Reports were received on Saturday 30 June from various reliable sources that small pockets of sardines had been spotted at Red Sands on the Eastern Cape Coast just to the south of the Wild Coast Sun Casino.
Pictured left: Netters at Hibberdene yesterday, 2 July.
Shark safety gear on the lower south coast was removed with the exception of the gear at San Lameer, Margate, St Michaels, Umzumbe and Hibberdene. The gear at these selected beaches was left intact to provide a spread of safe bathing for visitors to the lower south coast.
Yesterday morning, 2 July, reports were received of small shoals of sardines at various locations on the lower south coast. An observation flight was undertaken to confirm these.
Seine netters managed to net sardines at Hibberdene and the first net produced 280 baskets of sardines (each basket contains between 28 and 30 dozen sardines). The second net was very small and only 10 baskets of sardine were netted.
The shoals of sardines are very small and are moving quickly northwards. There are no signs of any predators accompanying these small shoals. Five seine net boats were seen at Mtwalume however, at the time of writing, no further netting had taken place. Unfortunately the moderate south westerly wind makes it very difficult for the netters to spot the shoals.
Hopefully netting will continue once the wind has abated and conditions calm over the next few days.
Shark safety gear has been removed from Hibberdene and Umzumbe and bathers are requested to chat to the lifeguards regarding the status of bathing when visiting beaches south of Hibberdene. The KZNSB will continue to monitor the activity on a daily basis.
For more info visit www.shark.co.za