Amanzimtoti river guardians bag seven gill nets after high speed chase

Amanzimtoti river guardians chased illegal gill netters and confiscated seven nets on Friday night, 6 October.

Jay Naidoo was caught in traffic at an accident scene at Black Rock when a Fiat bakkie loaded with boats and nets came past.

Unable to give chase, he called Emil Pirzenthal in Widenham to keep an eye open for the bakkie.

“I waited for the bakkie to come past, but when Jay arrived, I knew they had turned off,” said Emil.

READ ALSO: Illovo River under siege by illegal netters

Emil drove back towards Scottburgh and spotted them just over the Widenham River. “I intercepted them hiding in a cane circle and they made a run for it. I chased them through Scottburgh and up on to the freeway. I eventually got them on a dirt road up the south bank of the Illovo River.

Jay managed to cut them off after they hit a big pothole and their engine died.”

READ ALSO: Umkomaas police catch illegal gill netters red-handed

The men said they were from Jozini in Northern Zululand and on their way to start fishing.

With it being so late on a Friday night, Emil and Jay could not get hold of anyone from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to respond. As the men had no fish, they were forced to let them go, but not before they confiscated seven massive nets, some over 200m in length.