Data Zone
Country/territory: South Africa
IBA Criteria met: -
For more information about IBA criteria please click here
Area: 285,520 ha
Site description
This Marine IBA is identified using seaward extensions around breeding colonies. It originates from the South Africa Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and falls within the Indian Ocean, Western FAO ocean region. The site covers an area of 2855 km2 and is 22 km away from the closet coastline. The depth ranges from 0 to 1061 m, with a mean annual wind speed of 2.11 m/s, mean annual sea surface temperature falls between 23.79 and 24.66 °C and mean annual chlorophyll-a concentrations found to range between 0.23 and 0.6 mg/m3.
Key biodiversity
2 species trigger IBA criteria at this Marine IBA. Seaward extensions around breeding colony; Lake St Lucia and Mkuze swamps include key near-colony areas for breeding populations of Grey-headed Gull (LC) 300-300 breeding pairs and Caspian Tern (LC) 180-300 breeding pairs.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Lake St Lucia and Mkuze swamps - marine. Downloaded from
http://www.birdlife.org on 26/03/2023.
