The main international ports in Mozambique are Maputo, Beira and Nacala. The port of Beira handles mostly petroleum products and has the largest petroleum refinery with a capacity of nearly 110 000 m3. The pipeline transporting petroleum to Zimbabwe is connected through the port of Beira. About 1 to 1.5 million tonnes of petroleum are pumped to Zimbabwe through this pipeline every year. 



There are other ports in the country where oil is pumped with associated oil spill risks during the course of operation. Pollution from ships along the Mozambican coast is often related to:  oily bilge water and oil sludge from engine rooms discharged at sea, accidental oil spills from damaged tankers, and  blasting and cleaning operations. It is estimated that approximately 450 million tonnes of hydrocarbon products transit annually through the Mozambique Channel. These are transported by large crude oil carriers. The risk for oil spill is therefore high. The prevailing winds (South-easterly trade winds) make the Mozambican coast vulnerable, as evidenced during the Katina-P oil spill in 1992 near Maputo Bay (Massinga and Hatton 1997). 


The main issue is pollution of the water courses, coastal and marine environment. The major types of pollution are: microbiological due to sewage and domestic solid waste; chemical pollution due to industrial and agricultural activities. The sources of pollution are localized - mainly located in major cities. The environmental consequences of pollution include decline in water quality, degradation of ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, etc. Socio-economic and health impacts are high. Mozambique ha limited capacity for addressing all forms of pollution. 


Although land based sources of pollution are localized, there are limited resources to monitor and control pollution. Also, few comprehensive studies have been undertaken on the extent of pollution within coastal waters of Mozambique. Hence, there is a need for establishment of a network of stations to monitor pollution in the main point sources along the coast. There is also a need to model the hydrodynamic processes that may influence transport and dispersion of contaminants in coastal waters. Also, there is a need to construct vulnerability map of the coast to oil spills. Capacity in these areas is however limited in Mozambique.


Primary production

The Mozambique Channel is divided into three sub areas. In the north and south channel, the seasonality of chlorophyll concentration (CC) is mostly controlled by physical processes while in the central channel, the controlling mechanism is mesoscale eddies (Tew-Kai and Marsac 2008). The interactions between eddies generate strong dynamic barriers at meso and sub- mesoscale favourable to phytoplankton. Interannual variability of mesoscale eddies is negatively correlated to the inter-annual cycle of CC, confirming the importance of cyclonic activity in the central part of the channel. 


A study to assess variations in phytoplankton biomass and primary production was conducted in the Delagoa Bight region (Kyewalyanga et al. 2007) and the results showed that the variations were mainly influenced by hydrographic conditions of the region. Out of the measured nutrients, nitrate concentrations showed some good correlation with both chlorophyll-a concentration (phytoplankton biomass) and primary production. 

 The result of analysis from the RV Dr. Fridjof Nansen survey 2007 , showed the abundance and composition of major taxonomic groups. The results obtained for the first part of the cruise (September to October 2007) in the south region (Delagoa Bight) showed existence of high concentration of Chlorophyll-a as well as cyanobacteria, diatoms and coccolithophores. Two stations, located near the coast in the south region in the Delagoa Bight, registered the highest biomass dominated by diatoms. The presence of cyanobacteria from picoplankton (cells < 2 μm) and coccolitophores in the open sea stations is another typical feature in this area. 


The issues related to primary production are the biodiversity maintenance, health and productivity of the ecosystems and habitats, following nutrient input to the euphotic zone by the rivers or upwelling systems. ii) Gaps There is a gap in knowledge in determining the role of the hydrodynamics, particularly eddies, in the upwelling of nutrients, and hence in the primary production in the open sea. The role of river discharge in nutrient dynamics is also poorly known.  Also, there is little knowledge on influence of mangroves in nutrient outwelling into the coastal waters. There is therefore a need of studies in these areas. Models and satellite remote sensing data should be used to supplement in situ observations.