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13 June 2024 Sardine News Update by Kevin Qora

Sardine Run Update 13 June 2024 by Kevin in Qora

Sardine Run Update 13 June 2024 by Kevin in Qora: Another fantastic sardine run 2024 day…let Kevin sum it up for us…

This is Kevin at Qora Mouth, just north of Mazepa Bay, in the Southern Transkei. The sardine run is truly underway. We’ve been very closely watching the movement of the sardines once they went through Port Edward and the netting started. Plenty nets coming out as this shoal just moves its way slowly north any day now.

It’s going to be reaching the Durban beachfront We’ve heard of big nets coming out this morning at um, kamas. A lot of people are asking is It’s very early in the season. They’re expecting another bunch of big shoals to come through. Let’s really discuss that and look to what we can expect to come through.

And to understand this, we have to go right back to the beginning of where this shoal actually started. And if you were watching our previous videos, these sardines come off the Agulhas Bank, which is off the southern tip of South Africa. And. They’re a migratory species. The biomass of those sardines moves up towards Angola and Namibia on the west coast.

That’s their migration. Every year, they come out of the Agulhas Bank and they move up the west coast of Africa, where they spawn and they breed. Next summer, they move back. They turn around and they move back to the Agulhas Bank. So they have a cycle that they complete. And a certain Percentage of that biomass when that migration happens, splinters off and because of a variety of factors, that little group moves up the East Coast by mistake.

This is only once a year that this whole biomass moves up. So the shoal that was sitting off the East Coast, deep in the Cape, normally gets held up a lot longer than it did this year. But due to very favorable conditions, big south swell, And that front that came through, moved them up the coast extremely fast.

And they came through about a month early. Chaps, this actually is the mother load. The sards that they’re netting in Durban. We shouldn’t expect another big shoal to come through because down south off the Cape, they only do this migration once. The big shoal that’s off Durban right now, this is the shoal of sardines that came splintered off from the main biomass that went up the West Coast.

A lot of people are saying, no, it’s still early and we’re going to get more big shoals coming through. Chaps, it’s not going to happen. There are still some splinter groups and some lagging. little shoals that are moving through the trans sky right now. They’re up past Ports St. John’s up towards Mdumbi and Ports St Johns.

Brazen Head’s got a couple shoals, but these are just minor little shoals, pretty much the same size as the pilot shoals that come before the major shoal. So enjoy it while you can. This is the 2024 shoal that’s now off Durban, just south of Durban, and this will probably be it for the year. And yes, about a month early, but you know, there is no timing.

It’s all based around the current conditions on the year that this happens, even though they’re very early this year. It seems like it’s a bumper crop and the guys are really capitalizing on it. Lots of netting going on. Enjoy it while you got it, but this is it. Let’s see how successful it is for the netters.

So far so good. It’s a wonderful sardine run again. We’ll be back next year for another one. We’ll keep you updated in the, the days to come of where the sods are just for those people that want to go and experience it and, and watch it once they get past Durban, this whole shoal starts reaching very, very warm water, which they can’t survive in.

And even though they might venture up the north coast just a little bit more, they generally will then start dissipating. And those that remain will head out into the deeper water off the shelf just to escape the warm water. They will go back to where the current is. They will dive much deeper, where the water is colder.

And those that remain We’ll probably head back to their Gullis Bank at some stage. That’s all I got for now, and keep it real. I’ll keep you updated if there’s any changes. Cheers.