Abstract by author:
As part of De Beers Marine's Environmental programme, a monitoring survey was conducted in the two Diamond Fields (Namibia) (Pty) Ltd Resource Areas off Luderitz during 24-29 July 1999 to assess the impact of deep-sea diamond mining on the soft-sediment benthic community structure and to identify uncommon marine molluscs present in the samples. Available identification guides provide insufficient information for the identification of bivalves and gastropods, found off the south coast of Namibia, to family, genus and species level. Crab samples from previous De Beers Marine (Pty) Ltd benthic surveys, between the Orange River mouth and Luderitz, reveal a high degree of uncertainty in family, genus and species identification and also indicate the presence of some uncommon marine molluscs in this area