Funds needed for PE marine rehab centre

CONCERNED environmentalists in Port Elizabeth are hoping to raise funds to build a much needed marine mammal rehabilitation and education centre. The proposed multi-million rand centre will be used to nurse mammals and birds (affected by oil spills) back to health and release them back into the wild. The centre could also become a popular tourist attraction as visitors will be able to watch the whole rehabilitation process step by step. "We need a rehab centre urgently," said Libby Sharwood, the driving force behind the SA Marine Mammal Rehabilitation and Education Centre Trust (SAMREC). "If we have a single small oil-spill - nothing like the magnitude of the one in the Western Cape last year - we will not be able to cope. We live in fear that our environmental paradise could be irreversibly damaged." The Trust recently launched an appeal to businesses, environmental and other green trusts, to help establish the R6m centre at the Cape Recife Nature Reserve on the lip of Algoa Bay. Environmentalists are concerned about the threat of pollution from the proposed Coega harbour to marine life and believe that the rehab centre should be in place before the harbour begins operating. The Trustees would be happy to hear from sponsors or from anyone with ideas about funding by e-mailing shaka@global.co.za . (Miguel de Sousa)