Regular beach goers will have noticed an increase in the amount of kelp washed up at high tide at certain locations – Kleinbaai beach opposite Ons Huisie restaurant being one in particular. The Editor wondered why municipal workers engaged in the clean-up, were bagging it in plastic bags and where it ended up. The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management, Alderman Grant Twigg provided the answer.
THE City does remove kelp from selected beaches due to the nuisance factor it can cause i.e. flies, stench, pedestrian obstruction etc. Urban Waste Management also removes it during exceptional circumstances when kelp wrack piles up in large amounts along our coastline and causes a nuisance, as happened with the unusually large swell we experienced about a month ago. The area that the City removes kelp from equates to approximately 1% of the total length of the City’s coastline. For the rest of the coastline we do not remove kelp because of the ecological role it plays, as well as its ability to elevate beach profiles and buffer dunes against high seas/coastal erosion.
The use of kelp for commercial purposes (composting) requires a permit in terms of the Marine Living Resource Act. Permits are issued by the National Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment. To the City’s knowledge there are three companies with permits in Cape Town at the moment – each allocated separate areas.
Kelp removed by the City of Cape Town is disposed of at landfill.
