The Government of South Africa to celebrate the 5th annual Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) on 1st August 2025 will launch an immensely powerful new tool consisting in new digital maps to navigate marine protected areas.
This move forms part of broader MPA day activities promoting sustainable ocean use, biodiversity protection, and marine tourism development, supported by the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation, a South African non-profit, public benefit organization founded in 2018, focused on inspiring people to take action for the ocean, and building connections between communities and the marine ecosystem.
The initiative aims to increase public compliance through awareness and is expected to benefit both resource users and conservation authorities.
The digital maps cover coastal MPAs within 40 nautical miles and use a traffic light system to indicate different activity zones.
Key rules for each area are summarised in bullet points, and with location services enabled, users can track their real – time position relative to MPA boundaries.
Developed by marine scientists Dr Bruce Mann and Dr Ryan Daly from the Oceanographic Research Institute, this new digital maps simplify complex descriptions from the Government Gazette into accessible, colour - coded visuals now available for free online via Google Earth indicating the specific areas in this way :
• Red - No - fishing restricted zones
• Orange - Pelagic game fishing zones / no bottom fishing
• Yellow - Catch – and – release zones
• Green - Control zones allowing most recreational activities
The new digital maps released to help the public, including to guide recreational and leisure users of South Africa's coast and ocean, particularly anglers and divers and active ocean sports enthusiasts, and to understand better the locations and regulations of South Africa's MPAs, learning which activities are not allowed and which are, and steps people can take to avoid infringing unknowingly.
MPAs represent areas of relevant ecological importances in the marine environment and are places in which biodiversity is legally protected, and activities are regulated to support the long-term health of marine systems.
The maps can be downloaded onto a cell phone or laptop. When the device's location services are on, users can see exactly where they are in relation to each MPA zone and what activities are permitted.
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