EDITOR – The KZN Coast has for the last 10 years been promoting the Sardine Run as the ‘Greatest Shoal on Earth’.
This has been going on in my lifetime for the last 60 years.
This has allowed the tourist industry to promote such things as the ‘Sardine Bike Rally’, ‘Sardine Marathon Run/Walk’, ‘Sardine Festival’ and many others which attracts many visitors to the KZN coast between June and July each year.
Fifteen years ago, the diving industry woke up to the fact that the Sardine Run was a major phenomena and a worldwide attraction for eco tourists. National Geographic, BBC World, Nat Geo Wild and many other international TV programmes sent crews to South Africa to film what was considered as one of the ‘wonders of natural history’ phenomena of our planet. Now at least 20 diving charters take hundreds of eco-tourists, both local and international, out to sea to witness this amazing natural history spectacle every year.
Analysing 2012, the great guru of the sardine run, Mike Anderson-Reade, has continuously predicted sardines at Port Edward, Msikaba, Port St Johns and so on. What you as the unsuspecting public need to know is that the Natal Sharks Board for which he works receives a percentage of all the calls made to the sardine hotline which helps to pay for his bonus at the end of the year.
It is here we come to an interesting question. How, when you are flying hundreds of metres above the ocean, like Anderson-Reade does, can you determine that what he is seeing are shoals of sardines, red-eye, horse mackerel, anchovies or many of the other species of bait fish which occur on our coast? Does he throw a bucket over the side of his plane to sample them? Has Anderson-Reade ever dived in his life?
It was about 15 years ago that the new government intervened in the natural course of things. In order to achieve BEE, they bought/took over the shares of the previous national government MPs in the West Coast fishing industry and within a few years, the West Coast sardine industry was messed.
In 2012, almost no sardines have appeared on the KZN coast. The media were led to believe that several hundred baskets were netted at Hibberdene, but it is more than probable that these were shipped up from Port Elizabeth by one of the licensed operators who also have a trawler operating out of PE. Thereafter 40 baskets were caught at Isipingo, but eyewitnesses say more than half of these were red eye and around 40 at the Snake Park near Durban. Altogether not even a few tons.
Here is the funny thing. Scientists had predicted that about 80% of the sardines which emanated from the Augulus Banks on the south coast of Africa migrated up the West Coast and about 20% went up the East Coast. Dr Allan Connel (retired), one of South Africa’s leading marine biologists who has been monitoring the egg counts of the East Coast sardine run for the last 20 years, believes the two-year old East Coast sardines are those which are the breeding stock for all future shoals. He even warned the government several years ago that by allowing purse seine netting from trawlers on the East Coast, would wipe them out. When swimming in these shoals with a mask it is possible to observe the females laying their eggs and this has even been filmed.
The West Coast sardine stocks were almost completely wiped out five years ago due to overfishing and to enrich those who were part of the transition to BEE.
Thus, all the trawlers which were operating on the west coast moved to the east coast and now about 100 trawlers are operating between Plettenberg Bay and East London. Each trawler is allowed a catch of 100 tons per season and with each there is a bycatch (sardines which are crushed in the netting process and are thrown back into the sea) of at least 100 tons per boat, about 20,000 tons in total. Given that in 2011 all the netters on the KZN coast caught around 70 tons during what was considered to be a good sardine run, it may be possible for even the most astute to figure out that the KZN coast is not going to get many sardines in the years to come.
I may be totally wrong and in the next few weeks huge shoals of sardines may appear on the KZN Coast, but then again they may not.
Have you ever thought that we, the residents, ratepayers and taxpayers of the KZN coast have been duped by a cleverly orchestrated media campaign and that we are now witnessing what may be ‘the greatest flop on Earth’?
By the way, have any of you seen any sardines on the KZN coast in 2014?
Brent Addison
Uvongo
