SOUTH AFRICA FLIES THE BLUE FLAG!
A Blue Flag is an international award given to beaches that meet EXCELLENCE in the areas of safety, amenities, cleanliness and environmental standards. As South Africa enters it’s the ninth year of implementing Blue Flag, we can proudly say that our beaches are sustaining excellence in beach management and rate among the top beaches in the world.
South Africa is the first country outside Europe to win Blue Flag accreditation for its beaches.
For the 2009/10 season, 29 beaches were awarded Blue Flag status.   The number of beaches receiving Blue Flag accreditation has grown over this past season as more municipalities enter the programme and existing municipalities add in more Blue Flag beaches.  One of the greatest challenges for South African Blue Flag beaches, is to meet the water quality requirements.  All Blue Flag beaches have their water tested every 2 weeks and the quality has to meet international standards. 
 
All Blue Flag beaches are subjected to control checks to ensure that the standards are being met.  Within the four main areas of management, there are 27 criteria by which a beach is assessed for compliance.  In many cases, control checks are unannounced visits by the Blue Flag programme management which is coordinated by the staff within WESSA.
Since the start of the 2009-10 Blue Flag season, 3 beaches that had previously been accredited with Blue Flag status have had their status withdrawn.    Big Bay beach at Bloubergstrand had Blue Flag status withdrawn as a result of the problems being caused as a result of water flowing onto the beach and saturating the sand, causing at times, a carpet of green algae to be found on the sand.   This flow of water is apparently linked to the large-scale developments in the back beach area which seem to have changed the hydrology of the area, now resulting in groundwater or water below the surface of the dunes, from seeping onto the beach.  The City of Cape Town has reverted back to pilot Blue Flag status in order to allow time to study and hopefully resolve these news issues at the beach.

Gonubie beach at East London and Alkantstrand at Richards Bay, have both had their Blue Flag status withdrawn owing to failure of the beach management to meet the imperative criteria of Blue Flag.   All 3 of these beaches were new beaches to the Blue Flag programme this season.

Current Blue Flag beaches in South Africa as of March 2010:- MacDougall's Bay , Port Nolloth (new), Yzerfontein Main Beach, Yzerfontein (new),, Clifton 4th beach (Cape Town), Camps Bay (Cape Town), Muizenberg (Cape Town), Strandfontein beach (Cape Town), Mnandi beach (Cape Town), Bikini beach (Gordon's Bay), Kleinmond beach (near Hermanus), Hawston beach (near Hermanus), Grotto beach (Hermanus), Lappiesbaai (Stilbaai, Southern Cape), Santos beach (Mossel Bay), Hartenbos beach (Mossel Bay), Robberg 5 beach (Plettenberg Bay), Dolphin beach (Jeffrey's Bay), Humewood beach (Port Elizabeth), Hobie beach (Port Elizabeth), Wells Estate (north of Port Elizabeth), Kelly's beach (Port Alfred), Kariega Main beach (Kenton-on-Sea), Boknes beach (Kenton-on-Sea), Trafalgar beach (South Coast KZN), Marina beach (South Coast KZN ), Ramsgate beach(near Margate), Margate beach, Kariega, Boknes (Port Alfred)
(click here for MAP and to see which beaches are still flying the flag in the current Blue Flag season )

What does Blue Flag do for YOU?
The Blue Flag assures you that the beaches are clean, safe and environmentally friendly. The award also helps to educate the community about the need to care for our coastline. Blue Flag promotes one of South Africa's national treasures, our magnificent coast.
The Blue Flag campaign is proving highly successful and there has been a significant increase in response from local authorities wishing to implement the campaign. The number of beaches entering the campaign as pilot is indicative of the growing interest in Blue Flag in this country.

The pilot Blue Flag beaches that are working towards full Blue Flag accreditation for the next season, are:-
St Michaels, Lucien, Trafalgar, Umzumbe, Cannon Rocks, Pollock (Port Elizabeth).
How is the Blue Flag awarded?
The Blue Flag is awarded to beaches that comply with the Blue Flag criteria and there are four main areas:
•    water quality
•    environmental education & information
•    environmental management
•    safety and services.

In South Africa the Blue Flag season runs for a full year from 1/11 to 31/10 the next year for beaches from East London northwards. For other beaches, the length of the season varies from beach to beach:  some for 6 months and others on the cold West Coast, only running a 4 week season during the main summer holiday season.  
Blue Flag is managed by the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) in partnership with the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) and participating local municipalities.  The Blue Flag campaign is one of several programmes implemented by the South African government under the Coastcare project.

... more on the Blue Flag Campaign at  www.blueflag.org.za 
For further details contact:
National Blue Flag Program Manager
Alison Kelly
Tel: 033-3303931 ext 135 (Alison) and ext 132 (Sheivine).
PO Box 394, Howick 3290
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BLUE FLAG NEWS

  BLUE FLAG WORKSHOP FEEDBACK
At the annual Blue Flag workshop held recently in Plettenberg Bay, municipalities discussed the implications of the new ICM legislation as well as risk issues relating to lifesaving.   It was quite sobering for the group to visit the area where Lookout beach (previously a Blue Flag beach) was previously.  Through floods and high seas, the beach and all its infrastructure (ablutions, pathways, etc) no longer exist.  Nature has taken back this stretch of coast!
 

 DOWNLOADS:

National Programme Evaluation [3MB]