Boats’ activities off coastline suspicious
APPROACHING neap tide this weekend with the moon moving towards the dark phase, we have a very light southerly predicted with an 8am high tide.
The prospects look good for an afternoon throw from the rocks, especially inside the bay. There are some kob about on the sandy shores. An early morning estuarine adventure would be an option too.
Generally I have not seen decent catches recently, or are the anglers just secretive and camera-shy?
I cannot emphasise how important it is to respect the closed seasons on species. We cannot as sport and recreational anglers contravene permit conditions and then post on Facebook.
We fuel the fire by our own actions. The catch is legal size no doubt and a good size at that, but the season in closed and no argument to justify can legitimise the catch.
Today’s photo says it all. A PE shop owner was raided this past week and hefty fines issued for the possession of excess fish (a large number of different fish species) without a permit or invoices for the commercially caught species.
However, the trade in these fish could not be positively established and only possession was determined. The law does not allow for the trade in recreationally caught fish.
A reader informed me, with concern, of white-hulled trawlers operating close off shore of Beachview. It appears they are foreign craft; however investigation has revealed that they bear the South African flag and have undertaken a joint venture.
These are Korean vessels with local fishermen as deck hands. I can only assume this is part of the small scale fishery programme in some way (training perhaps)?
These are long liners operating between the Cape Recife and Cape St Francis areas. There is so much foreign boat activity off our coast at the moment that this can only lead to opportunity for exploitation as the illegals can slip in between the fleet operating here. It looks like a can of worms to me!
I have received a report that a diver has drowned near Noordhoek. Speculation at this stage connects that person to illegal activity, judging by his past records. It is a sad occurrence that the quest for easy money takes yet another young life.
The poaching of perlemoen around Port Elizabeth has remarkably downscaled, but still it continues.
The boat diving activities are much reduced, but shore diving continues. Our local stocks are at a fraction what they were 10 years ago. As a result diving activities have now shifted to the Western Cape where a boat and equipment with a large consignment of perlemoen was recovered just this week.