Following the spate of downpours lately in KZN, the rivers have swollen, some bursting banks and most bursting their closed river mouths.
An amazing sunrise shot of Pumula River spilling out into the ocean. Pic by (c) vonKlinkerhoffen
The deluge has caused floodwaters to collect silt and debris and throw it all way out to sea, forming the long awaited blue water line that hunting gamefish so love. Deep sea fishermen love it too, trolling baits along this seam between the deep blue Mozambican Current and the dirty water produces dorado, sailfish and marlin.
However, aside from the obvious pollution that the rivers carry with them, the brown/orange colour is not actually all that bad. It’s from a pigment found in the earth and rocks in the catchment areas way upstream, that provides the discoloration. It’s the same stuff that make the Orange River orange – sometimes our rivers do look more orange than brown.
The brown water is not all that good either however – it does carry pollution out of all our valleys and catchment areas and pukes it into the ocean. If you surf in it, your ears get in big trouble. If you swallow it you get sick. Sharks love it. And it carries and conceals obstacles like logs and dead cows.
It is highly advisable to swim or surf where the water is cleaner. This alternates almost daily with the winds, but you can always find a clean beach somewhere if you travel up and down the coast enough. Being as far away from the Umkomaas and the Umzimkulu as you can be is your best bet for safe bathing or surfing. The water cleans up gradually as the Mozambican current eventually carries the silted water away – and by the time it’s March (cyclones considered), it starts to clean up crystal again.
It sure seems, that despite the Japanese, the Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) population is making quite a rapid comeback. Kudos to Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace! The current population in the southern oceans is about 50 000, way down from pre whaling population of 125 ooo. In 1966 Whaling was conditionally banned, and the population is making a steady recover ever since.
Their migration pattern in our southern Indian ocean is quite simple. From the icy deep southern Atlantic waters, where food is plentiful, they fill themselves up and head north for our winer. They head away from the rich waters of the southern ocean, up into the tropics, where there is a lot less marine life. Tropical waters are like a desert compared to the cold Antarctic, and this is why they come up here. To give birth to fragile calves out of the way of predators and wild winter seas.
However, they are not completely in the clear. Killer Whales, Orcas – come right up into the tropics to eat the newborn calves. This normally happens in April or so.
It’s not entirely true that there is absolutely NO food for the whales in the tropics – there is still plankton and fry. And, they eat sardines too! The calves have got kilolitres of milk to get through before the long swim back into the cold. They are weaned within a year.
Down in the southern icy waters, humpback whales feed ferociously in bursts, often teaming up to effect ingenious ways of trapping entire shoals of small fish. They work together to create a maelstrom of bubbles around and below a shoal of fish. The bubbles come to the surface, shrouding the hapless fry. Other whales stay down and herd the shoals upwards into the maelstrom of bubbles. And the humpbacks come up from the bottom in succession, mouths agape and swallowing thousands of fishies all at once!
We can expect the re-appearance of our humpback whales next year as early as March, and they then hang around until October.
In the background… the world’s most dangerous Beach? (c) Rob Nettleton
The truth behind the world’s most dangerous beach.
Arriving at 2nd beach Port St. Johns, we always seem to bump into the Rastas first…
‘Howzit ous. Not swimming?’, we start the banter.
‘Nooit bru… ‘, with a friendly smile comes the response. I continue, ‘Ya, so what’s cutting down on the most dangerous beach in the world ekse?’
‘Nooit bru, we not!’, comes the emphatic reply. ‘We not the most dangerous man! There is some other place! ‘
‘Whaaa, where bru?’, I continue.
A tentative smile and the other Rasta continues, ‘Ummmm, uh, not sure bru… heard it the other day, but we definitely second most dangerous beach in the world now. Jannies! ‘
So that’s a comic relief as we stand there surf checking the place. We have boards. We even have the Wavejet powered Pau Hana SUP with us. But still, everything’s not irie here, it’s downright eerie. We all know – that there has been a fatal shark attack right at this spot, once a year for the past 9 years.
The left we are seeing peel across 2nd beach in front if us, in this leftover but polished SE swell, reminds me of Narrabeen. And is beyond beautiful. Gone are the taxis. The inlanders. And the buitelanders. The busses. The daytime parties. The all night parties. The mess. The stench. The noise. The crime. The surfers. The drunks and druggies. The police. And the lifeguards…
Well we found the lifeguards. Training. In the river. With no bathers or surfers on the beach, and a Zambezi behind every rock, all they can do, is stay fit and train.
‘So where do the attacks happen brother? ‘, I almost callously probe…
‘There in the corner bra…’ as he points to the cute little cove in the south corner of this amazingly beautiful beach. It’s a pebble rock lined cove with simple and inviting access, to an ominous but serene little piece of water. Ominous only in that it’s the perfect ambush spot, for Zambezi sharks. But to the previously unscared shitless, it looks like the deepend of a hotel tidal pool.
The last victim, a seventy year old European tourist, just off the tour bus on a blisteringly hot day, must have thought he had died and gone to heaven, as he plunged in headlong to his death. By eating. After all these years, of scientific speculation to the opposite, this shark ate the guy. It fed. Enough graphic detail?
Ok so, every year an attack. And here it all gets very sticky. Very.
Where were the lifeguards? And did they help?
First question – the lifeguards were on duty and present.
Second question. Their equipment was confiscated by an official years back and they have no craft with which to get out there and rescue people being eaten. It took many slow horrifying minutes for our tourist to have his entire abdomen removed. He was a big guy. Had the lifeguards had their jet ski, or any other ski, used in combination, could have saved many of the fatalities.
They look like Chaka ‘s best warriors. They are extremely well trained. They live for their jobs. They have lost brothers in that very corner. But they have been stripped of their weapons. They cannot physically challenge a quarry so mean and efficient, in its own medium and environment. They could take on a leopard with a spear.
But not a shark, without a ski.
The list of confiscated items included several surf skis, rescue craft AND A JET SKI?!
The exact equipment I would demand if I had to go to war on the Zambezi shark front line!
Mmmmm… so where does that leave us, standing there on the newly claimed 2nd most dangerous beach in the world.
Firstly, pondering where the 1st most dangerous beach in the world is.
And secondly, we decide not to surf. Not even with the SUP. Nada.
And this is how every surfer to 2nd beach Port St. Johns, has felt.
So. Nothing to do for surfers in Port St. Johns. At all. Except the next best thing to surfing…partying! And then fishing, of course.
So we head back into the main town area, passing Amapondo Backpackers. Stopping to check it out and drink a beer (no surfing remember), we find it’s been booked out in it’s entirety, 70 beds, by students coming from some sort of tertiary brainwashing establishment. But not real tourists at all.
So we move on to find that there is only one other backpackers left in Port St. Johns. The well supported and serviced Jungle Monkey. They have taken over The Island next door. They were nicely filled, and we had two entertaining nights there…meeting Mike the owner. This hellman came here as a kiteboarder, and tells us that he used to kite Port St. Johns 1st Beach?! That’s insane! 1st Beach is the huge river mouth, with a Mundaka like left peeling into it, where all the action takes place. It’s spawning heaven for kob, grunter and all sorts, and when the fishing is on in Port St. Johns, the sharks are right there in the mix. Clearly visible and they take their share of the winnings – the Taxman!
Mike says that when he kited up and down this left, on a clear day he could see that he was kiting right over 3 metre Zambezi sharks…up and down the beach. He could also see the shoals of salmon – hundreds of them, all jammed up together hunting to replenish their spent energy lost during spawning.
He says without any hesitation, and speaking from his many years here, Mike says emphatically that 1st beach, is much more dangerous than 2nd beach!
Ha! We’d found the most dangerous beach in the world.
Just like a whale shark knows the exact time and place, where the snapper congregate to spawn, in Belize, Mexico, so do the Zambezi’s know, in Port St. Johns, South Africa, when the salmon and grunter congregate. The whale sharks pitch up exactly on time and gorge of the spawn of a thousand snapper.
The Zambezi’s can visibly be seen when the fishing is on. There are hundreds of them. They never stop being hungry, and in their frenzied excitement after hearing Pavlov’s dinner bell ringing from 1st beach, swim right past 2nd beach, from wherever they were eating before.
Well, Port St. Johns is now quieter than Tofo, in Mozambique. The two places are tiny shadows, of what they once were. Tourism is down. Business is down. Crime is up.
What do they have in common? Government bungling. In Mozambique – people being kidnapped, robbed and shot. Transkei, people being eaten. Both issues very badly handled, by their relevant governments.
A 2 minute montage of how the finally friendly spring weather works on the KZN South Coast of South Africa. The water along the entire coastline has also cleaned up to “crystal palace” grading and some great catches are being made. Spearos are ecstatic and can be walking around with that dozy grin, in the afternoons. Garrick have made an appearance, alongside the kob…today many anglers could be seen fishing off the Sandspit, the famous rock and surf angling beach in front of the Port Shepstone Country Club.
The accompanying video centres on surfing mainly, as visiting Ozzie Captain. Gallop, Tyler Howard, Ryan Poisson, Raymond Mantis and Shonalanga enjoy a fun early morning surf at Hibberdene.
The video (and gallery below) also shows an egret feasting on the remains of mullet in the Banana Beach lagoon…where the Pistia invasion is still well underway and the once functioning estuary is under serious siege. More on that here…
Shad and garrick created all the buzz on Hibberdene Beach this weekend…many fish came out. With the season fast coming to a close (1st October), the shad, were coming out by the hundreds…and the large crowds of fishermen making it difficult for the Ezemvelo guys to keep up. Many anglers could be seen flaunting the law. Which is: 4 fish per person. With a license!
The law is there to protect the marine resource that we all take so much out of…don’t be part of the problem, be part of the solution. Obey the restrictions!
Below is taken from KZN Wildlife…penned up by JayWay…you could also go to their website and check it all out more comprehensively.
“Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife would like to advise all recreational anglers that the long awaited changes to the recreational fishing regulations have now been promulgated in terms of Government Gazette No 27453.
These new regulations apply to recreational shore based and ski boat fisherman and affect the bag and size limits of certain fish species that may be caught.
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife will be producing and distributing awareness pamphlets highlighting these changes, in an effort to assist anglers with understanding and interpreting these new regulations.
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife staff will be enforcing these new regulations with immediate effect and appeals to all anglers to familiarize themselves with these new regulations. While every effort will be given by staff to assist anglers, the onus will be on the individuals to ensure that they abide by these new laws.
The promulgation of these regulations were deemed necessary by the then Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism , Mr Valli Moosa, who declared an emergency in the linefish sector. This was done in accordance with section 16 of the Marine Living Resources Act, which allows the Minister to invoke emergency measures to rebuild fish stocks.
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife welcomes these new regulations, as they are designed to afford protection to our dwindling marine resources while ensuring equal and long term usage by all.”
New Recreational Line Fish Regulations / Gov Gazette No 27453 6th April 2005
Quick Reference
Changes
Categories Changed – There are only two species categories that apply to the recreational line fisherman. These are:
Prohibited Category – May not fish for, be in possession of, or sell the following:
Basking shark (new inclusion)
Brindle bass
Coelacanth (new inclusion)
Great white shark
Natal wrasse
Pipe fish & Seahorses (new inclusion)
Potato bass
Sawfishes
Seventy four
Whale shark (new inclusion)
Permitted Category Annexure 7 ( Recreational Fishing) – May fish for and be in possession of subject to bag limits, size limits and closed seasons. MAY NOT SELL CATCH
See species category Annexure 7 (Government Gazette No 27453 6th April 2005)
Daily Bag Limits Changed:
10 species per person per day irrespective of species caught. (applies to Shore & Boat anglers)
Annexure 7 Species that are not listed fall under the 10 bag limit.
Listed Species that have a bag limit of over 10 do not apply to this daily bag limit. (Mullet x50)
Bag limits – Following species have had their bag limits changed:
Important: Kob caught from a boat at sea in KZN – 5 per person per day of which 4 or all 5 can be between 40 – 110 cm’s & 1 only may be over 110cm’s
Kob caught from the shore & estuaries East of Cape Agulas ( applies to KZN) – 1 per person per day. 60cm’s
Shad – 4 per person per day in open season (1st December – 30th September)
Rays, Sharks & Skates (Carteligenouse fish) – 1 specimen per species per person per day.
Yellowbelly rockcod – 1 per person per day.
Kob caught from boat in KZN – 5 per person per day of which 4 or all 5 can be between 40 – 110 cm’s & 1 may be over 110cm’s
Kob caught from estuaries and shore – East Cape Agulhas (applies to KZN) 1 per person per day 60cm’s
Soldier (santer) – 5 per person per day.
Galjoen – 2 per person per day.
Bronze bream – 2 per person per day.
Garrick – 2 per person per day.
Shad – 4 per person per day.
West coast steenbras – 1 per person per day.
Carpenter (silver fish) – 4 per person per day.
Geelbek – 2 per person per day.
Poenskop – 1 per person per day.
Red steenbras – 1 per person per day.
Dageraad – 1 per person per day.
Englishmen – 1 per person per day.
Red stumpnose – 1 per person per day.
Roman – 2 per person per day.
Scotsman – 1 per person per day.
White mussel cracker – 2 per person per day.
White steenbras – 2 per person per day.
Bag Limits Introduced – The following species are no longer unlimited. Have now had bag limits imposed:
Mullet – 50 per person per day.
Pinky – 10 per person per day.
Karanteen – 10 per person per day.
Steentjie – 10 per person per day.
Fransmadam – 10 per person per day.
Size Limits
Important:
Kob caught from a boat in KZN – you may only be in possession of 4 between 40cm’s – 110cms & 1 of over 110cm’s / Total bag limit 5 or you may have all 5 between 40cm’s – 110cm’s .
Kob caught from the shore or estuary East Cape Agulas (applies to KZN) – you may only be in possession of 1 of 60cm’s or over
Size Limits Increased – The following species size limits have increased:
Red steenbras – 60 cm’s
Dageraad – 40cm’s
Scotsman – 40cm’s
West coast steenbras – 60cm’s
Carpenter (silver fish) – 35cm’s
Yellowbelly rock cod – 60cm’s
Catface (Spotted rock cod) – 50cm’s
Kob caught from shore & estuaries East of Cape Agulas (applies to KZN) – 60cm’s x 1 per person per day
Size Limits Introduced – Following species now have size limits imposed:
Englishmen – 40cm’s
Closed Seasons Changed– Following species have had there closed seasons changed:
Shad – Reduced by 1 month (1st October – 30th November)
Species Not Listed On Permitted Species List Annexure 7
Rock cods not listed on the permitted species list have a bag limit of 5 per species per day.(Can not be over and above total daily bag limit of 10 species)
All other species not listed have no size limit, but form part of the daily bag limit of 10
Basking Shark
Brindle Bass
Coelacanth
Great White Shark
Natal Wrasse
Pipefish and Sea Horses
Potato Bass
Sawfishes
Seventy Four
Whale Shark
Anchovies
None
None
Baardman(tasslefish, bellman)
40cm
5
Banded Galjoen
None
5
Bill Fish(marlin, sailfish)
None
5
Blacktail
20cm
5
Blue Hottentot
None
5
Bronze Bream
30cm
2
Cape knifejaw
None
5
Cape Stumpnose
20cm
5
Carpenter(silverfish)
35cm
4
catfish Rockcod
50cm
5
Chub Mackerel
None
None
Cutlassfish(walla walla)
None
None
Dageraad
40cm
1
Dane
None
5
Englishman
40cm
1
Fransmadam
None
10
Galjoen
35cm
2/closed season
15 October-end February
Garfishes
None
None
Garrick(leerfis)
70cm
2
Geelbek(cape salmon
60cm
2
Glassies
None
None
Hake
None
5
Halfbeaks
None
None
Horse Mackerel(maasbanker)
None
None
Hottentot
22cm
10
John Brown
None
5
Kingfishes
None
5
kingklip
None
1
King Mackerel
None
10
Kob caught from a boat
at sea(Cape Agulhas to Umtamvuna)
50cm
5 but may only be in possession of one
Kob greater than 110cm per day
Kob caught from a boat
at sea(KwaZulu-Natal)
40cm
5 but may only be in possession of one
Kob greater than 110cm per day
Kob caught in estuaries and and
from the shore(east of Cape Agulhas)
60cm
1
Kob caught in estuaries and
from shore(west of Cape Agulhas)
50cm
5
Karanteen
15cm
10
large Spot Pompano(wave garrick)
None)
5
Leopard Cat Shark
None
1
Mullets
None
50
Natal Knifejaw(cuckoo bass)
None
5
Natal Stumpnose(yellow bream)
25cm
5
Pinky
7.5cm
10
Poenskop(black mussel cracker)
50cm
1
Queen Mackerel
None
10
Ragged Tooth Shark
None
1
Red steenbras(copper steenbras)
60cm
1 closed season 1 October-30 November
Red Stumpnose(miss lucy)
30cm
1
River bream(perch)
25cm
5
River Snapper(rock salmon)
40cm
5
Roman
30cm
2
Soldier(santer)
30cm
5
Shad(elf)
30cm
4 closed season1 October-30 November
Sardines(pilchards and Red Eye)
None
None
Sauries
None
None
Scads
None
None
Scotsman
40cm
1
Slinger
25cm
5
Snoek(Cape snoek)
60cm
10
Southern Pompano
none
5
Spotted Grunter
40cm
5
Spotted Gully Shark
None
1
Springer
None
5
Steenjie
None
10
Stonebream
None
5
Striped Cat Shark
None
1
Swordfish(broadbill)
25kg
5
Squid(chokka)
None
20
Tunas(tunny
None
10
Albacore(longfin tuna)
none
10
Bigeye tuna
3.2kg
10
Bluefin Tuna
6.4kg
10
Yellowfin Tuna
3.2kg
10
West Coast Steenbras
60cm
1
White edge Rockcod(captain fine)
40cm
5
White musselcracker(brusher, cracker)
60cm
2
White Steenbras(pignose grunter)
60cm
1
White Stumpnose
25cm
10
Wolfherring
None
None
Yellowbelly Rockcod
60cm
1
Yellowtail
None
10
Zebra
30cm
5
MARINE RECREATIONAL FISHING GENERAL REGULATIONS
No person shall, except on authority of a recreational permit obtainable from the South African Postal Services, engage in recreational fishing.
No person shall sell, barter or trade any fish caught through recreational fishing.
No recreational fishing permit is transferable from one person to another.
A persona of a recreational permit shall not use any artificial breathing apparatus, other that a snorkel.
No person shall, engage in fishing, collect or disturb any fish by means of a gaff, club, flail, stick, stone or similar implement.
No person shall engage in fishing, except for octopus, cuttlefish or squid, by the jerking of a hook or jig in the sea jigging), with the intention of impaling the fish thereon.
No person shall engage in the fishing, collection or disturbing of any fish with a speargun in a tidal river or tidal lagoon.
No person shall use any cast net for fishing from sunset to sunrise.
No person shall disturb, catch, kill or be in possession of any dolphin or any part or product derived thereof.
No person shall, except with the authority of a permit, disturb, catch or kill any whales at any time, or approach closer than 300 m to a whale.
No person shall, except with the authority of a permit, attract by using bait or any other means, any great white shark, or catch, attempt to catch, kill or attempt to kill any great white shark, or purchase, sell or offer for sale any part or product derived thereof.
No person shall, except with the authority of a permit, damage, uproot, collect or land or attempt to damage, uproot, collect or land any live or dead coral.
No person shall, except with the authority of a permit, engage in fishing, collecting or disturbing any live or empty pansy shell.
No person shall, except with the authority of a permit, engage in fishing, collecting or removing any aquatic plants, except for own use and in quantities not exceeding 10 kg aquatic plants, however, 1 kg dead shells or 50 kg shellgrit per day is permitted without a permit.
No person shall, except with the authority of a permit, damage, pick, uproot, collect or land or attempt to damage, pick, uproot, collect or land any live or dead sea fans or sea pens.
No person shall, without a permit issued by the Director-General, culture any marine organisms.
No person shall, except with the authority of a permit, catch any fish or collect any aquatic plants for commercial purposes.
For more information phone: (021) 402-3911 or consult the Amended Regulations (R24 of 14 January 2000) in terms of the Marine Living Resources Act, 1998
