is thus directed at securing key biodiversity features in a natural or semi-natural state, or as near to this state as possible. Activities or uses that have significant biodiversity impacts are incompatible with the management objective of this zone. If the activity is permitted, it would require alternative Biodiversity Conservation Zones or offsets to be identified. If this is not possible, it is recommended that the activity is Prohibited. Where possible and appropriate, the Biodiversity Conservation Zones should be considered for formal protection e.g., Marine Protected Areas or Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECM). The aim of the Environmental Impact Management Zone is to manage negative impacts on key biodiversity features where strict place-based measures are not practical or not essential. In this zone, the focus is management of impacts on key biodiversity features in a mixed-use area, with the objective to keep biodiversity features in at least a functional state. Activities or uses that have significant biodiversity impacts should be strictly controlled and/or regulated. Within this zone, ideally there should be no increase in the intensity of use or the extent of the footprint of activities that have significant biodiversity impacts. Where possible, biodiversity impacts should be reduced.

As far as possible, the Biodiversity Conservation Zone was designed deliberately to avoid conflicts with existing activities. The EBSA also includes the Browns Bank Corals MPA that is wholly within the EBSA. The activities permitted within this MPA are not considered as part of the EBSA management recommendations because these are as per the gazetted regulations.

 

Proposed zonation of the EBSA into Conservation (medium green) and Impact Management (light green) Zones. MPAs are overlaid in orange outlines, with the extent within the EBSA given in dark green. Click on each of the zones to view the proposed management recommendations.

 

Protection of features in the rest of the Conservation Zone may require additional Marine Protected Area declaration/expansion. Other effective conservation measures should also be applied via Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) to ensure that the existing activities/uses are appropriately controlled to ensure compatibility of activities with the environmental requirements for achieving the management objectives of the EBSA Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Impact Management Zones.

Based on the compatibility of sea-use activities with the management objective of each EBSA zone (see table below, from the sea-use guidelines of the National Coastal and Marine Spatial Biodiversity Plan), it is recommended for MSP that compatible activities are managed as General activities, which are those that are permitted and regulated by current general rules and legislation. Activities that are conditional are recommended to be managed as Consent activities, which are those that can continue in the zone subject to specific regulations and controls, e.g., to avoid unacceptable impacts on biodiversity features, or to avoid intensification or expansion of impact footprints of uses that are already occurring and where there are no realistic prospects of excluding these activities. Activities that are not compatible are recommended to be Prohibited, where such activities are not allowed or should not be allowed (which may be through industry-specific regulations) because they are incompatible with maintaining the biodiversity objectives of the zone. These recommendations are subject to stakeholder negotiation through the MSP process, recognizing that there will likely need to be significant compromises among sectors. It is emphasized, as noted above, that if activities that are not compatible with the respective EBSA zones are permitted, it would require alternative Biodiversity Conservation Zones or offsets to be identified. If this is not possible, it is recommended that the activity is Prohibited.

 

List of all sea-use activities, grouped by their Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) zones, and scored according to their compatibility with the management objective of the EBSA’s Biodiversity Conservation Zone (i.e., Critical Biodiversity Area, CBA) and Environmental Impact Management Zone (i.e., Ecological Support Area, ESA). Activity compatibility is given as Y = yes, compatible, C = conditional or N = not compatible, with major activities that are present in the EBSA shaded in grey.

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Activity Evaluation Per Zone: Zoning Feasibility

Proposed zonation of the EBSA, with the cumulative intensity footprint of activities within the EBSA (sorted highest to lowest) given relative to the national footprint of those activities to illustrate feasibility of management interventions.

There are seven key activities within this EBSA, most of which comprise a negligible component of the national footprint, and are recommended to continue with relevant regulations and controls as Consent activities. Only three activities comprise more than 5% of the national footprint: benthic (hake) longlining, offshore trawling, and pelagic longlining. Most of their footprint is within the Impact Management Zone where they are recommended to continue as Consent activities. Benthic (hake) longlining and pelagic longlining are recommended to be Consent activities in the Conservation Zone as well, however, offshore trawling is not compatible with the Conservation Zone and is recommended to be Prohibited in that zone. Shipping is recommended to continue in both the Conservation and Impact Management Zone under current general rules and legislation. In all cases, the EBSA zonation has no or minimal impact on the national footprint for the listed marine activities.

 

Management recommendations for MPAs

Since the inception of the MARIMSA Project, protection has increased in the EBSA with the declaration of the Browns Bank MPA in 2019. It is recommended that full operationalisation of the new MPA is implemented, including a management plan, resourcing, and adequate staffing and law enforcement. Potential MPA expansion within the EBSA should be explored to ensure that the features for which the EBSA was described receive adequate protection. It is also important to consider ways in which connectivity among MPAs in the Protea Seamount Cluster, Mallory Escaparment and Trough, Browns Bank, and Shackleton Seamount Complex can be enhanced to strengthen persistence of biodiversity and climate-change adaptation. See Future Process below for more details.

 

Marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Browns Bank EBSA. Browns Bank MPA comprises three parts, all of which are in the EBSA.

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Management recommendations for MSP

Developing the biodiversity sector’s input to the national Marine Spatial Planning process

Following the initial management recommendations proposed for Protea Seamount Cluster, outlined above, South Africa iteratively developed a National Coastal and Marine Spatial Biodiversity Plan (NCMSBP; Harris et al. 2022a,b) that underpinned the Marine Biodiversity Sector Plan (DFFE 2022). The latter constitutes the biodiversity sector’s input into the national Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) process. The NCMSBP comprises a Map of Critical Biodiversity Areas and Ecological Support Areas (abbreviated to CBA Map), and a set of sea-use guidelines that indicate activity compatibility with the management objectives of each of the CBA Map categories. These two components form the basis for the proposed biodiversity zones and management recommendations for the Marine Area Plans. EBSAs are an integral part of the NCMSBP, and thus the Biodiversity Sector Plan. Therefore, these products informed the proposed zoning and sea-use guidelines for EBSAs in the MSP process.

 

Schematic diagram illustrating that the National Coastal and Marine Spatial Biodiversity Plan will inform the Marine Area Plans through the Marine Biodiversity Sector Plan (DFFE 2022), and will be iteratively updated and refined based on feedback. The process for deriving the sea-use guidelines is also shown, indicating that it is based on an assessment of activity compatibility with the management objective of Critical Biodiversity Area (CBA) Natural, CBA Restore and Ecological Support Areas (ESAs). Marine Protected Area (MPA) expansion, focussing on CBAs, will also take place in a separate but related process. The outcomes of the Marine Spatial Planning and MPA expansion processes will be incorporated into the Marine Area Plans and will be fed back into future updates of the National Coastal and Marine Spatial Biodiversity Plan.

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Proposed Zones

The proposed biodiversity zones for the EBSA in MSP comprises two types: a Strict Biodiversity Conservation Zone; and a Biodiversity Impact Management Zone. The former has three sub-categories: Marine Protected Area; Biodiversity Conservation Area; and Biodiversity Restoration Area. All of these zones and sub-categories are found in Browns Bank.

Browns Bank MPA, comprising three parts, is the only MPA in this EBSA. It is managed according to the gazetted management regulations for this MPA. A small component of the Strict Biodiversity Conservation Zone is a Biodiversity Conservation Area, where the management objective of this zone is to maintain the sites in natural or near-natural ecological condition. Because the area is so heavily used by other sectors, a much larger portion comprises a Biodiversity Restoration Area, where the management objective of the zone is to improve the ecological condition of the sites and, in the long term, restore them to a natural / near-natural state, or as near to that state as possible. As a minimum, avoid further deterioration in ecological condition and maintain options for future restoration. The rest of the EBSA is a Biodiversity Impact Management Zone. This is a multi-use area that may already be heavily impacted, but needs to be kept ecologically functional because it is still important for marine biodiversity patterns, ecological processes, and ecosystem services. Therefore, the management objective is to avoid further deterioration in ecological condition.

 

Proposed biodiversity zones for the Browns Bank EBSA for South Africa’s Marine Area Plans.

 

Proposed Sea-Use Guidelines

All sea-use activities were listed and evaluated according to their compatibility with the management objective of each of the proposed biodiversity zones. Where various aspects of an activity have a different impact on the environment, these were reflected separately, e.g., impacts from petroleum exploration are different to those from production. Activity compatibility was based largely on the ecosystem-pressure matrix from the NBA 2018 (Sink et al. 2019), which is a matrix of expert-based scores of the functional impact and recovery time for each activity on marine ecosystems (adapted from Halpern et al. 2007). Activities were then classified into those that are Compatible, Not Compatible or have Restricted Compatibility with the management objectives of each proposed biodiversity zone. This classification followed a set of predefined principles that account for the severity and extent of impact, similar to the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems criterion C3 (Keith et al. 2013). Some exceptions and adjustments were made based on initial discussions as part of the MSP process.

 

Sea-use guidelines for Browns Bank. List of all sea-use activities, grouped by their broad sea use and Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) Zones, and categorised according to their compatibility with the management objective of Strict Biodiversity Conservation Zone: Biodiversity Conservation Area (SBCZ: BCA); Strict Biodiversity Conservation Zone: Biodiversity Restoration Area (SBCZ: BRA); and the Biodiversity Impact Management Zone (BIMZ). Activity compatibility is given as Y = yes, compatible, R = restricted compatibility, or N = not compatible. Strict Biodiversity Conservation Zone: Marine Protected Areas (SBCZ: MPA) are managed according to their gazetted regulations.

 

Proposed management recommendations for activities with each of the different compatibility ratings:

  • Compatible: Activities should be allowed and regulated by current general rules. Notwithstanding, there should still be duty of care, possibly requiring monitoring and evaluation programmes, to avoid unintended cumulative impacts to the biodiversity features for which this area is recognised.
  • Restricted compatibility: A robust site-specific, context-specific assessment is required to determine the activity compatibility depending on the biodiversity features for which the site was selected. Particularly careful attention would need to be paid in areas containing irreplaceable to near-irreplaceable features where the activity may be more appropriately evaluated as not permitted. The ecosystem types in which the activities take place may also be a consideration as to whether or not the activity should be permitted, for example. Where it is permitted to take place, strict regulations and controls over and above the current general rules and legislation would be required to be put in place to avoid unacceptable impacts on biodiversity features. Examples of such regulations and controls include: exclusions of activities in portions of the zone; avoiding intensification or expansion of current impact footprints; additional gear restrictions; and temporal closures of activities during sensitive periods for biodiversity features.
  • Not compatible: The activity should not be permitted to occur in this area because it is not compatible with the management objective. If it is considered to be permitted as part of compromises in MSP negotiations, it would require alternative Strict Biodiversity Conservation Zones and/or offsets to be identified. However, if this is not possible, it is recommended that the activity remains prohibited within the Strict Biodiversity Conservation Zone.

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Research Needs

In addition to the research needs for all EBSAs, there needs to be fine-scale mapping of seabed features within this EBSA that can support an improved fine-scale assessment of ecological condition. This includes exploring and mapping potential cold water corals, which are likely to be present. This could also support potential refinement of the trawl footprint.

 

Future Process

There needs to be full operationalisation and practical implementation of the Browns Bank MPA, including a management plan, staffing, and resources. There also needs to be full operationalisation and practical implementation of the proposed zoning in the national marine spatial plan, with gazetted management regulations following the proposed management recommendations outlined above. Possible MPA expansion within the EBSA should be explored, with relevant areas included into focus areas that can be considered further in a dedicated MPA expansion process with adequate and meaningful stakeholder engagement. Options for MPA expansion also need to take strengthening connectivity among MPAs in Protea Seamount Cluster, Browns Banks, and Shackleton Seamount Complex.

 

References

DFFE, 2022. Biodiversity Sector Plan: Input for Marine Spatial Planning (MSP). Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Cape Town.

Halpern, B.S., Selkoe, K.A., Micheli, F., Kappel, C.V., 2007. Evaluating and Ranking the Vulnerability of Global Marine Ecosystems to Anthropogenic Threats. Conservation Biology 21, 1301–1315.

Harris, L.R., Holness, S.D., Kirkman, S.P., Sink, K.J., Majiedt, P., Driver, A., 2022. National Coastal and Marine Spatial Biodiversity Plan Version 1.2 (Released: 12-04-2022). Nelson Mandela University, Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, and South African National Biodiversity Institute, South Africa.

Harris, L.R., Holness, S.D., Kirkman, S.P., Sink, K.J., Majiedt, P., Driver, A., in review. A robust, systematic approach for developing the biodiversity sector’s input for multi-sector Marine Spatial Planning. Ocean & Coastal Management.

Keith, D.A., Rodríguez, J.P., Rodríguez-Clark, K.M., Nicholson, E., Aapala, K., Alonso, A., Asmussen, M., Bachman, S., Basset, A., Barrow, E.G., Benson, J.S., Bishop, M.J., Bonifacio, R., Brooks, T.M., Burgman, M.A., Comer, P., Comín, F.A., Essl, F., Faber-Langendoen, D., Fairweather, P.G., Holdaway, R.J., Jennings, M., Kingsford, R.T., Lester, R.E., Nally, R.M., McCarthy, M.A., Moat, J., Oliveira-Miranda, M.A., Pisanu, P., Poulin, B., Regan, T.J., Riecken, U., Spalding, M.D., Zambrano-Martínez, S., 2013. Scientific Foundations for an IUCN Red List of Ecosystems. PLoS ONE 8, e62111.

Sink, K.J., Holness, S., Skowno, A.L., Franken, M., Majiedt, P.A., Atkinson, L.J., Bernard, A., Dunga, L.V., Harris, L.R., Kirkman, S.P., Oosthuizen, A., Porter, S., Smit, K., Shannon, L., 2019. Chapter 7: Ecosystem Threat Status, In South African National Biodiversity Assessment 2018 Technical Report Volume 4: Marine Realm. eds K.J. Sink, M.G. van der Bank, P.A. Majiedt, L.R. Harris, L.J. Atkinson, S.P. Kirkman, N. Karenyi. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12143/6372.

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