The annual Plett Ocean Festival was held for the fifth time this year with the theme “Investing in Coastal Communities and Conservation”. Based in the well-known tourist town of Plettenberg Bay on the coast of South Africa’s Western Cape Province, the 10-day festival held over 3-10 July featured a myriad of activities, including guided nature walks, kayaking on the local river, live artist demonstrations, visits to a rehabilitation centre that treats and releases Critically Endangered African Penguins, and much more. The festival also included a three-day Marine Science Symposium with lectures on a wide range of subjects, especially studies which contribute meaningfully to an understanding of the ocean. The festival has stated “Here, science does not sit behind closed academic doors. It becomes part of a broad public conversation”.
Anton Wolfaardt at the Gold Harbour King Penguin colony on South Georgia, photograph by Leigh Wolfaardt
On the second day of the symposium, Dr Anton Wolfaardt, Project Manager of the Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project, gave an update on the project that aims to remove invasive mice from the island, first described at the symposium four years earlier. The festival progamme states: “Dr Anton Wolfaardt is a seabird conservation specialist with over 30 years of experience working across sub-Antarctic islands and international conservation programmes. He has held key roles in island ecology, seabird coordination, and marine conservation across the South Atlantic and Antarctica. He is currently Project Manager for the Mouse-Free Marion initiative, leading efforts to restore Marion Island’s fragile ecosystem.”
From left: Everol Williams and Melissa Nel (Plett Shark Spotters), Anton Wolfaardt and Zandile Ndhlovu (Black Mermaid Foundation) engage in a Q&A session after their talks, photograph by Leigh Wolfaardt
In his talk Anton highlighted current progress with the project since the first Plett Ocean Festival back in 2022, and what still needs to be achieved before helicopters can start spreading rodenticide-laced cereal bait across the island’s 30 000 hectares. Anton writes to MFM News that the symposium provided a valuable opportunity for scientists, practitioners and members of the public to engage in a wide variety of topics relating to marine conservation. Anton has used his honorarium for lecturing to sponsor a hectare in his name and of the Plett Ocean Festival
Anton Wolfaardt has also published an article giving a written update on the MFM Project in the July issue of BirdLife Plettenberg Bay’s online newsletter. Read it here.
John Cooper. News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 23 July 2026
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A helicopter takes off from South Africa’s previous Antarctic research and supply ship, the S.A. Agulhas, for Marion Island in the background, photograph by Jay Gates in 2003
The Mouse-Free Marion Project is a registered non-profit company (No. 2020/922433/08) in South Africa, established to eradicate the invasive albatross-killing mice on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean. The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate. For more information or to support the project please visit mousefreemarion.org.
