South Africa has been awarded 44 Blue Flag status sites for 2017 – down 14 from the previous year.

Blue Flag is an international annual award which focuses on the environmental management of our coastline and coastal waters to help tourism growth and development.

Although it’s a voluntary eco-label, it’s become an international symbol of quality for beaches, boats and marinas that meet a standard of excellence in the areas of safety, amenities, cleanliness, environmental information and environmental management.

Speaking at an announcement ceremony on Wednesday, Minister of Tourism, Tokozile Xasa applauded the 44 beaches that have obtained full Blue Flag status along with 11 sustainable boats and seven marinas.

“We are re-awarding Blue Flag status to some of the beaches that lost their blue flag status in the 2016/17 season.  I would like to attribute this achievement to the Department’s Blue Flag Beach Steward project which place young people on these beaches to maintain their Blue Flag standards,” said Xasa.

“The coastal and marine tourism sector will contribute about R21.4 billion to the GDP and create about 116,000 direct jobs by 2026, thus reducing poverty, inequality and unemployment, while contributing to sustainable livelihoods and development.

These estimates are conservative as they are growing from a low 2015 base of R11.9 billion direct contribution to GDP and 64,400 direct jobs.”

28 beaches were awarded the title in the Western Cape‚ followed by nine in KwaZulu-Natal and seven in the Eastern Cape. A further 22 beaches were named as “pilot sites”, indicating that they were currently working towards full accreditation.

Only Humewood Beach in Port Elizabeth and Grotto Beach in Hermanus have retained a place on the list since it first started in 2000.

Blue Flag Beaches in South Africa

Beach	Region	Municipality
Marina	KwaZulu-Natal	Ray Nkonyeni
Trafalgar	KwaZulu-Natal	Ray Nkonyeni
Lucien	KwaZulu-Natal	Ray Nkonyeni
Southport	KwaZulu-Natal	Ray Nkonyeni
Umzumbe	KwaZulu-Natal	Ray Nkonyeni
Ramsgate	KwaZulu-Natal	Ray Nkonyeni
Hibberdene	KwaZulu-Natal	Ray Nkonyeni
Westbrook	KwaZulu-Natal	Ethekwini
Ushaka	KwaZulu-Natal	Ethekwini

A little Dutch courage could be the key to helping travellers speak the local lingo, according to new research.

A study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology exploring the “popular belief that alcohol improves the ability to speak in a foreign language” found that booze has a positive impact on people’s grasp of foreign pronunciation.
Researchers used 50 native German speakers who recently learned Dutch, providing some with a “low dose of alcohol” matched to their weight and others with an alcohol-free control drink. Each then took part in a casual two-minute discussion in Dutch with observers who rated their language skills. The participants were also asked to rate their own linguistics.


The scientists found that those who had consumed alcohol were handed “significantly” better ratings from the observers compared with those who did not. “However, alcohol has no effect on self-ratings,” the report found.

The evidence showed that despite pronunciation improving, grammar, vocabulary and argumentation were similar between both groups.

The researchers, who came from the University of Liverpool, Maastricht University and King’s College London, said more studies were needed to identify the exact effects alcohol has on speaking foreign languages.

“We need to be cautious about the implication of these results until we know more about what causes the observed results,” they wrote. “One possible mechanism could be anxiety-reducing effect of alcohol.”

A 1972 study along a similar theme found that low doses of alcohol improved American’s pronunciation of Thai words. The authors found that it was possible the drink could reduce “language anxiety”.

Transport Canada is planning to stop evaluating pilots who perform checks on their counterparts at the country’s largest airlines and will instead give the responsibility to the operators, a change critics say erodes oversight and public safety.

Documents show Transport Canada made the decision in May when the House of Commons transport committee was reviewing aviation safety and subsequently recommended more on-site inspections generally of the airline industry instead of paper audits.

A risk assessment document and an internal letter from Transport Canada’s director of national operations for civil aviation were obtained under an access to information request by the Canadian Federal Pilots Association, the bargaining agent for about 450 pilots, most of whom work for the federal government.

Transport Canada’s evaluators test so-called check pilots for the large airlines, who in turn evaluate the pilots in their own organizations.

The letter says the changes will take place April 1 for airlines with planes that fly more than 50 passengers.


The accompanying risk assessment acknowledges Canada is moving away from the mainstream practices used in other countries.

“It could be argued that Canada’s experience and relative maturity with systems-based surveillance will adequately complement this shift of responsibilities … and therefore mitigate any concerns other states or trade associations may have with response to such a departure from globally accepted practices,” the risk-assessment document says.

Canada is one of over 190 members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and has agreed to follow its recommended practices, including evaluating pilots twice a year.

Greg McConnell, chairman of the pilots association, said the changes are pushing Canada’s aviation safety system onto the industry itself.

“I think it’s very, very important that people understand we are getting closer to self-regulation all the time.” he said in an interview. “It’s just more cutting, more dismantling of the safety net.”

The risk assessment says Transport Canada is having a problem hiring and retaining properly qualified inspectors. A spokesman with the pilots association said none of its inspectors will likely lose their job because of the changes.

The documents say transferring the responsibility is a “low risk.”

Transport Minister Marc Garneau and officials in his department weren’t available for an interview. The department says in an email it is focusing its oversight on areas of greater risk.

“Data has demonstrated that over the past five years, approved check pilots have had a very low failure rate (less than 0.2 per cent) when being monitored by Transport Canada. The department is confident that approved check pilots are exercising their delegation of authority properly,” it says.

Conservative MP Kelly Block, a vice-chair on the Commons transport committee, said she’s concerned the changes weren’t brought to the committee during its study on aviation safety.

“When a parliamentary committee is seized with a topic and the department doesn’t disclose this kind of relevant information … I think that’s very disturbing.”

The committee recommended the government establish targets for more on-site safety inspections as opposed to auditing the safety management systems of the airlines. Transport Canada replied to the suggestion earlier this month, saying it recognizes the importance of a mix of systems-based inspections and spot checks.

New Democrat MP Robert Aubin, the committee’s other vice-chair, said the decision was “curious” because Transport Canada said it was doing more oversight, not less.

“I have concerns if the pilots who evaluate their pilots are not evaluated by Transport Canada. We have to have the same standards,” he said in an interview. “We have to increase the resources at Transport Canada to make sure we can do that job.”

Liberal MP Judy Sgro, the committee’s chairwoman, was not available for an interview.

The documents say putting additional inspection burdens on the airlines means extra human and financial tolls on them.

Block said the committee heard airlines already operate on tight financial margins and she believes they are just as concerned about safety.

“That’s what you’re left with, is believing that perhaps that (consumer) costs will have to go up in order to ensure that they are operating in a safe environment.”

WestJet and Air Canada declined comment on the pending changes.