The Dyer Island Conservation Trust team had a rather unusual, and noisy, guest these past few months. There are occasional strandings of sub-Antarctic fur seals and one was reported as coming ashore in Cape Agulhas. The seal was under weight and had a long gash on the shoulder. Xolani Lawo and Trudi Malan of the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary responded [...]
Worldwide Marine Month is celebrated every October and the theme for 2020 is: “Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean”. In South Africa we use this time to create awareness of our marine and coastal environment and the benefit that our oceans bring for the livelihood of our nation. The Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) and the Dyer Island Conservation Trust [...]
It is being reported that nurdles are washing up along the coastline so please keep a look out. Should you find any, please separate from other waste and place in a separate bag or container with details of where found and drop off at the Dyer Island Conservation Trust office at the Great White House, or at our key project, the [...]
The work of the environmentally conscious students of Global Leadership Adventures has given the Marine Dynamics/Dyer Island Conservation Trust team time to reflect on our penguin conservation projects and the reasons we built the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary. Over the past blogs we have tackled the issues of historical impacts on our African penguin populations, as well as marine pollution [...]
International Coastal Clean Up Day is a global movement started over thirty years ago by the Ocean Conservancy. This is a day when the concerned citizens of the world gather to clean the coastline of human generated trash. This trash and debris are documented for statistics to help identify the type of litter, possible sources, and motivate suggested changes for manufacturers [...]
In the third part of our student projects from Global Leadership Adventures, we touch on the topic of stranded penguins. These projects are designed to see how the students interpret the information and teach them new skills. Dyer Island Conservation Trust / Marine Dynamics are part of the Overberg Stranding Network and in Gansbaai are often the first port of call [...]
The Dyer Island Conservation Trust (DICT) was invited to speak to the younger students (age 6 to 9) at Generation School in Hermanus. Gerhard van der Merwe, a long term volunteer at DICT’s key project, the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary, arranged the talk and sponsored some penguin pendants for each child. Gerhard, together with Trust representative, Brenda Walters, taught the [...]
In the second part of our student projects from Global Leadership Adventures, we touch on the topic of marine pollution. The team of Dyer Island Conservation Trust / Marine Dynamics have a few projects aimed at addressing marine pollution. Our fishing line bin project has been in place since 2010 and stretches along the South African coastline. In 2019, we started [...]
Students from various states in America signed up for the online course offered by Global Leadership Adventures. With Covid-19 preventing the Marine Dynamics Academy from learning and working with students onsite, this was the first time the team of marine biologists took the work online and overall, the course was ranked very highly. Global Leadership Adventures conducts leadership programs with a [...]
In July 2020, a deceased green turtle (Chelonia mydas) washed up in the Gansbaai area, near the Die Gruis. CEO of Marine Dynamics, Wilfred Chivell, together with Hennie Otto collected the animal. A team from the Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation together with biologists from Marine Dynamics and the Dyer Island Conservation Trust dissected it in order to determine the cause [...]
