The Estuary Care Committee would like to send out a plea to all recipients of the newsletter to pay their annual subscription fees and to also encourage all other people they know who enjoy the Kariega and Boesmans Estuaries to join and pay their annual fee.
The context of this plea is as follows:
In years gone by a significant portion of the funding for Estuary Care came from a share of boat licence fees that Estuary Care used to manage and collect on behalf of the municipality. A few years back as a consequence of Estuary Care being party to litigation against the municipality on issues relating to the municipal dump and the sewerage works, the municipality withdrew Estuary Care’s authority to collect these licence fees and thereby cut off a significant portion of its revenue. Today Estuary Care is funded solely by the income received from membership fees and the odd donation from generous benefactors.
During this same period that a significant revenue stream was cut off, the financial demands on Estuary Care have increased and we find ourselves undertaking activities that should not necessarily be our responsibility but reality is if we do not do them they will not get done.
These activities include for both estuaries:
- Repairs and maintenance of all the slipways.
- Repairs and maintenance of all public jetties.
- Repairs and maintenance on the retaining walls at the car parks and public areas.
- Repairs and maintenance of the tow paths and grass and weed cutting around all pathway entrances.
- Repairs and maintenance of all channel markings.
- Labour costs associated with litter removal around both bridges and the public areas adjoining the estuaries.
- Signage production and erection costs for all signage on the estuaries.
- The placement of commemorative benches in public spaces.
Each of these activities comes at a cost and unless we get support from those people who enjoy usage of both estuaries and who continue to appreciate the very good condition and high quality of our natural resources there will come a time when we will not be able to meet the financial needs to do this work.
It is our estimate that only about a quarter of people who are regular receivers of the newsletter are regular payers of membership fees. There is therefore a large community of folk out there who obviously appreciate the quality of the estuaries and facilities who could be contributing to looking after them.
The annual membership fee is R200 for a member/family which is a fair amount if one considers what the estuaries offer us.
Payments can be made by EFT:
Account Name: Estuary Care
Bank: Standard
Branch: Grahamstown
Branch code: 051001
Account No: 283961325
This year it is important we receive the subscriptions this way because of COVID challenges there will be no physical AGM where many of you normally pay in person.
We call on all people who see the value of the estuaries and facilities to make a contribution to keeping them in good condition.
