Barbara Thomson Like many other coastal areas in South Africa, East London and Port Elizabeth are also important centres of industrial manufacturing and economic development. East London and Port Elizabeth, with three commercial ports in total, are intricately connected to, and dependent on, the surrounding ocean as a resource. However, these developments, and indeed coastal development in general, must also be balanced with the need to ensure the health and integrity of our coastal and oceanic resources. Our oceans are under threat from pollution from both land-based activities and sea-based activities. The entire oceanic ecosystem is exposed to a wide range of pollution sources, such as illegal dumping practices, spillages from ships, waste disposal from port dredging operations and mining operations, and the discharge of sewage, storm water, agricultural run-off and marine litter from land-based sources. Our oceans are sadly becoming a major sink for these pollutants, and cannot be expected to assimilate all the pollutants without consequence. It is becoming well known that most of the marine waste generated comes from what we do on land. Marine litter, nutrients, sewage, industrial effluent and storm-water runoff are impacting the services that our oceans provide and this negatively affects our oceans economy or the potential revenue that can be generated from our ocean amenities. A sectoral approach is needed to find ways of improving the management of the various waste streams threatening our coast and ocean space. For key sources of pollution such as effluent disposal and the dumping of waste from ships at sea, we have established a strict permitting system to ensure such activities are carefully controlled and in line with international obligations. With regard to the management of coastal water quality in general, South Africa subscribes to the position that our coastal waters must be “fit for use” – in other words, water pollution must be managed according to the unique needs of those users who come into contact with our coastal waters. Since 2012, we have been working hard to develop new coastal water quality guidelines that are tailored to protect the various uses of our coast, such as contact recreation, aquaculture, industrial extraction and the natural environment in its own right. While carrying out this important research, it is been astounding to note how many new toxic substances have been invented over the past two decades. As we become more modernised and consumer-based, so too will we generate new substances and materials,…