Welcome to the online home for South Africa’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
This website was created to showcase the MPAs of South Africa and to share the animals and ecosystems they protect and the benefits they provide to South Africans.
Information and photographs were compiled by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), the Oceans & Coasts Branch of the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and through collaborative research conducted through the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded projects with the African Coelacanth Ecosystem Program (ACEP). The design for the MPA network declared in 2019 is based on 12 years of marine biodiversity research and spatial planning in South Africa’s oceans.
“In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.”