ILLEGAL fishing using gill nets is on the rise in Mtunzini’s Umlalazi River according to the Wildlife Heritage Organisation Zululand (WHOZ) is doing something about it.
Last week Brendan Bristow of WHOZ pulled a net approximately four metres by four metres with a number of fish and crabs entangled in it from the lagoon.
The nets, set either from a boat or by walking them out from the shore, are set in the hope that a shoal of fish will swim into them and become entangled.
‘Initial estimates indicate that there are at least 7 000 fishermen active in fisheries using beach-seine and gill nets in South Africa, mostly along the West and South coasts. Those fishermen use 1 373 registered and 458 illegal nets and report an average catch of 1 600 tons annually’, according to The status of the South African beach-seine and gill-net fisheries.
Bistow explained how, on a daily basis, he sees these illegal nets and as one is removed, another one takes its place.
The nets trap fish and marine life irrespective of size and if it continues, will deplete the river and lagoon of marine life creating devastating consequences.
