Tag: mdumbi

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Monday More Fun Day for KZN Surfers by Adam Kamdar in Surf City

Surf City 14 October 2024 Durban KZN by Adam Kamdar

Monday More Fun Day for KZN Surfers by Adam Kamdar in Surf City

Monday More Fun Day for KZN Surfers by Adam Kamdar in Surf City: Welcome back to the sardine news. We have Adam Kamdar checking from what has turned out to be another surfing day in KZN and Durban in particular.

Over to Adam Kandar at North Beach in Surf City…

Durban

Monday More Fun Day for Surfers in KZN by Adam Kamdar on the Spot at North Beach in the famous Surf City that is Durban in South Africa.

Good time to be a surfer as the swell promises to build all day long. And reach a massive pulse tomorrow. Up to 5 meters at the crack of dawn! Obviously for this time of the year, the wind has agreed to join the party and will be cranking through at an enormous rate of knots.

SW

Gusts of up to 40 knots, which equates to like 80kmh, will punctuate the strong south-westerly tomorrow too. It looks to be at least 15 or 20 knots all day long. Only backing off on Tuesday night.

NE

The northeaster is plotting its big comeback from Wednesday morning and into Thursday all day. It’s gonna come charging in as early as it can, and will steadily build all day long reaching a maximum of about 15 knots in the afternoon.

With a low tide at 8:45am on Wednesday, that morning is going to produce the goods for any surfers who can make it out through that pounding surf. Before the NE makes it too bumpy.

And although Durban will get some SW juice that day, it will be nothing like what the south and north coasts will look like that morning. Lines to the horizon and light winds until the tide turns. As the tide turns from low to high water moving in – that’s about when the onshore NE will start to pick up. Before that, the tide will be draining fast and little offshores will spring up all over to compensate for the fast-receding water and therefore air pressure. As the tide drains, it sucks air off the land to create those regional and sporadic offshores, in the face of prevailing high pressure systems. The east ruins this quicksmart so you got to get in early as possible in these situations.

Fishing

The fishing has been excellent everywhere. Kob and garrick making up for most of the excitement. With the odd handsome brushed in between. We will see exactly what fish are about with the Bear Report coming in later today. This valuable information will be posted right here on The Sardine News at around 5pm.

You can like and Subscribe to The Master Watermen on YouTube (if you click on the notification bell, you will be sent these reports on time). Check out the Master Watermen website at https://masterwatermen.co.za. The channel is at https://youtube.com/@UChzX1j2C3Qdj84Du_9X4YlQ.

If you are not subscribed to The Sardine News on YouTube you can do so right here…

(Please be careful not to Unsubscribe, if you are already subscribed.)

Gallery

Surf City is Durban
Surf City is Durban

Sardines n Sighting Maps

It has been a fantastic sardine run this memorable 2024. And all the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. This year’s map has been viewed 185,000 times and keeps growing.

Which led us to decide to keep the map live. And keep adding unique marine animal sightings and events. That occurs non-stop all year round. This year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! And a freaking tornado!

These events will from now on be included in the Sardine News Sightings Map for 2024. And on the 1 January 2025, we shall start all over again.

Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps. Great for a windy day like today to research. With instructions to install The Sardine News right on your phone or desktop.

2024 Sardine Map

2023 Sardine Map

2022 Sardine Map

2021 Sardine Map

Channels

Brucifire Surf Retorts – highly entertaining  surf reporting

Master Watermen – news from way down deep

The Sardine News – neva miss a single  sardine

FishBazaruto – 1000 pounds plus

MYDO Tackle Talk – highly technical  sport fishing

Surf Launching Southern Africa – getting out there safely

Water Woes – complain about your municipality here

Websites

umzimkulu.co.za – self-catering right on the Umzimkulu River
umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za –  will get you right out and onto the edge
thesardine.co.za – never miss a single  sardine or storm warning
masterwatermen.co.za – news from deep down
brucifire.co.za –  surf and conditions reporting
fishbazaruto.com – your dreams are out there
mydofishinglures.co.za – technical  sport fishing

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Mannie Jorreiro tells all from Coffee Bay in the Deep Kei. Fishing and Surfing Report.

Mbomvu Deep Kei 11 October 2024 6am by Mannie Jorreiro

Mannie Jorreiro tells all from Coffee Bay in the Deep Kei. Fishing and Surfing Report.

Mannie Jorreiro tells all from Coffee Bay in the Deep Kei. Fishing and Surfing Report.: Welcome back To the Sardine News. We are starting today off all the way down in Coffee Bay, deep Kei. Where Pro Fishing Guide Mannie Jorreiro is on the beach every morning.

It’s so cool having a new Sardine Spy onboard! Mannie is right In the thick of it down in Coffee Bay. Mbomvu to be exact. Which is like right next door to Coffee Bay.

Mannie is a Pro Fishing Guide for the area so please consider getting in touch if you are headed to Coffee Bay or surrounds. We can arrange guided fishing trips and accommodation in the right places. Sean on +27793269671 or umzimkulu@gmail.com.

Mannie catches a lot of fish. Watch this space!

Over to Adam Kandar in Durban…

Durban

Adam greets the South Wind coming in at Durban today 7am 11 October 2024: Ok back in Durban we have a sneaky little pair of low pressures holding back the east today. Adam Kamdar is on the scene early and reports on an unruly ocean today.

But with plenty of potential for the weekend as indicators indicate low swells, low winds and sunny skies!

All you have to do is choose a beach!

Thank you Adam.

If you are not subscribed to The Sardine News on YouTube you can do so right here…

(Please be careful not to Unsubscribe, if you are already subscribed.)

Sharks Board Upside Down at Isipingo

Who needs protecting from who?

Sharks Board Capsize at Isipingo in rough seas this morning – but who was swimming anyway?

With the recent great white shark tail washing up on the rocks at St Mike’s on the KZN South Coast recently, the Kwazulu Natal Sharks Board once again put themselves under the spotlight.

And today, they capsized an expensive vessel. With five souls on board. On a day when nobody should be in or on the water.

Anybody following the Sardine Reports would know that the swell is an unruly 2m plus. The wind is ugly as hell onshore. These two factors combined means that nobody should go out there. For anything. Least of all to mesh shark nets that kill dolphins, whales and great whites. Tigers too. Turtles. Rays. This is a very long list and you can read all about it on the Sardine News.

Death by Shark Net?

Gallery

Scottburgh

4PM Scotties 11 Oct 24 Ocean Coming Right by Cliff Bamber Beach Report

Cliff rounds the day off very nicely indeed!

Sardines n Sighting Maps

It has been a fantastic sardine run this memorable 2024. And all the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. This year’s map has been viewed 185,000 times and keeps growing.

Which led us to decide to keep the map live. And keep adding unique marine animal sightings and events. That occurs non-stop all year round. This year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! And a freaking tornado!

These events will from now on be included in the Sardine News Sightings Map for 2024. And on the 1 January 2025, we shall start all over again.

Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps. Great for a windy day like today to research. With instructions to install The Sardine News right on your phone or desktop.

2024 Sardine Map

2023 Sardine Map

2022 Sardine Map

2021 Sardine Map

Channels

Brucifire Surf Retorts – highly entertaining  surf reporting

Master Watermen – news from way down deep

The Sardine News – neva miss a single  sardine

FishBazaruto – 1000 pounds plus

MYDO Tackle Talk – highly technical  sport fishing

Surf Launching Southern Africa – getting out there safely

Water Woes – complain about your municipality here

Websites

umzimkulu.co.za – self-catering right on the Umzimkulu River
umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za –  will get you right out and onto the edge
thesardine.co.za – never miss a single  sardine or storm warning
masterwatermen.co.za – news from deep down
brucifire.co.za –  surf and conditions reporting
fishbazaruto.com – your dreams are out there
mydofishinglures.co.za – technical  sport fishing

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21 July Sardine Report 2019

21 July Sardine Report 2019

It’s been another cracking sardine season for the sardine run operators down in the Transkei and Natal. These guys have encountered bait balls daily and have been getting some spectacular video material, which we will get to see soon enough.

To make sure we are on top of things, we headed south on sardine patrol, and have the following to report.

July Sardine Report 2019

Port St Johns

Arriving in Port St Johns, we could already feel the buzz. The Umzimvubu was looking delightfully clean and there were boats everywhere. Anglers anchored in the channels, we saw one guy boat a 12kg class Garrick and a little Kob. Sardine safari boats moored at the line of jetties, all prepared for the mornings adventures.

We visited Offshore Africa down on the river, who run sardine run trips for two months through the season. Rob Nettleton and Debbie Smith (The Shark Lady), the operators, live in Port St. Johns and are consummate professionals in what they do. They chuck you right in with the sardines and sharks!

Chatting to Richie O’Connell who leads one of the boats, “You don’t even need a baitball to find and swim with sharks. They’re everywhere!”.

Rob showed me some of this year’s footage, the cameras are dressed up with much better and wider lenses making it possible to really capture all that is going on down there. Stay posted for this material when it comes out, it is truly work of underwater art.

Through the three days we spent scouring the views around Port St. Johns, we saw lots birds running south still. Some just sitting on the water too full to fly. And the odd dive bomber as sporadic shoals moved through under the surface. But the sardine spotters travelled north and south and every day out they have jumped in with sardines. Rob was on day 33!

Mpande

Great views and nice swells greeted us here. But again, we never saw any real hot action from the shore. Lots of birds. Oil slicks from previous sorties. Crystal clear water. Very fishy looking.

21 July Sardine Report 2019
21 July Sardine Report 2019

Coffee Bay

We stayed at the pretty Coffee Shack where they installed us in the King’s House. A delightful cottage overlooking the entire bay flanked by the Sugarloaf and the Mbomvu point. Four delicious shad for breakfast.

The action was absolutely wild!

Shoals of sardines were being driven to the surface. Mainly it was dolphins but we also saw sharks breaching and some outsized yellowfin tuna. The gannets were raining down like bombs. And this was just the first shoal. They just kept coming through sporadically throughout the entire day. The huge waves, well ok 2 to 3m, were kind of keeping the action on the backline and only one occasion did they come right into the white water where they were obliterated.

  • The view from Kings House at the Coffee Shack in Coffee Bay
  • Mbomvu River Mouth
  • When the red hot pokers bloom…

Mdumbi

When we came over the hill, the vista was unexpected. Waves were reeling down the point, the sand was connecting across the entire bay! There were a bunch of guys on it but the waves were plentiful and everyone was mellow.

There were birds diving and some dolphins were hunting but the water never smelled fishy and the surf continued even better the next day. When a fabulous Berg wind kicked mid-morning and painted the prettiest surfing picture I have seen for a while. Then the huge west that is currently blowing a gale at about 40 knots hit hard and so we moved on to the other side of the river to Freedom O’ Clock to catch up a bit.

And we got to throw a little video together quick…

Get in touch via umzimkulu@gmail.com if you would like to join us for The Sardine Run next year.

Catch us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/thesardine.co.za/

Post by https://thesardine.co.za

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Trawler spotted trawling at Mdumbi!

Trawler Watch 2017: Fishing Trawler spotted trawling at Mdumbi!

Trawler spotted trawling at Mdumbi!

Our deep undercover sardine spy Robbie van Wijk reports of an alleged trawler spotted trawling at Mdumbi just yesterday! Could this be one of the three “legal” ships (Japanese with permits from the totally ineffectual DAFF), that have been spotted up and down all over? Robbie just has this photo for proof.

Fishing Trawler spotted trawling at Mdumbi!
Fishing Trawler spotted trawling at Mdumbi!

The trawler had nets out and was heading NE, at trawling speed!

Targeting sardines no doubt! But imagine the destruction they are causing to the reefs and eco-system! Trawls carry the most destructive fishing equipment known to man. And are illegal in most places. They are most likely purse seine fishing, but still – WHOSE FISH ARE THEY?! The Japanese’? And who is policing their methods?

And there is more, when I contact DAFF (Department of Forestry and Fisheries or whatever), they could NOT TELL ME WHERE TO REPORT this type of suspicious activity!

We checked the AIS system (a global map of every legitimate ship on the planet – please check it out at http://marinetraffic.com – such important information to cross reference with), only to find that the “legal” Japanese KOEI MARU No. 1 was in fact off Durban. And the only other boats in the area where Robbie spotted the trawler, are a patrol boat (weirdly enough – full of gunmen as reported by AIS – could be the Sarah Baardman – hopefully), and another unpurposed one, as far as AIS is fed this information. The MSC Rania (not guilty of anything I assure), was the only other vessel reporting itself, for hundreds of miles up and down.

So, a ship without it’s AIS system on. That surely is a guilty ship.

It was a very ironic post that Robbie made from Mdumbi last year this time. It says it all in one photograph. How far did these “South African” sardines travel, before going on sale, back where they came from? I know Lucky Star is a local brand, but are they catching these fish? Is this their boat? Then why the Japanese and Chinese boats? With permits? From our very own DAFF?! (DOFF).

Lucky Star South African Sardines spotted off Umzumbe
Lucky Star South African Sardines spotted off Umdumbi

I have been receiving offers for fresh frozen sardines in my inbox (someone spammed me with a subscription to this seafood industry bunch, so I play along, to keep getting the info), way before the sardine season even though of starting. In fact back in January and February were my first emails received – selling by the tonne!

Enjoy the read…

Dear Sir,

Good morning.

We now have several containers’ products coming soon, please kindly advise, thanks.

#15 Frozen Seafood Mix

Ingredients: Squid Rings/ Tentacles/ Strips/Cut/Head, Octopus Cut/Strip, Baby Octopus, Mussels meat, Shrimps, etc.

Glazing: 0-20%, Package: 24 *1 lb.

#1 Sardine 6-10 pcs/kg Market / Bait

Product Name: Frozen W/R Sardine for Market / Bait purpose

Specification: 6-10 pcs/kg, BQF, Light Purse Seine, Land Frozen

#2 Sardine 6-10 pcs/kg Canning

Product Name: Frozen W/R Sardine for Canning purpose

Specification: 6-10 pcs/kg, BQF, Trawl, Land Frozen

#3 Scad (Horse Mackerel) 8-10 pcs/kg Market

Product Name: Frozen W/R Scad (Horse Mackerel) for Market purpose

Specification: 8-10 pcs/kg, BQF, Light Purse Seine, Land Frozen

Kindly let us know the name of your destination port. More products information including pictures and price will be sent according to your respond.

Thanks and warmly regards.

I accept that most of this seafood is likely not from our waters. But who is to tell?

And a few more pics of Mdumbi, by Robbie van Wijk, showing the beauty of the place’s waters that we need to protect from exploitation by few, against the will of the public whole. One shot featuring the Sarah Baardman on patrol, about a month back. That is one mean boat and they would know about every ship for a thousand miles around, just with their own equipment, let alone AIS. So hopefully they have their orders to chase and apprehend, as they did last year, with three captures out of nine reported incursions, by foreign vessels. Or are they just on parade?

Trawler Watch 2017: Fishing Trawler spotted trawling at Mdumbi!Sardine Report 8 July 2016 The Coast Guard on patrol for foreign poachers off Mdumbi in the deep Transkei

Ok, but there is something we can do. Since we are the culprits in the first place.

Yes, it’s us.

The buyers of canned fish. We pay for those ships. We pay those politicians their bribes. We pay for the destruction. We even pay for the Sarah Baardman, through taxes! We are paying for both sides?!

And only we can stop the mayhem. By not buying tinned fish. Ever again. No sardines. No tuna. No mackerel. No Anchovies. Etc…

Take the power back!

You would be doing so much good, on so many levels.

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