Hauling out shimmering sardines
SARDINES made their first appearance off KwaZulu-Natal’s South Coast on Monday and among the catch netted by seine netters was a bronze whaler shark, that was subsequently freed.
According to Ugu South Coast Tourism, the first sightings of shoals were on Sunday at Port Edward and later that day it moved to the Pumula area, near Port Shepstone.
On Monday morning, the sardines were spotted at Marina Beach, north of Glenmore, with seine netting taking place at Ramsgate main beach.
Rishad Khan, the spokesperson for Vees1 and Moonlight, a fishing group, said they drove between Durban and the Wild Coast for weeks to spot the sardines.
“Knowing it’s sardine season, we could not wait to get our first net,” said Khan.
“We usually drive along the beaches looking but we also have informers who call us when they see activity. On Monday, we got a call that the sardines were out and it was game on.”
He said after sending their first boat in to verify that the shoal was indeed sardines, they launched their first net.
“Once we drop our net, we drive our boat to the shore and pull the net out. We have about 50 men from Vees1 and Moonlight that pull out the nets and sort the sardines.”
According to Khan, Monday’s frenzy resulted in six nets of sardines – of which two belonged to his team.
“About 200 crates were filled with sardines. It was a great feeling, not just to get the sardines, but to see the activity on the beach.”
He said a bronze whaler shark, that weighed about 220kg, was also netted with their haul.
“With the arrival of sardines comes predators. Sharks usually catch sardines by swimming up to the shoal from underneath. When we drop our nets, our net needs to reach below the shoal so we can pull them in.
“While we were pulling the net in, it got stuck on a rock and that is when we realised there was a shark in the net.”
Khan said fortunately Jace Govender, who is in charge of both crews, was an experienced angler and he knew how to free the net from the rock.
“He knew what he needed to do and once he did that, we looked to free the shark. We cut a side of the net to allow the shark to get free and assisted it to get back to safety.”
He said while onlookers were afraid of seeing the shark, they remained calm.
“It’s not rare to net a shark. Sometimes it happens. We have caught bigger sharks while fishing, so all we needed to do was remain calm and focus on returning it to the ocean.”
Speaking about the sardine run, Khan said while it was only once a year, people looked forward to it.
“It’s exciting being there while we are netting because sometimes sardines get free or they come to the shore and people, who are waiting on the side patiently, get their chance to grab the sardines with their hands.
“People love the sardine run and look forward to it.”