THE first sardines to be caught off Toti since 2012 were netted off Illovo Beach at about noon on Wednesday, 10 June when the skipper and crew of Moonlight bagged some 120 crates of the elusive silver fish.
The sardine run is a fascinating sight for beach locals, who formed a frenzied crowd around the seine nets as the crew of the boat crated their catch, while gulls swooped overhead to pluck any wayward fish from the waves.
While locals are still hoping to see plenty more catches, the fact that they’ve once again been netted on the Upper South Coast is a promising sign.
This comes after last week’s netting of the first sardines of the season in the Margate and Uvongo area on Thursday morning, 4 June. There was also some activity off Southbroom last week.
The KZN Sharks Board’s Mike Anderson-Reade said they spotted a small pocket off Sezela and in the Port Edward bay during a flight on Monday, 8 June.
“From Mkhambati to Port Grosvenor it was very busy, with between 2,000 and 3,000 dolphins and gannets,” he said. “Normally the sardines hold south of Waterfall Bluff, before they move north on to the KZN coast.
On Tuesday we took another flight to see how far they had moved. The water was murky and we could not see much activity and the predators had moved south of Waterfall Bluff. There was still some activity north of Waterfall Bluff, but it was not as intense.”
The Sharks Board will undertake another flight on Thursday, 11 June, and depending on the outcome of that outing, will assess whether to replace the shark nets into position south of Brighton Beach, On Tuesday they indicated there was a possibility of them re-installing the gear on Toti main beach on Thursday if the flight revealed no activity on the Upper South Coast.
“The netting on Margate last week was a complete surprise and we feel the sardines came in from the deep and not along the coast. We will continue to play the waiting game and hope this year they will make an appearance on the Upper South Coast,” said Mike.
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