Initiative creates space for humans and marine life
Water lover pioneers new way for Cape Town to maintain its assets
In tidal pools all along the False Bay coast, people and marine life share water dammed behind white-painted walls. But how much risk of injury is a community prepared to take to make these pools safe for the octopus, urchins and anemone that make their home in these shared spaces? Lisa Beasley is trying to change the way the city clears the tidal pools’ walls of algae, a process that has used a lot of chemicals that harm local sea creatures. But not everyone in the tidal pool swimming community is happy about this. With one hand, Beasley puts gentle pressure on my back. She is holding me down, pushing against my natural buoyancy so that I stay underwater long enough to see the octopus. With her other hand, she flashes a torch into the crevices in the pool’s walls. We spot it, peering out from its hidey-hole with two beady eyes, its arms curled elegantly under and around its body. It’s thrilling: this gorgeous, alien intelligence and I are mere feet away from each other, barely 30m ...
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