City celebrates the power of Marine Protected Areas

01 August 2025

The City of Cape Town’s Environmental Management Department will be participating in this year’s World Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day celebrations on Saturday, 2 August 2025, from 09:30 to 12:30 at the Helderberg MPA. The theme for this year is 'Ocean protection needs human connection' and will include a guided biodiversity and photography walk followed by a beach clean-up

‘The City has several Marine Protected Areas along Cape Town’s highly sensitive and dynamic coastline. These are an important part of our natural heritage and offer economic, social and environmental benefits to us all, thus they require dedicated and careful management,’ said the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.

The City of Cape Town is the designated management authority for the Helderberg MPA which lies between the Lourens River Mouth to the east and the Eerste River mouth to the west and extends 500m offshore. It is dominated by sandy beaches with mobile dune systems, while offshore habitats comprise rocky reefs, kelp beds, sandy soft-sediment and pelagic environments.

‘At the Helderberg MPA, the City is focussed on Summer and Winter fish tagging, which provides us with important information on the life cycles, migration patterns and longevity of tagged fish. We are also working on ensuring that coastal seabirds and other coastal wildlife remain undisturbed in this area and we ask that people keep their dogs out of the MPA as well as refrain from any form of fishing there,’ said Alderman Andrews.

The City’s approach to protecting the coast from natural and man-made threats is mapped out in the Integrated Coastal Management Policy.

Saturday’s guided biodiversity walk will be guided on paths that are formed and safe along the Helderberg MPA. For more information and to get involved visit the MPA Day website on this link.

High resolution photographs taken at Helderberg MPA are available here.

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office