The 2025 National Biodiversity Assessment identified key marine ecosystems, species and benefits at risk, and knowledge gaps limiting the assessment. Priority actions to safeguard ocean life and livelihoods were co-developed in collaboration with knowledge holders and decision makers. Advancing these priority actions can help to improve the state of marine biodiversity and maintain its many benefits to South Africans.
Knowledge progress and gaps
During the assessment of threat status and protection level of marine ecosystems and species, many research gaps emerged that limit the assessment of marine biodiversity. The 2018 assessment also identified knowledge gaps and progress against these research priorities1 was briefly evaluated (Table / Box x). Persistent research priorities span foundational marine biodiversity research at the ecosystem, species and genetic level, to applied research for improving our understanding of the impacts of key pressures on ecological condition. New research priorities include the need for increased social science in the marine realm particularly to track progress in equitable protection (Ecosystem protection level).
Priority actions
Drawing from the key findings of this assessment, a number of priority actions were co-developed to improve the state of marine biodiversity in South Africa (Sink et al. 2023, Rylands et al. 2025, van der Bank et al. 2025). More than 70 individual actions were co-developed and these were classified into ten broad thematic areas of action with more detailed recommended steps and indicators for each action in order to track progress.
Enable participation in ocean planning, assessment and management to support a whole-of-society approach for effective ocean governance. This can be advanced through robust and inclusive stakeholder processes, strengthened capacity for social process across institutions and innovations in industry and community partnerships.
Establish a National Ocean People’s Forum through which government institutions can actively engage indigenous peoples, traditional leaders, traditional healers, small-scale fishers (including women and youth) and traditional knowledge holders on matters related to ocean planning and decision-making.
Indigenous knowledge working group/s established and guideline developed to support the inclusion of indigenous knowledge in ocean assessment, planning and decision making.
Co-develop a national small-scale fisheries priority areas map to represent the spatial interests of this vulnerable sector in national planning and decision making processes.
Ensure that at least 50% of South Africa’s marine protected areas have established and active local MPA Fora.
Simplify , strengthen and co-ordinate institutional and sectoral arrangements, relationships and frameworks to enable a whole-of government approach for effective and efficient ocean governance. This can be advanced through improved coordination and cooperative governance and, integrated spatial planning MSP).
Progress cross-sectoral biodiversity prioritisation (working with heritage, fisheries and tourism) to support implementation of integrated biodiversity-inclusive marine spatial planning.
Ensure marine biodiversity priorities are reflected in the screening tool that supports environmental impact assessments.
Review marine inter-governmental and cross-sectoral working groups and task teams to clarify, simplify and streamline workstreams.
Avoid, reduce and manage industrial impacts on marine biodiversity through effective Marine Spatial Planning, strengthened mitigation and restoration (including water quality and underwater noise), and strategic mainstreaming within key production sectors.
Mainstream Critical Biodiversity Areas and Sea-Use guidelines within production sectors and ensure that these are included in screening tools used for Environmental Impact Assessments (A2).
Leverage resources and research capacity for improved understanding of the impacts of underwater noise and cumulative impacts on marine biodiversity so that these can be accounted for in biodiversity(A2) assessments, Marine Spatial Planning and mining authorizations.
Pilot at least one innovative finance tool in South Africa which demonstrates how industrial sectors can fund marine conservation rehabilitation (Porri) / restoration (e.g., marine biodiversity offsets, polluter pay).
The Offshore Environment Forum is reconvened with inclusion of shipping, heritage and coastal communities.
South Africa needs to ensure sufficient fresh water is allocated and received by the marine realm and connect multiple initiatives to improve water quality.
Lead department established to coordinate and ensure that flow requirements for fluvially dependent marine ecosystems and resources are determined and secured.
Method for determining flow requirements is officially accepted and adopted as a standard protocol.
Priority catchments are identified and communicated in next NBA.
Marine flow requirements recognised in legislation and integrated into water resource management, coastal management and living resource management processes.
Strengthen ecosystem-based fisheries management through reviews and updates to ecological risk assessments and the development and implementation of effective fisheries management plans, fisheries mainstreaming and marine resource stewardship initiatives.
Develop and implement Fisheries management plans for each fishing sector to ensure ecological sustainability for long term economic sustainability. These must ensure resource (target species) sustainability, include bycatch and habitat management objectives (where applicable) and, climate change considerations and address the human dimension of fisheries.
Review Ecological Risk Assessments and identify key steps to avoid and mitigate ecosystem risks.
Bycatch management strategy developed and implemented to improve sustainability, reduce inter-sector conflict and support fair fisheries.
Twenty percent (20%) reduction in illegal harvesting of abalone (Haliotus midae) by 2030 to support resource recovery efforts.
Reform recreational fisheries management to improve fisheries sustainability and enable holistic management and equitable resource sharing across fishing sectors.
Amend recreational fisheries policy to facilitate rapid regulatory changes (size limit, bag limit, closed season, prohibited species) to ensure timely responses to critical resource issues.
Amend recreational fisheries policy to earmark a proportion of recreational angling license funding for recreational fisheries monitoring, compliance, assessment and stakeholder engagement (through the establishment of a representative peak body) to ensure these essential governance activities are sufficiently funded.
Co-develop an appropriate transdisciplinary recreational fisheries monitoring strategy to effectively address the lack of catch and effort data in the fishery.
Co-develop a multifaceted (normative and instrumental) recreational fisheries compliance strategy with stakeholders to effectively address high levels of non-compliance.
Catalyse research and monitoring to address critical social and natural science knowledge gaps that limit the assessment and collaborative management of marine biodiversity, the identification of joint solutions and decision-making for a sustainable oceans economy.
Co-develop social science indicators to track progress in participation and equitable protection Identify and map noise sensitive species and ecosystems so that these can be better included in biodiversity assessment and spatial prioritisations and planning.
Secure dedicated resources and capacity to advance Red List assessments of marine species. Update and improve marine pressure layers for improved biodiversity assessment and ocean decision making.
Groundtruth South Africa’s ecosystem condition map in at least two new ecosystem functional groups.
Improved understanding of the impacts of cumulative pressures and how to account for these in biodiversity assessments.
Pilot at least one participatory and interdisciplinary small-scale fisheries monitoring initiative in South Africa (preferably for near shore resources).
Establish long term monitoring programmes in MPAs to monitor effectiveness of management interventions and to use MPAs to their potential as reference sites.
Genetic monitoring of fishery resources initiated.
Standardised monitoring programmes for marine invasive species, and citizen science research to improve early detection.
Invest in data science capacity and infrastructure to ensure effective data pipelines that integrate and update strategic analyses in a transparent way to support informed ocean decision-making. Strengthened capacity and infrastructure is needed for all organisations tasked with mapping, assessing, monitoring, and providing indicators and data products that inform management of marine biodiversity, fisheries and the ocean.
New knowledge products are developed to support ocean decision making.
Data managers, data scientists and spatial analysts are part of the staff complement of organizations tasked with mapping, assessing, monitoring, and providing indicators and data products that inform management of marine biodiversity, fisheries and the ocean.
Researchers and key staff are trained in relevant data science tools, data standards and reproducible workflows.
Organisational data infrastructure, IT policies and capacity are enabling for effective database storage, curation and data sharing.
FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data principles and reproducible science workflows are prioritised.
Improve marine protection through more diverse and inclusive conservation models, improved social process and innovative finance; progress in co-management and steps to address critical capacity shortfalls and restorative action. Persistent barriers to effective protection must be overcome and key lessons in this process should be applied in future expansion efforts.
Organisations tasked with design, implementation and management of marine protected and conserved areas and spatial fisheries management have capacity for social science research, social learning facilitation and community development.
Ensure that all MPAs have clear and specific objectives that encompass both biodiversity conservation and socio-economic considerations, which will require retrospective reviews for MPAs with unclear purposes.
A formal definition, common understanding, and practical framework for co-management in an MPA-specific context is co-developed.
At least one small-scale fishing zone is co-designed and implemented and explored for recognition as an OECM with leadership from small-scale fishers. This can provide protection to fishers’ tenure rights and livelihoods whilst safeguarding vulnerable fishers, marine ecosystems and cultural heritage.
Pilot sustainable innovative finance mechanism to support long-term comprehensive operational funding for MPAs and incentivise local stewardship by indigenous people, youth and local communities.
Capacity for monitoring, surveillance and compliance in and around MPAs is improved through adequate funding, new partnerships and innovative technology.
Offshore protection levels improve for slope ecosystem types.
Diversify and improve the communication of marine biodiversity data (values and benefits, risks, usage), and mainstream biodiversity into key production sectors (especially fisheries). This will enable better understanding of the value of marine biodiversity and its contribution to the economy.
A new product is co-developed to make the case for the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries.
Communication efforts are underway to reduce the risk of marine invasives.
Marine needs identified and communicated to Statistics South Africa to support data collection for new statistics that support effective communication of the value of marine biodiversity to the economy.
First set of marine and coastal natural capital accounts published.
Economic growth is intrinsically linked to environmental benefits, and studies have shown that environmental degradation can have far reaching implications for economic activity and human health (Acheampong & Opoku, 2023). The System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) Central Framework (United Nations et al., 2014) was adopted in 2012 as the international standard for developing environmental economic accounts that organises and presents statistics on the environment and its relationship with the economy.
Natural Capital Accounting, developed under the SEEA Central Framework, is an approach to quantify the value of natural resources and ecosystem services to the wealth of a country by allowing for the inclusion of environmental assets and their associated ecosystem services provided to the economy (Costanza et al., 1997, 2011; Stebbings et al., 2021).
Through the application of NCA in the marine and coastal realm, the value and contribution of marine and coastal ecosystems can be communicated in direct terms that link to the current System of National Accounts, illustrating the linkages and dependencies that exist between existing and future economic activities. For example, by linking the results of the NBA to maps of marine and coastal Ecological Infrastructure, NCA accounts can be developed to valuate and communicate the benefits from functional biodiversity in the availability and delivery of ecosystem services such as climate change mitigations, adaptation and resilience.
Invest in the multiple opportunities for scaling up integrated climate action through inclusive choices that prioritise risk reduction, equity and justice.
Catalyse national monitoring and mapping of coastal climate stressors, including temperature anomalies, coastal acidification (pH), hypoxia, and erosion.
Include climate change data into ecosystem risk assessments.
Promote conservation, rehabilitation, and protection of climate-buffering natural capital ecosystems, including both blue carbon vegetated habitats and biogenic carbonate systems (e.g., shellfish and coralline habitats).
Strengthen environmental and energy policy implementation to support ecosystem-based and low-emission development pathways, including improved coordination of renewable energy transitions, plastic pollution reduction (aligned with the Global Plastics Treaty), and nature-based climate solutions.
Climate Change Adaptation Response Plan for South Africa’s Coastal Sector (CARP; work underway).
Approach
Priority actions
Drawing from the key findings of this assessment, more than 70 priority actions were co-developed to improve the condition of marine ecosystems and species, and to safeguard the many benefits they provide. To inform these actions, a series of science–policy-society engagements were held, bringing together researchers, decision-makers, civil society and knowledge holders (with a particular focus on coastal communities) to review research evidence and jointly co-develop recommendations to address key findings, identified risks and key pressures on South Africa’s marine biodiversity (Sink et al. 2023, Rylands et al. 2025, van der Bank et al. 2025). From the more than 70 priority actions, a set of 10 key overarching priority actions were distilled with recommended sub-actions which if implemented could make marine biodiversity better in the water. Drawing from the more specific recommended actions, specific and measurable indicators of progress per action were co-developed.
Technical documentation
Key publications
Rylands S, Sink KJ, van der Bank MG, Dunga LV, Bull L, Hambile N, Shibe S. 2025. Co-developing Management and Policy Actions in Support of Improved Marine Biodiversity in South Africa. Science to Policy Workshop Report and Draft Priority Actions for the 2025 National Biodiversity Assessment. Cape Town, South Africa. 22 pp.
Sink KJ, Harris LR, van der Bank MG, Franken M, Skowno A, Driver A, Atkinson LJ, Fairweather TP, Kerwath S, Majiedt PA, Robinson T, Pfaff M, Rikhotso W, Smith C, van Niekerk L. 2019. Chapter 11: Key findings, priority actions and knowledge gaps. In: Sink KJ, van der Bank MG, Majiedt PA, Harris LR, Atkinson LJ, Kirkman SP, Karenyi N (eds). 2019. South African National Biodiversity Assessment 2018 Technical Report Volume 4: Marine Realm. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12143/6372
Sink K, van der Bank M, Atkinson A, Karenyi N, Skein L, Adams L, Subramoney A, McQuaid K, Morgera E, Sloterdijk H, Dunga L, Shannon L, Rodrigues JC and Sousa Pinto I. 2023. Advancing Marine Ecosystem Based Management at the Science Policy Society Interface. A report from a science-policy workshop, Kirstenbosch, August 2023. 26pp.
Acknowledgements
Sincere appreciation to the 123 individuals who actively participated in the three engagements held to co-develop priority actions for improved ecosystem based management in South Africa.
Recommended citation
Sink, K.J., Van der Bank, M.G., Majiedt, P., Dunga, L.V., Mzimela, N.Z., Currie, J.C., Besseling, N.A., Rylands, S., Shibe, S., Karenyi, N., Kerwath, S.E., Kirkman, S.P., Farthing, M.W., Porri, F., Adams, L.A., & Atkinson, L.J. 2025. Knowledge gaps, priority actions and priority areas: Marine realm. National Biodiversity Assessment 2025. South African National Biodiversity Institute. http://nba.sanbi.org.za/.
References
1. Sink, K.J. et al. 2019.
Chapter 8: Ecosystem protection level. In Sink, K.J. et al. (eds),: 325–367. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, South Africa.
