Many salt-water anglers, local tourism operators and sugar farmers cheered triumphantly when heavy earthmoving equipment ripped open the blocked river mouth of South Africa’s largest estuarine lake last month.
By re-opening the lake to the sea after a prolonged sand bar blockage, large volumes of saltwater began to re-enter the lake, while similar large volumes of freshwater flowed out to sea.
Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecy. (Photo: Gallo Images / Sowetan / Thulani Mbele)
But several estuarine and hydrology experts and environmental groups reacted with dismay to this artificial manipulation of ecological processes, demanding answers from Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecy about what they saw as a major blunder and inexplicable policy