Fishing aboard Vamizi through the 2018 marlin fishing season, Captain Duarte Rato of FishBazaruto.com has won the distinction of tagging the most marlin for the African Billfish Foundation. Alongside Tarka from Kenya, and, then also got the biggest tagged black marlin for the second straight year!
Duarte has just recently compiled his latest fishing report on http://fishbazaruto.com, and it is jam-packed with news and photographs.
The table of contents reads something like this:
42 kg GT off the shore
1040 lb Blue Marlin
ABF tagging results
Big Blue Sailfish Competition
Guinjata Species Comp
And a selection of photographs from the report…
You can follow the link below to read the full report…
Another great report from Captain Duarte Rato of FishBazaruto.com
The season up at Bazaruto is about to fire up. The Sardine crew will be operating there after the Sardine Run in the Transkei. In August we will be heading northeast and will be operating in Tofo, Pomene and Vilanculos and all else in between. We are booked for September (Botswana) but back up to the marlin waters there the first week of October and will stay right through the season. And into 2020!
So get in touch if you would like us to arrange your perfect fishing, surfing or diving trip. You can browse some of our packages at the following link, but we can make up your itinerary as and how you want it.
We can fetch you at the closest airport and leave the rest to us. We have places to stay or camp. We have boats up and down the coast. And a network of great guides and skippers. Each are experts in their waters and target species/activities.
The first lecture in the series will take place on Saturday, 9th March. It will explore the rescue and rehabilitation of abandoned Lesser Flamingo chicks at Kamfers Dam near Kimberley in the Northern Cape.
According to Birdlife Africa, the Lesser Flamingo is listed as “Near-threatened” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List. This is mainly because of a declining population, few breeding sites, and human-induced threats to the breeding sites.
Kamfers Dam is one of only four breeding localities for Lesser Flamingos on the African continent and the only breeding locality in South Africa. It supports the largest permanent population of the species in Southern Africa, with an estimated population of sixty thousand Lesser Flamingos.
However, due to the severe drought, more than five thousand chicks and eggs were abandoned in January this year. The Kimberley SPCA approached various rehabilitation centres around South Africa, including the uShaka Sea World Animal Health Department, to assist in hand-rearing the Lesser Flamingo chicks.
The Crocworld Conservation Centre kicks off another series of conservation lectures this year, with the rescuing of baby flamingos
Since 27th January staff at uShaka Sea World have worked tirelessly to rehabilitate more than 250 chicks. According to Ann Kunz of the South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR), staff and volunteers have spent hours feeding chicks special feed through syringes and constantly monitoring the birds, many of which were initially in uShaka Sea World’s hospital.
“Last week, chicks were a delicate creamy white colour with some darker down feathers. Most of them are now sporting a pinkish tinge on their feathers with bright red faces and scarlet mouths. This week was a milestone as many of the chicks in special care have left the ICU and are spending a couple of hours each day in the high care enclosure outside, enjoying the sunshine,” said Kunz.
Martin Rodrigues, Crocworld Conservation Centre’s manager said, “We are ecstatic that our monthly lecture series is launching with such an interesting subject. We look forward to our guests enjoying a combination of knowledgeable experts in a picturesque venue.”
Registration for the event is at 08h30 with the lecture beginning at 09h00. Tickets will cost R50.00 and include an Early Bird Breakfast with a cup of percolated coffee, as well as entrance into Crocworld’s indigenous gardens, and bird and reptile centres.
Underwater Observatory in Mozambique by Calum Murie
Calum Murie, when he’s not out catching and tagging huge sharks for science, can be found deploying underwater observatory style camera rigs, all over Mozambique.
Calum and his band of volunteers at Underwater Africa designed this simple but effective underwater observatory camera rig – with bait and all!
The Morey Eels love being on camera, and literally dominate the entire show, whenever Calum and crew deploy their rigs. Up in Bazaruto and Benguerra Island two huge Moreys spent literally hours trying to figure out how to get at the free bait.
Without revealing too much, you can look forward to literally hundreds of fish and other marine animals in this particularly well edited clip. Soundtrack too!
The underwater observatory work that Calum is doing up here, is the first of it’s type here in Mozambique.
You can look forward to more of Calum and crew’s phenomenal work as they perfect the art of deploying an underwater observatory in Inhambane waters. His work is constantly being refined and the cameras can now stay down longer and film more. Having developed a crew that understands the value of the results and how important it is to deploy perfectly every time, is what is producing these results.
You can learn more about Underwater Africa and their research work going on in Praia do Tofo, where they are based. Their shark tagging program has been a great success. The Sardine crew have been assisting and getting right involved. Sonar tagging Zambezi sharks, and Copper Sharks, the data is being used to formulate a plan to reduce shark and human encounters up and down this coast. The spate of shark attacks that occurred up the Inhambane Estuary towards Morrumbuene is what kicked off the project. Listening stations are deployed along the entire East Coast of Southern Africa, and record when a tagged sharks swims past.
Ultimately, proving that Zambezi (and the other usual suspects) sharks are not wanderers, that they stay on their pieces of reef and ocean, is what can lead to measures, to curb the attacks.
If you are interested in this kind of activity and you have some time on your hands, please get in touch. We need help tagging these sharks up here, it’s not easy work, and it can be dangerous too.
Accommodation is rustic luxury and we have many boats to choose from for when we go out tagging sharks.
The Sardine is also facilitating tag and release programs for gamefish. Billfish included. But mainly targeting high value data fish that are in jeopardy and nobody has any data on them. You can see more of The Sardine’s adventure options by clicking here.
Get in touch with Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com or WhatsApp +27 79 326 9671, anytime.
Here is a little baby marlin being released in the beginning of last year’s (2018) season…off Benguerra Island, with Jason Morkel on the rod, and Sean Lange on the trace.
For October, we have Captain Duarte Rato of FishBazaruto with a marlin packed gallery featuring his marlin taming exploits recently fishing up off Vilanculos and the Bazaruto Archipelago.
It has NOT been an easy season up in Baz. The winds have been wreaking havoc with our charters. Luckily for the GTs and the inshore spots! This is the best thing about Bazaruto and surrounding waters – there is so much variety and so many different genres of fishing to enjoy! From the marlin out the back, to the gamefish in the channels between the islands and then all the very many inshore spots – you can fish in any reasonably bad weather for sure.
The gallery…
Bazaruto October Fishing
FishBazaruto still have a few slots left for 2019. You can get in touch with Captain Duarte Rato by popping on over to his website at http://fishbazaruto.com.
We have many other options too that you can choose from to make up your dream fishing holiday. From budget all the way on up to FishBaz. And from Inhaca to Pemba. South Africa too. Get in touch if you would like us to tailor make a trip just for you and your family or friends. We don’t focus only on marlin and Bazaruto at The Sardine. We also do estuary and fly fishing experiences. Spearfishing. Light tackle boat. Spin fishing. Rock and Surf. All up and down the Southern African seaboard. Contact Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com. Or WhatsApp +27 79 326 9671 anytime really!
Sonar tagging Zambezi Sharks: Calum Murie could have been anything. But he chose to spend his life chasing huge sharks around with sonar tag in hand, ready to abuse the first full grown Zambezi Shark he sees. In the name of science, research and conservation, Calum’s motivation for this career path runs deep and his commitment is exemplary.
Although Zambezi Sharks are on the top of our hit list, these blacktips are also featured.
Jason Morkel gets right in on the action. Zambezi Sharks don’t scare him!
And so it was that Calum enlisted the crew and facilities at the BCSS (Bazaruto for Scientific Studies) this September, to get some more tags installed in some Zambezi Sharks and other suspects. The tags are monitored by sonar listening stations set out up and down the coast between Pemba and Cape Town. So if one of Calum’s tagged sharks goes on leave and heads off for a holiday, Calum is gonna know about it.
This behavioural study of horizontal movement is aimed at supplying decision makers with the correct information regards shark activity along our coastline. Sadly, there have been over ten shark attacks in the Inhambane Estuary just down the coast from the BCSS. It’s the poor crab ladies who are getting taken the most. They are sitting ducks working in a metre of cloudy water at best.
And so Calum is fiercely chasing Zambezi’s, the prime suspect as usual. Although bronze whalers are also on our shark tagging list for being a suspicious character. Calum is also after Tiger Sharks, but we have not been successful at this as of yet. Hopefully we can find a small one somewhere!
You can actually get involved in our shark tagging exploits if you like. The success of the project that Calum is running, has opened up more funding for his studies. More listening stations are being deployed in association with the BCSS and Dr. Mario Lebrato. And we now have another batch of tags to deploy. At over $1000 per tag, we have got responsibilities!
The BCSS was built in order to facilitate research and conservation. So if you are aligned with these objectives, get in touch to join the team for a week or two. Rates are very reasonable. And you get to stay with us out here on the edge of the whole world!
Get in touch on umzimkulu@gmail.com to make arrangements.
