Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Kouga Municipality

Finally, the KJRC has in place a signed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Kouga Municipality to assume the delegated responsibility for the management of the Kromme and Geelhout Rivers as of 1 July, 2016.

The arrangement sees the passing of river fees collected, less a small handling fee and VAT, back to the KJRC in order to perform the required controls to assist with safe boating on our rivers.

As we have only just seen the first of the funds for the July and August permits sold flow into the bank account of the KJRC, it has left the committee with very little time to implement what is considered critical to the safety of all river users, particularly over the peak Xmas season.

Of very serious concern is the decreasing depth and width of safe navigable channels, certainly from the mouth of the Kromme River to above the River Tides Estate which is situated on the North bank above the bridge over the Kromme on the R330 to Humansdorp. Unfortunately NO dredging can take place until an EIA is done to the satisfaction of the DEDEAT which is being worked on presently by the St Francis Bay Property Owners Association (SFBPOA) as part of Phase 2 of the beach restoration initiative – it is intended to dredge and pump sand from the Kromme River onto the beach in the vicinity of Main Beach together with other initiatives to retain the sand.

What is intended in the short term however is to :-

• Mark the navigable channels, to the best of our ability with navigation buoys (red, port and green, starboard)  – NB navigation regulations for right of passage are: when entering an estuary i.e. going upstream the red buoys are kept to your left and when exiting i.e. coming downstream the reversal applies, green are kept to your left.
• A map illustrating ski/no ski zones, proceed with caution areas, etc. is supplied with each river  permit sold, (copy attached hereto) and boat owners are requested to please acquaint themselves as well as anyone else who may make use of their craft of the extreme dangers that exist resultant of the very shallow and narrow navigable channels.

PLEASE NOTE THE BUOYS AND MAP ARE SUPPLIED MERELY AS A GUIDE, THE ONUS RESTS WITH THE SKIPPER OF THE CRAFT TO TRAVEL AT A SAFE SPEED AT ALL TIMES.

New warning signs are to be erected on the banks of the river as and where appropriate in particular with regard to NO SKIING until above River Tides.

Click to see and download MAP

map-kromme-river-nov-16