National Oceans and Coastal Information Management System
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • DOCUMENTS
    • Departmental Documents
    • General Information
    • Guidelines and Training Manuals
    • Legislation and Regulations
    • Policies, Frameworks, Protocols and Strategies
    • Programmes and Plans
  • DATA
  • TOOLS
    • Coastal Flood Hazard Decision Support Tool
    • Coastal Operations at Sea Decision Support Tool
    • DEFF Coastal Viewer
    • Fisheries and Aquaculture Decision Support Tool
    • Integrated Vessel Tracking Decision Support Tool
    • Marine Spatial Planning Support Viewer
    • Water Quality Decision Support Tool
    • Marine Predators Decision Support Tool
  • THEMES
    • Coastal Flood Hazard Theme
    • Fisheries and Aquaculture Theme
    • Marine Domain Awareness Theme
    • Marine Spatial Planning Theme
    • Sea State Theme
    • Water Quality Theme
    • Marine Predators Theme
  • Menu

The Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) and the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) have initiated the development of the National Oceans and Coastal Information Management System (OCIMS) for South Africa – referred to as the OCIMS project.

The OCIMS project forms part of the Operation Phakisa Marine Protection Services and Oceans Governance workstream Initiative 6: “National Ocean and Coastal Information System and Extending Earth Observation Capability” action plan that is endorsed by Cabinet. Operation Phakisa focuses on unlocking the economic potential of South Africa’s oceans.

OCIMS will support a variety of oceans and coastal initiatives by providing information and decision support to key stakeholders for the day-to-day management of South Africa’s oceans and coasts.

The OCIMS 2019/2020 project outcomes are:

  • Establish earth observation technology capacity for the South African Exclusive Economic Zone as well as the extended continental shelf;

  • Deliver an operational system;

  • Establish and implement the data and earth observation infrastructure.

The project outcomes will be achieved through the development of an Information Management System (IMS) that will integrate current and future oceans and coastal systems, information and expertise into a user-friendly and cost-effective IMS for the benefit of relevant stakeholders. In June 2015, the Council for Science and Industrial Research (CSIR) was nominated by DEFF as a service provider to facilitate the implementation of the project and to co-develop OCIMS.

OCIMS project vision

Develop a locally relevant and globally cognisant technological solution that supports the ecological conservation and economic potential of South Africa’s oceans and coasts through information and decision-support for effective governance.

In South Africa, 30% of the population stay within 60 km of our oceans. Many coastal communities are dependent on our oceans and coasts for their livelihood, while others reside there because of the lifestyle and recreational opportunities it offers. OCIMS will support the unlocking of the oceans economy through enhanced oceans and coastal management planning and decision support. This will also include integration of data collection, data processing, data analysis, reporting and alerting to effectively and efficiently identify, monitor and predict events and threats.

OCIMS Core

The OCIMS Core System harvests and references oceans and coastal data to make it discoverable, and when authorised, accessible to OCIMS users.  Data is ingested, processed and visualised in the decision support tools where certain analytics provide the necessary information to support decision making and planning.  Users can request access to protected data by contacting the data owners and/or custodians.

Decision Support Tools

OCIMS has a number of Decision Support Tools. The OCIMS project will continue to develop additional Decision Support Tools based on priority, maturity of existing tools and according to an agreed technology roadmap.

1,5

million km2 Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Size

3200 km

of coastline

20

key departments and institutions in the marine environment with distinct roles and maritime policies

50

national acts regulating marine governance

Contact us

  • Initiative 6 Project Owner Mr Ashley Naidoo – DEA: 021 819 5001 or anaidoo@environment.gov.za
  • Earth Observations Coordinator Mr Humbulani Mudau – DST: 012 843 6857 or humbulani.mudau@dst.gov.za
  • Project Director Dr Marjolaine Krug – DEFF: 021 819 5100 or mkrug@environment.gov.za
  • Contract Manager Mr Sives Govender – CSIR: 012 841 2501 or sgovender5@csir.co.za
  • Project Manager Ms Riëtte Pretorius – CSIR: 012 841 2623 or heaston@csir.co.za

The National OCIMS is the result of collaborative partnerships led by the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries and managed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The project has drawn from the expertise of government, labour, business, academia and other sectors. It serves under the premise of Operation Phakisa a national government project.

© Copyright - National Oceans and Coastal Information Management System | Best viewed in Chrome
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

OKLearn more

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Scroll to top