The Continuous Monitoring Platform presently comprise 39 permanently moored in situ instruments measuring either water temperature or currents parameters. Moorings were rolled out in three phases. Twelve units were deployed in 2008 between Port Alfred and Algoa Bay and a further 7 in the same area between 2009-2010. In 2011 and 2012, the network was expanded into St Francis Bay and west towards Oyster Bay. In this period 20 additional moorings were deployed. The Pelagic Ecosystem Long-term Ecological Research Programme was initiated in 2010 in collaboration with NMMU (CMRI) and SAIAB. Bay-scale surveys of physical, chemical, phytoplankton and zooplankton parameters are conducted on a monthly basis at eight sites.