I have grown up coming to the South Coast on holiday for many years since I was five years old.
It’s now 50 years down the line, and I brought my three-year-old down for his first time at the sea. I am from Johannesburg.
I love fishing and have so since I was 10, and still do.
However, I have seen how our oceans are being overfished.
So, here is my issue.
On a recent trip, I decided to go and do some night fishing off the Uvongo pier.
There were a few locals on the pier fishing at the time, but as I came walking down, I noticed a man running up to his car with a crayfish in each hand.
I was rather surprised, but I ignored it until I got onto the pier, only to find five men fishing for crayfish.
Now, I am all for that, but by no means am I up for plundering the ocean of 15 or so obviously undersized crayfish for one person, which is what was happening in this case.
When I approached the one man, I was told off.
So I left.
Where is the law controlling these things?
Tidy Towns has done some top-class work in keeping things clean, but what happens after hours still needs to be seen to by the various authorities responsible for such things.
It’s great that there is so much being done to keep the beaches and ocean clean and tidy, but what does it help when there is nothing to keep the ocean clean for?
TERRANCE ARNOLD
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