22/04/2022
Media Advisory
Issued on 22 April 2022
Plettenberg Bay is renowned for its world-class, pristine beaches. The World Travel Awards recently crowned the town as ‘Africa’s Leading Beach Destination’ in 2020. On top of this the town’s beaches have been over the years regularly received Blue Flag Beach Accreditation. Currently 6 of our beaches were awarded Blue Flag Status. These accolades give visitors to Plett the assurance of a premium beach experience.
For a very long time, concerns have been raised by beachgoers about the increasing lack of concern by dog owners to adhere to the ‘no dogs allowed’ on Blue Flag beaches as well as the requirement to clean-up after their dogs on beaches.
Plettenberg Bay has for some time been struggling with cooperation with these regulations by some dog owners. In particular; the rules regarding ‘No Dogs Allowed’ and the demarcated areas whereby ‘Dogs on Leashes’ are a requirement.
Some dog-owners have, on numerous occasions, shown disregard for such rules, even at Plett’s Blue Flag beaches, and have at times even been abusive to Law Enforcement officers when advised of the correct areas for walking dogs. Repeated complaints around dogs being on Blue Flag beaches in Plett, particularly Robberg 5 beach, have been received by WESSA, the controlling body for Blue Flag status.
This has resulted in Bitou Municipality being instructed by WESSA on 18 March 2022 to remove the Blue Flag at Robberg 5 beach pending corrective action to ensure the beach remains dog-free as per the Blue Flag requirement. It has been experienced in some towns that the loss of Blue Flag status leads to a decrease in the number of tourists.
Unfortunately, because of the behavior of some errant dog owners, the Bitou Municipality is forced to review the rules around the access of beaches for dogs and will announce amended rules shortly.
Circulated by the Bitou Communications Section on behalf of the Executive Mayor of the Bitou Municipality, Councillor Dave Swart