Assessment of the state of the estuaries of the Cape and Natal in 1985/86

Abstract

During a meeting of the South African National Committee for Oceanographic Research (SANCOR) Estuaries Programme Committee held on 12 and 13 October 1983 at San Lameer, Natal, consideration was given to a working paper on the freshwater requirements of South African estuaries. The working paper had been drawn up at the request of the Department of Water Affairs in the light of increasing concern about the effects of water extraction from rivers in catchment areas on the downstream environment, especially estuaries. The Department was seeking an acceptable balance between the water demands inland for agricultural, industrial and domestic purposes and the freshwater requirements of estuaries, if the latter were to be kept in a viable ecological (and hence also economic) condition