Categories: Report

Baby Humpback Whale washed up at Tofo

Dead Baby Humpback Whale at Praia do Tofo in Mozambique

Baby Humpback Whale washed up at Tofo

Baby Humpback Whale washed up at Tofo: another sad day for the visiting humpback whales this year. This is the third incident involving a dead baby whale along the eastern seaboard of Southern Africa, in the last two days. You can check that out in yesterday’s post and video by The Bear right HERE.

It’s not all good news here at The Sardine News

And once again, it might NOT be humans to blame again this time. At first, we suspected a boat strike. But after careful examination and chatting to a marine biologist on the scene, we convinced ourselves that the superficial wounds across the little whales’ back were from rolling across the outer reef in the surf zone. The situation brought about by the big swells rolling by here at the moment. And that the artificial cuts were not from the propellers of any boat. They were from eager locals wanting at the blubber before the authorities arrived on the scene..

Half the tail was missing to sharks. And some big bites in the torso were clearly from big sharks. Most likely bull sharks. So bathers have been warned not to go into the water too deep in Tofo today.

Shark bite on baby humpback whale washed up at Tofo in Mozambique

Dead Baby Humpback Whale in Tofo Mozambique

Dead Baby Humpback Whale at Praia do Tofo

At this stage, we have no idea why the little whale died. There is an investigation going on.

Durban

And then on a far more pleasant note, conditions are looking great for sardine netting in Durban again today. Adam spoke with the netters earlier who are enthusiastic about getting their nets in today. Judging by the vast amounts of baitfish clearly visible in the video report from today, their high hopes are justifiable.

Over to Adam in Durban…as he takes us through the conditions for KZN today…and the prospects for sardines.

Possible sardine netting in Durban today.

Sardine Maps

Having intel to make the right decisions can save you hours and hours of frivolous sardine hunting. We have taken great care to log the activity of each sardine run since 2021. These records are available for anyone to look at.

If you study the maps year to year, you will see that right now we are only just in the middle of good sardine conditions. And that in previous years catches were made right into the summer months.

Sardine Map 2024

Sardine Map 2023

Sardine Map 2021