On Tuesday, 14 December 2010 at 09h00, Sappi and the Two Oceans Aquarium will launch the newly constructed Sappi Seal Platform in the yacht marina adjacent to the Aquarium.
The platform, which is in aid of the Cape fur seals in the V&A Waterfront, was made possible by funding raised by a live performance by internationally renowned singer and environmentalist Peter Sarstedt on 30 September 2010, and additional funding from Sappi.
Sarstedt visited South Africa as a guest of Sappi to help raise funds and awareness for various environmental conservation organisations with which Sappi is associated.
The platform, which has been a long-time dream of Two Oceans Aquarium Assistant Curator Claire Taylor and Assistant Technical Manager Vincent Calder, and Mike Meyer of Oceans & Coast (O&C), will assist them in their efforts to disentangle seals which have nooses or straps cutting into their necks.
These injuries are caused by the seals swimming into items such as fishing line, bait box straps, rope and raffia cord which have found their way into the water as a result of human negligence. If left unattended, the nooses get tighter and cut deeper into the flesh, causing serious and sometimes life-threatening wounds.
While the seal team has developed several methods, including snorkelling beneath the piers where affected seals bask in the sun and snipping the nooses, sometimes a seal is so badly injured that it is preferable to restrain the animal in order to cut the noose.
The platform will enable the team to “gate” an injured seal so that they can work more quickly and effectively with the animal.
“The platform not only considers the needs and behaviour of the seals, but also enables us to help these animals in the best possible way. The platform will also help us to educate visitors about seals and the pollution which is so harmful to them,” said Calder.
Sappi is one of the Aquarium’s founder partners and has sponsored the Sappi River Meander Exhibit since 1995. This exhibit highlights the value of water biodiversity and our natural waterways from source to sea.
“The Aquarium is grateful to Sappi for its support and for sharing in the Aquarium’s vision to ‘foster love, respect and understanding of our oceans to inspire support for their future well-being’,” said Two Oceans Aquarium Communications and Sustainability Manager Helen Lockhart.
“The new seal platform not only allows us to assist the seals, but also to spread a vital message: that our litter and carelessness can injure and even kill marine animals. We need to remember that whatever we do on land, we do to the oceans.”
“Litter is an increasingly pervasive problem across the planet. Sappi’s ‘War on Waste’ initiative urges people to ‘reduce, re-use and recycle’ as these actions not only reduce litter, and the related air and water pollution, but also create employment and business opportunities,” says Sappi Group Head: Corporate Affairs Andre Oberholzer. “Sappi also encourages consumers to ‘choose paper’, given that in 2009, 58% of all recoverable paper consumed in South Africa was recycled. Paper is made from a renewable resource and is also biodegradable.”
For more information about the harbour seal project and the launch of the Sappi Seal Platform contact:
Two Oceans Aquarium
Communications and Sustainability Manager
Helen Lockhart
Tel: +27 (0) 21 418 3823
Email: helen.lockhart@aquarium.co.za
For more information about Sappi contact:
Sappi Seal Platform Project Coordinator
Tim Neary
Tel: +27 (0) 83 656 7923
Email: tim@neary.co.za
