The South African Institution of Civil Engineering has launched its new marine division, which will act as a forum for members in the marine environment to exchange ideas for the betterment of the sector.

“The division must work towards enabling competent institutions that can either do [marine-related] work themselves or are competent enough to specify the work and appoint consulting engineers and contractors,” said consulting coastal and harbour engineer Keith Mackie, speaking at the official inauguration of the division last week.

Ensuring that special skills were available for working on the sea and the seashore would be an important function for the new division, said Mackie, adding that South Africa had strong environmental legislation for coastal management and environmental departments.

He noted that South Africa’s Integrated Coastal Zone Management Act gave a considerable amount of attention to the shoreward side of the seashore, but little to the seaward side.

Mackie believed this was a weakness that needed to be rectified, as he maintained that people had the same right to access the sea in the same way that they had access to the seashore. He noted that, on South African shores, this was near impossible without engineering intervention.

“Of all the issues on the coast, the greatest challenge facing our new division is that of local authorities with exposure to the seashore. With the exception of Durban, none have any real capacity to manage their coastlines,” he said.

Mackie believed the issue was not only limited to the need for qualified engineers, but also whole departments and artisans, in particular, who were needed to work full time on coastal management.

He pointed out that Cape Town, in the Western Cape, had the longest coastline in the country and no dedicated department to discharge the responsibility.

“Smaller towns cannot be expected to maintain any permanent capacity beyond an artisan or two. Provincial departments need to assist these towns,” he concluded.