Durban had not applied for any of its beaches to join the international Blue Flag beach scheme, the South African organiser Alison Kelly said on Monday.

The South African deadline for local authorities to apply for their beaches to join the scheme was Monday.

Kelly said Cape Town had applied for eight beaches to belong to the scheme, while in Port Elizabeth the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality has applied for five of its beaches.

Kelly said: "We have had quite a few new applications this year. But I will only know tomorrow how many beaches have applied."

Durban municipal manager Mike Sutcliffe could not be immediately reached for comment.

Five of the city's six beaches in the programme lost their Blue Flag status during the course of the year because of sewage-related pollution.

The Blue Flag Programme is owned and run by the independent non-profit organisation Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) which has its head office in Copenhagen.

The Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (Wessa) has been accredited to run the Blue Flag programme in South Africa. Not all beaches are graded by the organisation, only those where the respective municipality has applied to receive a Blue Flag.

There are 2585 beaches and 614 marinas in 31 countries in the Northern Hemisphere that currently have Blue Flag status.

At the organisation's next International Jury meeting in September 2008, the outcome of the evaluation of Blue Flag candidate beaches and marinas from South Africa, the countries of the Caribbean, Brazil, Chile and New Zealand will be presented.

When the Durban beaches lost their Blue Flag status earlier this year, Sutcliffe demanded that international Blue Flag beach scheme fire its South African co-ordinator, accusing her of "double standards".

Both Wessa and the Blue Flag programme organisers rejected his call.

Source: Sapa