South Coast scores in Blue Flag gold standard beaches

While 48 beaches in South Africa achieved Blue Flag status, none of the beaches in eThekwini has the international gold standard for quality beaches.

The Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (Wessa) this week hosted the Blue Flag and Green Coast Awards, celebrating the country's outstanding beaches, marinas and sustainable tourism operators.

Forty-eight beaches, four marinas and seven tourism boats were recognised for meeting the highest environmental management, education, safety, accessibility, and sustainability standards, earning them the esteemed eco-labels. This year’s awards also acknowledged the efforts of 18 pilot beaches, highlighting their progress in striving for Blue Flag status.

A highlight of this year’s awards includes the recognition of Pennington Beach in Umdoni Municipality on the KZN South Coast, which has been newly awarded Blue Flag status.

To earn a Blue Flag there are 33 stringent criteria to meet, ranging from water quality to environmental education, accessibility and visitor facilities.

In the Blue Flag programme, seven are on the KZN South Coast: Marina, Trafalgar, Southport, Umzumbe, Ramsgate, Hibberdene and Pennington. Five ‒ Rocky Bay, Preston, Mtwalume, Scottburgh and St Michaels ‒ retained Blue Flag pilot status.

On the North Coast in KwaDukuza, Blythedale and Thompson Bay have Blue Flag status. The pilot sites are Tugela Mouth and Dokodweni.

eThekwini Municipality communications manager Mduduzi Ncalane said none of the city's beaches had Blue Flag status.

“In the 2020/2021 season, eThekwini had five full Blue Flag beaches: uShaka, Point, Toti Main, uMhlanga Main and North Beach. Additionally, seven beaches held pilot Blue Flag status: Umgababa, South, Anstey’s, Brighton, Bronze, and Umdloti. The loss of Blue Flag status was primarily due to challenges with water quality and ageing infrastructure.

“Currently, out of 23 bathing beaches, 21 are open, while Anstey’s and Reunion beaches are closed due to high E. coli levels. For eThekwini beaches, water quality is monitored twice a month (every 14 days).”

Ncalane said the city’s challenges with water quality and ageing infrastructure had hindered the application for Blue Flag status, adding that a new application would be considered once infrastructure improvements and additional safety and security measures, including increased security along the coastline, were in place.

Morgan Griffiths, Wessa’s senior manager for advocacy, membership and governance, said this year four additional KZN beaches were awarded from the previous season.

“The loss of Blue Flag status signals significant problems with beach management or devastating storm damage, and this has negative reputational impact for that particular beach. This can deter visitors/tourists, with the knock-on economic impact. An example of this is what happened when eThekwini lost its Durban Blue Flag Beaches in 2021,” said Griffiths.

Griffiths said poor water quality was a significant negative factor.

“It is crucial that Blue Flag beaches comply with strict international criteria, one of which is the quality of bathing water. Due to the increase in electricity outages, ageing infrastructure and failed sanitation systems in South Africa over the past season, the Blue Flag national jury found it necessary to implement stricter water quality criteria,” said Griffiths.

KwaDukuza Municipality corporate communications director Sifiso Zulu said the Blue Flag status awarded to KwaDukuza beaches was a prestigious international recognition, and achieving this status brought several benefits for KwaDukuza, such as tourism boost.

Zulu said KwaDukuza Municipality had in the past few years rolled out beach infrastructure upgrades focusing on revamping the boardwalks, refurbishing ablution blocks, upgrading the amphitheatre and buying new equipment for lifeguards.

“During the 2023/2024 season three beaches were downgraded from a full Blue Flag status to a pilot status (Thompson Bay, Blythedale Beach and Willard Beach). This happens when not all the criteria are met. Water quality was a major contributing factor because of a number of sewer spills experienced during the testing period. Water contamination was due to infrastructure failures on the part of the Siza water lines and natural disasters such as heavy rains and floods,” he said.

Zulu said all beaches on the North Coast were open.

South Coast Tourism and Investment Enterprise (SCTIE) CEO Dr Vusumuzi Sibiya said the KZN South Coast was proud to have retained its position of having the highest number of Blue Flag beaches in the province.

“This bodes extremely well for the festive season, with the South Coast anticipating a high number of tourists looking for a quality destination. Our beaches are one of the region’s biggest tourist attractions and a significant contributor to the local tourism economy. Alongside the work being done by municipalities, initiatives such as Tidy Towns and Keep Scottburgh Beautiful have bolstered beach cleanliness and safety.

“The region also has two long-standing Blue Flag beaches: Trafalgar Beach earned a certificate for 15 consecutive years in the programme and Marina Beach celebrates 21 consecutive years in the programme,” said Sibiya.