Aerial View of Vetch's Basin
The picture was taken during the demolition of the old North Pier and the construction of the new one.
It shows clearly the level of turbidity of the entire Vetch's Basin including on the reef itself.
Should the small craft harbour go ahead:
It shows clearly the level of turbidity of the entire Vetch's Basin including on the reef itself.
Should the small craft harbour go ahead:
- the entire beach will be filled in and concreted
- appartments will be built on an extension of the North Pier
- an outer sea wall - 5.5 meters above the sea level - will be built alongside the length of Vetch's Pier
- as well as a 24-storey hotel right next to the reef
- while the basin itself will undergo extensive dredging
This phase is expected to take ten to twelve years to complete, rendering the entire area a construction zone, out of bounds to the public.
The negative environmental effects all this will have on the beach and reef over such a long period, are too ghastly to contemplate.
The negative environmental effects all this will have on the beach and reef over such a long period, are too ghastly to contemplate.
The members of Durban Ski Boat Club, Durban Undersea Club and Point Yacht Club, who have all signed an agreement for the construction to commence, do not seem to have realized the effect it will have on their activities on the beach. How much diving will take place on the reef in this brown, murky slurry??
If this picture does not give them some indication of what will follow,
then nothing will ever wake them up from the deep coma they seem to be in.
Where is that high water mark again?
There are words on paper, specifying a high water mark - and then there is the reality of water flooding a beach, crashing over a promenade and into buildings, homes, garages and shops, lifting cement slabs as if they were grains of sand and folding up sheets of glass as if it were feathers.
The image was picked up from the blog on http://www.sailingcentral.net/
