Bass spearfished in Loskop Dam

Bass fishermen threatened to boycott Forever Resort Loskop Dam and future fishing competitions. They are calling the spearfishing unethical and claim that many of the fish were shot whilst spawning on their nests, making them easy targets.

Ulrich Coetzer posted the photos on Facebook in a public post, saying that it was a sad day and that he cannot see how sponsors would back future tournaments at Loskop Dam.

Steve Engelbrecht commented by saying that the same happened at De Hoop Dam, where he claims the bass population was emptied in three months after freezers with (bass) fillets were “shipped out” twice a week.

(Both Mr Coetzer and Mr Engelbrecht were approached for comment on Facebook but they did not reply to messages).

The Middelburg Observer managed to get hold of Andrè Hoffman from the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency, who has the mandate to manage the declared alien and invasive largemouth bass and is the project leader of the Spearfishing Project.

Mr Hoffman said that the Southern version of the largemouth bass (the Florida Bass) are booming in Loskop Dam. The dam forms part of the Loskop Nature Reserve, which is a conservation area.

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He says that threatening to boycott the resort is malicious because the resort has no control over the work the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) is doing at Loskop dam.

According to the website invasives.org.za, Florida bass, also commonly known as the largemouth bass, is classified as an invasive species that must by law be controlled in conservation areas, like Loskop Dam, under the Biodiversity Act of 2004.

The species has several characteristics that make them the perfect predator, to the detriment of indigenous fish species.

It is an open water fish that hunts in packs and the large adult fish are only found in shallow water during breeding season. Bass is a fish species that spawn early in the season with the indigenous species spawning two to three months later, making the young indigenous fish easy prey for the juvenile Florida bass, which also lives in shallow water.

Smaller indigenous fish species, like the dwarf tigerfish or silver robber (Micralestes acutidens) and river sardine (Mesobola brevianalis), are a favourite on the young largemouth bass’ menu. These species have almost completely disappeared from the Forever Resort Loskop Dam launching areas.

Mr Hoffman said that past initiatives and attempts to get bass fishermen to help control the bass numbers in Loskop Dam have been unsuccessful.

Netting could not be considered because it is not selective of what species it catches. Research showed that spearfishing has been successfully used to control invasive species in other parts of the world, like Florida and the Comoro Islands.

Mr Hoffman said he registered the project and selected two teams, consisting of three people each, to spear the fish. The pilot project was launched in August 2018 in Lombardsbaai, a conservation area of Loskop Dam Nature Reserve.

Four operations have since been completed in Loskop Dam since last year November. A specific area, from the dam wall to a certain distance from Forever Resort Loskop Dam, was identified in follow-up operations. The areas identified were a distance of 1.5km, less than 5% of the total 31km of shoreline available for anglers to fish.

There was a gentleman’s agreement with the resort not to remove fish at the resort to make sure that visitors who fish bass from the shore will still be able to do so successfully.

Catch per unit efforts were recorded to determine bass population numbers in Loskop Dam. August may be a good time for the removal of bass because it is breeding season, so fish can be removed before they are able to lay eggs.

Mr Hoffman said that fishermen who claim it is unethical to spear fish who are nesting must explain what the difference is when they seek out nesting areas to catch the same fish with a rod.

After the data from four different trials at different times of the year are processed, Mr Hoffman will use the results to make recommendations for future efforts to control bass numbers in Loskop Dam.

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“We are also in communication with representatives from bass fishing associations to see where we can take hands,” said Mr Hoffman.

He says that the number of fish they removed from two allocated areas show that the bass population is more or less evenly spread in those areas.

“We have 27 fish species in Loskop Dam. Four of them are invasive species. We remove a lot of carp from the dam every year, like with the Carp Bonanza. Bass fishermen are seeing red when we remove bass, but how do they think I feel if I see how indigenous species disappear because they are impacted on by bass? The Florida bass was never legally introduced to Loskop Dam,” Mr Hoffman said.

“I know this is a touchy subject for some fishermen. But it will benefit everyone in the long run. It is proven that bass grow bigger if their numbers, in an aquatic habitat, are controlled. There are also a lot of dams where bass numbers are not managed by conservation authorities,” Mr Hoffman explained.

“Loskop Dam is a conservation area for indigenous species, something the bass is not. We hope to protect species like the Mozambique tilapia (Blou Kurper) which draws a lot of anglers to Loskop each year, and to see Dwarf Tigerfish and Glassfish flourish again,” Mr Hoffman said.

Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency spokesperson Kholofelo Nkambule said in a press release that management of the bass population is possible through angling and was implemented as a control method by various researchers.

“This is labour intensive and should be done through organised angling, including fishing competitions. It was attempted at Loskop Dam, but most of the bass anglers, although required by legislation, were unwilling to remove the bass from the system. A decision was therefore taken to look into the possibility of spearfishing as a management tool.”