KZN sardine festival has officially began

THE long wait is over. The sardines have landed at emanzimtoti and the sardine festival is on.

But as we enjoy these mouthwatering bites on a cold winter’s day, spare a thought for these little, silvery fish which face such enormous trials and tribulations to fulfil one of nature’s great urges – to reproduce.

As the sardines move up the KZN coastline to their spawning grounds, they have to run the gauntlet of numerous predators, all waiting to feast on the gourmet meal. The greatest shoal on earth faces a threepronged attack – from air, land and sea.

Sharks, seals, dolphins and whales gorge themselves on the frightened sardines which, massed together for protection, swim for their lives. From the air, gannets and cormorants dive down into the sea at like fighter planes to snatch their share of the bounty. And waiting eagerly along the shoreline are humans with their boats, nets and baskets to haul in their catch.

But it’s the foreign trawlers which pose the biggest threat to fish in the oceans. Equipped with sophisticated technology, they simply suck up the shoals of sardines.

Man poses the greatest threat to marine life. We rape the oceans and then dump our plastics into the sea. It is predicted that soon there will be more plastics in the oceans than all the marine life. Some years the sardines give the KZN coastline the slip. There may come a time when they disappear for good, ending one of the greatest natural spectacles on earth. THYAGARAJ MARKANDAN