All but one of the MPAs are in the exclusive economic zone off continental South Africa, and one is off the Prince Edward Islands in the Southern Ocean.
This achieves United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14.5 for conservation of marine and coastal areas, and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 Aichi Target 11.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines a marine protected area as: A clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated, and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values.
[8] MPAs restrict human activity for a conservation purpose, typically to protect natural or cultural resources.
In some situations (such as with the Phoenix Islands Protected Area), MPAs also provide revenue for countries, potentially equal to the income that they would have if they were to grant companies permissions to fish.
[5] Planning scenarios for site selection analysis include seabed protection, pelagic biodiversity, threatened species, sustainability of small pelagic and demersal trawl fisheries, inshore, offshore and crustacean trawl bycatch management, a range of sector-specific analyses exploring areas where spawning or nursery grounds can be protected, as well as integrated analysis of all targets for all objectives including minimising and spreading impact on industry.
The intention is to produce clear targets and plans and involves collaboration between key stakeholders in public and private sectors, academics and civil society organisations.
[19] The purposes stated for the new MPAs include facilitation of sustainable fisheries and use by other economic sectors, as well as the protection of offshore species and ecosystems.
The continental offshore MPAs are distributed through the EEZ from the border of Namibia to near Durban, on the east coast, to provide best coverage of the variety of habitats and ecosystems.
[7] The MPAs provide habitat protection for beaches, rocky shores, coastal and open ocean islands, lagoons, pans, estuaries and offshore shoals.
[7] The earliest proclamations of marine protected areas in South Africa were under the Sea Fisheries Acts of 1973 and 1988 and amendments.
10 of 2004, by the 2014 amendment, and all pre-existing MPAs were transferred by presidential pronouncement to section 22A of the NEM: PAA, published on 2 June 2014 in Government Gazette No.
This continued until 2019 when another reshuffle of portfolios created the Department of Environment Forestry and Fisheries, which was allocated the responsibility for MPAs.
[24][7] South African coastal MPA's are usually attached to a terrestrial national park or nature reserve, and the management of that park or reserve also manages the MPA, funded by the national government via the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), now the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries.
[24] Management strategies for the MPAs include sanctuary, restricted, wilderness and controlled zones, completely no-take MPAs, Ramsar sites, a World Heritage Site, two UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, and the Walker Bay Whale Sanctuary, which is seasonal, effectively an MPA only between 1 July and 30 November of each year.