Category: South Africa

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Baby whale dies in nets at Trafalgar

Trafalgar Whale caught in shark nets

Baby whale dies in nets at Trafalgar

Down in Trafalgar, we managed to get this photograph, and an interview with the lifeguard on that beach – Philan “WaveOfHope” Sikobi, who was amongst the many locals who found the whale. This was on Tuesday. He was chased out of the water by a shark, as the blood from the whale spilled down into the shorebreak. The baby whale was full of lacerations – the photo shows only what is left after the locals hacked the animal to pieces.

Shark net characteristis lacerations clearly visible on baby dead whale
Net characteristic lacerations clearly visible on baby dead whale. Philan could not take any other photos before the whale was cut up and retrieved by locals.

Sean: Hi Philan, what a story man, are you ok?

Philan: Yeah man it was scary. Stupid shark came in real close to me. Twice! It was the smell of blood. When they start cutting that whale up on the beach.

Sean: Was the whale bitten by sharks already when it came up the beach?

Philan: No, it looked fine excepting for the net wounds.

Sean: Philan, the photograph does not show much detail. You gonna have to describe the cuts and lacerations for us.

Philan: Well they were deep, right through, and very square in shape. But what’s confusing me is, the shark nets had been taken out of the water the day before. So the nets weren’t even in that morning. But you could see it was definitely a large net of some sort.

Sean: Was it alive when it hit the beach?

Philan: No it was pretty much dead.

Sean: What time was that?

Philan: Early morning.

Sean: Is there anything else, you could possibly imagine, that could have inflicted the lacerations as you saw them?

Philan: Well, I just don’t know what else? Must have been shark nets the day before or something like that?

And then on Wednesday, a whale was reportedly entangled with the shark nets at Illovo. I never knew anyone even swam or surfed at Illovo? Or why the nets were put back in? It’s the middle of the sardine season. with whales, dolphins and sharks patrolling up and down in search. The annual influx of meshers have been netting sardines up and down the KZN coast the entire past month?!

Some older incidents of whales in the nets…

And from Australia, some theory as to why this happens…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3167629/Caught-napping-Whales-face-new-deadly-threat-shark-nets-tangled-nod-swimming-long-winter-migration.html

Unbelievably, the Australians also use shark nets…this from three weeks ago…

http://www.mygc.com.au/baby-whale-dies-mum-bub-get-stuck-shark-nets-gold-coast/

With so many technological options on offer to the Kwazulu Natal Sharks Board, why is it, that they forego these less invasive and harmful methods, and to choose to use gill nets. The Australian Government have started alernatives installations with fantastic results.

Gill nets operate 24/7 (Who needs protection from sharks at night time?), and kill indiscriminately, with a massive by-catch. Dolphins (the most I ever seen in one NSB land cruiser was 6), whales, turtles, rays, harmless sharks, gamefish, birds…

By installing sonar at the beach (read previous article here), which only operates when people are actually surfing or swimming, and by equipping ocean users with Shark Shields – the savings would be immense. Financially. The Kwazulu Natal Sharks Board are spending R80 million or more per year killing sharks?! It would be a fraction of that to buy Shark Shields for every beach – give them to the lifeguards to rent to the public.

But it’s the savings to the environment we are really after.

We just cannot let this continue one more day!

Shark nets out!

NOTE: well that was five years ago and there are still shark nets in the water?!

The Sardine News and the Master Watermen are published by TLC for your Business.

Share
Posted on by — 2 Comments

Black marlin caught in shark nets off Durban

Black marlin caught in shark nets off Durban

Caught in the shark nets. It happens all the time. Dolphins. Whales. Turtles. Even huge kob and couta. Fall victim to the indiscriminate slaughter with gill nets. Randomly executed by the Kwazulu Natal Sharks Board.

And this beautiful young black marlin is also now dead too. All for what? There are so many practical measures you can put in to effect, other than gill netting, to curb shark/human interactions. If you look closely, there is a bite mark amidships the marlin’s body. This is how more and more animals get caught up and die. Feeding on fish already trapped in the suffocating nets. These nets kill thousands each year. Meshed by professional crews with top notch killing equipment. Always with new boats, outboards and land cruisers. Petrol. In 1990, these guys had 44.4 km of gillnets covering 14% of the 326km coastline, between Richards Bay and Mzamba. Can you believe that?

Their annual average catch between 2009 and 2014 was a good 441 sharks killed per year. They kill an average of 26 Great Whites. And it’s very difficult to find out how many dolphins and other cetaceans are killed. Turtles. Fish…

And there are a host of players out there nowadays, selling all sorts of technological solutions, that can be applied at any beach. Any surf spot. At a fraction of the cost.

For many years, we have campaigned against shark nets. And there was light at the end of the tunnel with shark POD technology developed in co-operation with the bungling Natal Sharks Board. They stopped the distribution under their own directive in 2001. And stuck with the murderous gill nets.

Black marlin caught in shark nets off Durban
Black marlin caught in shark nets off Durban. It takes four bungling government entities for this to happen. Thanks to Chris Leppan of Umhlanga, who put this on our desk.

Here is a list of the shark protection devices, that cost a marginal tiny amount of what it costs to kill sharks at a beach for one year. The beaches could ALL be equipped with these devices, and even given out freely for the public to use (with an ID Card of course). Or even rented. The money that the bloated Natal Sharks Board and the failing Ezimvelo uses, could absorb these costs from savings by pulling out the nets and meshing teams.

https://sharkshield.com/

 

http://www.sharkprotection.com.au/

And a very cool video showing the results of extensive testing done with the infamous Great White Shark…by Shark Shield. It CLEARLY is the way to go.

There are many more products now using the exact same principles and technology that the Natal Parks Board could have harnessed all those years ago. There have been many attacks in this time. That, if they could have been avoided by implementing these breakthrough technologies, are squarely the fault of the Natal Sharks Board.

Sonar instead of shark nets

Then when we realised the beaurocratic mess the board was tied up in, we tried to help. We proposed rigging beaches with off the shelf sonar equipment rather. Fish finders. Feed this data back to a control station, and we can eliminate human shark encounters by monitoring for big animals and alerting the bather public with flag signals and alarms. It never went forward like the rest of the world did. They had this information more than a decade back and refused to use it.

Enter the Clever Buoy. Here is a special device that uses sonar technology and can easily detect sharks in order to operate early warning systems. The system is already deployed extensively and is a proven way to protect humans and sharks at the same time.

We presented the exact technology to the Natal Sharks Board over a decade ago. Extensive research and presentations. Went through many unfruitful meetings. Were eventually sidelined. And this technology too was lost to the Australians.

The latest chapter in the future of our marine life is that the KZN clown show are attempting to marry the two failing organisations – the Natal Parks Board, and Ezimvelo. The scandals within Ezimvelo are enough to run a soap opera with. And the fact that the abominable Natal Sharks Board, an illegal organisation that operates exactly like a fishery, gill nets, licenses, and all, is beyond me. Wood for the trees. But they also can’t keep up with their expenses.

Now we have DAFF taking Ezimvelos job too. The main players in the debacle are 1. the KZN Government to start with, 2. the Government Department doing the job of the 3. Government Organisation that is supposed to protect the sharks and the 4. Government Organisation that is supposed to kill the very same sharks – all in the same series!

Stay on this channel!

More articles with more facts about the Kwazulu Natal Sharks Board and their R60 million or more budget are right here…

https://thesardine.co.za/2015/06/01/why-the-natal-sharks-board-lies-all-the-time/

https://thesardine.co.za/2015/07/20/how-to-stop-the-natal-sharks-board-from-killing-our-sharks/

 

 

Share
Posted on by — 1 Comment

27 July Sardine Report: Sardines are still moving north

27 July Sardine Report from Ifafa Beach on the KZN Lower South Coast

27 July Sardine Report: Sardines are still moving north

Spending some time on the beat between Scottburgh and Sheppy was an eye opener. Although we never encountered any solid shoals of sardines, we did encounter plenty action and tell-tale signs.

Off Ifafa, the gamefish were boiling on the backline. And whilst we were checking it all out, a brace of huge couta left the water one after the other, in gigantic parabolas. An amazing spectacle to anyone who has seen them breach like this. The story goes that when they can be seen so high in the air – 20 metres sometimes – the are hugging the bottom and hunting up into the light, which silhouettes prey perfectly against the surface. When they spot their target, they accelerate upwards off the bottom to huge speeds – slicing their hapless victims into pieces as their super sharp teeth do the work. And flying clear up towards space at blistering speed. Somehow the couta always get the parabola perfect and level their bodies out at the top of their inverted dive through the sky. And then disappear back into the blue with barely a splash.

Then it was the whales’ turn to perform. It’s odd to note that at this time of the year, many whales are just sitting tight, and not moving north or south. And this is what we did see. Whales swimming in circles, and staying in the same place for ages.

Then the birds turned on their act. Gannets and Terns wheeling and diving. Coming up every time with a wriggling sardine. The sardines were there, visible, but scattered all over the place – as if the predators were wreaking havoc with them and sending them into disarray.

And then unbelievably, we came across a DAFF vehicle, with two inspectors. Who duly requested our fishing licenses. We had a nice chat, and pledged our co-operation and assistance in the new job they have taken from the highly effective Ezimvelo. They are admittedly out of their depths, and have made some of the most basic mistakes and errors already – making it even more difficult to build beach credibility. We reassured them we would be there to help.

And so we headed south again, only to come across a fully fledged freshly poached seafood market – right on the highway. Drive-by shad and crayfish by the dozen! The Hibberdene interchange must have had 30 individuals on the hussle for ignorants to buy their illegal wares. And so we have sent DAFF a photo as evidence, and now to see how they handle this situation.

High speed drive by photograph taken just shy of the Hibberdene offramp coming from Durban,
High speed drive by photograph taken just shy of the Hibberdene off ramp coming from Durban – shad and crayfish for sale all over the area.

Remember to please report any suspicious activity to the newly ordained DAFF people.

Numbers:

  •  079 773 6514 for Inspector Teyise who is at sea most times, on trawler patrol
  • Senior Marine Conservation Inspector Mr. Bongani Pitoyi is on 071 765 2533, and is extremely helpful.
  • Deputy Director Mr Moshani on 076 780 5049

Read about trawler watch here.

The 2017 Sardine Report was brought to you by Pelagic Fishing Gear distributed online and in Pretoria by http://fishingsfinest.co.za

 

Sardine and Shad Report 2017 sponsored by Pelagic available at fishingsfinest.co.za
Sardine and Shad Report 2017 sponsored by Pelagic available at fishingsfinest.co.za
Share
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Cooking waves at Saint Michaels today this 18 July 2017

Saint Michaels today this 18 July 2017 (c) Jay Steenkamp

Cooking waves at Saint Michaels today this 18 July 2017

There are cooking waves at Saint Michaels today this 18 July 2017, as the attached super photo by undercover sardine spy Jay Steenkamp, shows. Jay has no sardine news to report, but these big swells and cold conditions are pre-requisites and precursors to their hopeful arrival.

Some other cool pics submitted lately, that portray south coast, living this time of the year…

Saint Michaels today this 18 July 2017 (c) Jay SteenkampSaints at 5:15am...Dustan van Biljon having a blast with some estuary spinning in KZN NatalL Viljoen was the skilled angler who wrestled the magnificent yellowfin tuna to the boatLegal limit of Shad caught by Matt Wainwright at AnsteysGarrick season is upon us...time to exercise some restraint as National Garrick Day loomsThe Umzimkulu Marina in Port Shepstone. Self catering dream fishing location.

Come and enjoy the sunny (well most days!) south coast of KZN Natal, with the team at The Umzimkulu Marina. Check out their website and get in touch here http://umzimkulu.co.za

For more information on the annual sardine run, click here for a listing of all recent 2107 reports…

https://thesardine.co.za/?s=sardine+run+2017

And a cool video clip from Offshore Africa in Port St. Johns, showing yet another baitball down south on The Wild Coast…


 

Share
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Trawler Watch 2017 reporting procedure

Trawler Watch 2017: Fishing Trawler spotted trawling at Mdumbi!

Trawler Watch 2017 reporting procedure

We are now in touch with the right people – Senior Marine Conservation Inspectors with DAFF, to whom any sightings of suspected trawlers, can be reported.

But there is some procedure to follow, that filters out any legitimate vessels.

SO, when you see a suspected trawler…

  1. Log onto http://marinetraffic.com on the internet, or onto your AIS cellphone App. Click here to choose one if you need one still.
  2. Locate the area where your suspect ship is, and see if there a corresponding ship icon, for your suspect
  3. If there is no AIS icon visible, please report to…
  •  The DAFF vessel operating in that area – The Ruth First, is in the area off the Transkei, where most of the suspect activity has been noted lately. Their number is 079 773 6514 and Inspector Teyise is on board right now.
  • Our contacts, Senior Marine Conservation Inspector Mr. Bongani Pitoyi is on 071 765 2533, and is extremely helpful.
  • Another number you can call is deputy director Mr Moshani on 076 780 5049.

SO, please keep your eyes on your horizon, and help us iron out what is actually going on out there.

On Trawler Watch 2017!

EXTRA: Check the following video documentary, to see how much mechanisation is used by commercial fishing trawlers…slow and shaky, but you get the picture fair enough. And it is in Iceland. But the same technology can be deployed against fish anywhere in the world. Including our waters. And why we need to be on the lookout. Next thing we buying our own mackerel and sardines in tins marked Made in China!

Latest sardine report has recently been published here…http://thesardine.co.za

Share