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An editorial synthesis of the ACEP project: Ecosystem Processes in the KwaZulu-Natal Bight

Overall, the Ecosystem Processes in the KwaZulu-Natal Bight project (KZN Bight project) met all the requirements of the main funders (the South African Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation via their flagship, the ACEP [African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme]) and their key partners (the Department of Environmental Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the South African Environmental Observation Network). Unquestionably multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional, the project also produced a number of postgraduate students, and was arguably the most productive (in terms of data, publications and students) of all the ACEP projects to date. Following the only other dedicated hydrographic ship survey in 1989, by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) using the RS Meiring Naudé, the KZN Bight project constitutes the most intensive study of the KZN marine environment. The following institutions were closely involved in undertaking the research: the Bayworld Centre for Research and Education (BCRE), the CSIR, the Oceanographic Research Institute (ORI, of the South African Association for Marine Biological Research, SAAMBR), the Branch: Oceans and Coasts of the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), the universities of Cape Town (UCT), KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and the Western Cape (UWC), and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). Training outputs included two post-doctoral studies and 12 degrees, or the research components thereof: two PhD, five MSc, one MTech, two Honours and two BTech. Two other PhD degrees are imminent. Several other students graduated through having access to samples and/ or data from the KZN Bight project, albeit that they were not directly supported by project funds. A plenitude of data and specimens were obtained, and many of the latter have been lodged at repositories such as the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), the Iziko South African Museum, the KwaZulu-Natal Museum and Raffles Museum in Singapore. Many more specimens, particularly of the macrobenthos, remain to be identified and will undoubtedly produce new records for the region. Specimens of a diverse range of collected KZN Bight taxa, from microplankton to vertebrates, have also been used in capacity-building training courses on taxonomy at several institutions. Apart from the 14 papers contained in this supplementary issue, others, which have drawn directly on data and samples produced in the KZN Bight project, have appeared in the primary literature (see Bibliography), and more will follow. At an applied level, the project has contributed substantially to conservation planning and decision-making at local and national forums, particularly via the Sea Plan programme of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW), the Offshore Marine Protected Areas programme of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), and more recently via the planned marine protected areas network of Operation Phakisa. The success of the KZN Bight project, however, is best measured by the ability to address the aims described in the introductory overview of this supplementary issue (Fennessy et al. 2016). These are presented below as three reformulated thematic questions. We draw on a synthesis of the various project components to resolve these, including the overview of KZN Bight ecosystem functioning described in the last paper in this issue by Scharler et al. (2016a).