P Freon, Institute for Research Development Research Associate at MCM and UCT ; O.A. Westhuyzen, environmental consultant; D. Mather, Economics Department, Rhodes University
Executive Summary
A group of three people was asked to assess the Sea and the Coast Programme that had been running since 1995. They were asked to base their assessment on documentation provided on plans and progress and on attendance at the three-yearly Southern African Marine Science Symposium (SAMSS 2000) in November 1999.
In summary they found that the quality of the research was, on the whole, good but unequal. Weaker components (e.g. poor use of statistics, lack of modelling) could be ascribed to inadequate supervision of students that could be addressed, it was suggested, through targeted sabbaticals. There was good evidence that the findings of the programme were being transferred smartly to those who could benefit from them within the scientific community, the commercial and line fishing sector and mariculture. Regulations designed to apply these findings in the management of resources were not adequately enforced.
The number of important publications was impressive, albeit that more articles should be targeted at journals edited abroad. A large number of post-graduate students benefited from the programme and excellent progress had been made with corrective action. The available funding had been extremely well employed. The programme was delivering excellent value for money compared to any equivalent effort anywhere.
The four thrusts – Coastal Communities and Living Marine Resources, The Coast as a Resource, Offshore Living Marine Resources and Society, and Mariculture – into which the programme had been divided for organisational reasons, had developed well and had mostly achieved their scientific goals. The inclusion of human and social scientists had been disappointing, but not surprising and continues to pose a challenge for the future. Substantial contact with marginalised coastal communities was still disappointingly rare.
The programme was well balanced but a non-exclusive list of scientific issues which should be considered for additional attention in future research include: adding value to marine products, numerical modelling, coastal sediment dynamics, biological oceanography, global warming, marine pollution, and optimising the estuarine knowledge base for use by those responsible for their management. The workload of the senior members of the research community should be managed in such a way that they could fully write up and document their knowledge of the marine environment built up at considerable expense to the taxpayer.
The report also provides a globally positive analysis of the efficiency, effectiveness of the structure, management, administration, monitoring and marketing of the programme, in addition to some recommendations to improve it.
The marine research community as represented at SAMSS 2000 was vibrant and involved. Many students participated with confidence. The SAMSS remained an invaluable asset of the marine science community which should be used with great care to maintain and develop optimal co-ordination.
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