Tidal Warriors make their stand

Local snorkelling tourism organisation, Tidal Tao has rallied the Ballito community to get passionate about the rich diversity of marine life found on our coastline.

‘Tidal Warriors’ has been running for just one month, but is made up of a team of seven individuals from the Ballito community committed to studying the different species resident on the Ballito coast in order to monitor the health of varying fish, crustacean, mollusc and coral species in our shallows.

“We could very realistically be losing marine species before we even know they exist, right here on our doorstep,” said Michy Morris, founder of Tidal Tao and one of the minds behind Tidal Warriors, who said that knowing what species live on our coastline is an important step in the effort to conserve it.

The team of eco-warriors is still growing in membership as Morris hopes to recruit as many people as possible to this engaging coastal cause.

“Our approach is slightly different as we want locals to get involved – people from the North Coast collecting data and information on our coastline and regularly feeding this information into scientific databases,” said Morris, who believes this “citizen science” is critical to identifying different marine species and the trends threatening their existence.

The team plans to meet every springtide on a Saturday to spend a few hours snorkeling in the water in order to collect data, cut away tangled fishing line and clear litter in a community effort to maintain the health of our local ecosystem.

Morris said that one new species recently discovered off the coast of Ballito is the ‘elegant pipefish’ and that 12 new species of nudibranch have also recently been found.

“It is so exciting to have such diversity of life right here on our doorstep and we would like to make people aware of the beauty and fragility of life to be found here on the North Coast,” said Morris.

Tidal Warriors is on a mission to educate the community on the wonders of our natural marine ecosystem and the unchecked human activities contributing to its destruction.

Morris said that illegal activity such as the capture of tropical fish species for private aquariums without a permit is the very thing negatively affecting the largely unknown world of our local shallows and rock pools.

Tidal Warriors will be running workshops with the public and school environmental groups in order to teach them what to look for when in the water and to train them on how to collect data that can be used by the scientific community.

“What we desperately need are more members from the local community to help us collect data, but we also require assistance with funding for more equipment, especially underwater cameras, wetsuits and other gear which can be used by our educational projects,” said Morris.

Tidal Warriors will have their next meeting at 8.30am on Saturday, August 15 at the Villa Royale parking area on Barrier Drive in Sheffield Beach and Morris hopes more enthusiastic ‘citizen scientists’ will join their ranks in the fight for our coastal ecosystem.

If you are interested in joining the community conservationists at their next meeting then contact Michy Morris on 079 307 0608 or email her at snorkel@tidaltao.com.