Another whale was caught in the Ballito shark nets on Monday while officials at KwaDukuza municipality have dragged their feet for the past 12 months over allowing the Sharks Board to install drum lines.
A Southern Right whale calf was trapped and subsequently released from the shark nets at Thompson’s Bay early on Monday morning, September 21.
In July a humpback whale had to be disentangled from the nets at Willard Beach during the Ballito Pro in full view of the international surfing community and television cameras as well as another whale having been rescued from the nets at Westbrook Beach in August last year.
The KZN Sharks Board delivered a presentation to KDM a year ago on October 1, asking for permission to replace some of the shark nets along our coast with drum lines – a shark hook suspended from an anchored float that dramatically reduces by-catch.
KDM was expected to have given the Sharks Board the go-ahead by mid-August after the KDM amenities portfolio committee had finally approved the request in July (‘Baited drum lines on the way’, Courier, July 29), but then the minutes of that meeting went missing and the process stalled.
The item was eventually resubmitted to EXCO last week after the amenities portfolio committee met on Wednesday, September 16 and passed the motion.
“All that is still required is a resolution from EXCO to be added to the letter and then it will be sent to the Sharks Board this week,” said beach manager, Steve Honeysett.
The whale alarm was also stolen from the Thompson’s Bay marker buoys last week. Whale alarms send out signals to alert whales and other marine animals of the shark nets in order that they can avoid them.
Irritated by the theft, Sharks Board head of operations, Mike Anderson-Reade said although a viable coincidence, it was impossible to say whether the disappearance of the whale alarm had anything to do with the calf being caught.
