Traumatising the oceans and poisoning ourselves
“HUMANS must learn to live in harmony with the natural rhythms of the earth, or perish.”
These wise words by Wendell Berry are never truer than today as our oceans have become one huge “trash bucket” fed by countless waterways carrying garbage irresponsibly disposed of.
This phenomenon is known as “ocean trauma” and it’s manmade.
There are many other ways that pollution ends up in the ocean and eventually on our beaches. Most of it is in the form of plastics that are not bio-degradable and can lie dormant for years. There are “gyres” in the larger oceans like the Pacific, zones where these plastics have accumulated. The gyres just keep spinning around gathering in size.
Anglers are often blamed for the state of our beaches. However, many beach cleanups have been conducted by organised angling in an attempt to counter this problem.
It all helps but does not solve the problem. Birds, fish and other mammals ingest these plastics that eventually kill them. Consuming fish that have eaten plastic could also potentially cause cancer.
Bisphenol-A, a toxic chemical found in plastic containers, is transferred to the animals consuming this plastic and eventual the food chain is supplied with this chemical and we, as users of the food chain, are exposed to these toxins.
Visit discover-sedgefield-south-africa. com/ocean and view the video by Chris Jordan, called Midway. Artificial lures that are used to catch fish are proof that fish eat plastic. Fish will eat anything that resembles a meal without thought, as competition for food, especially aggregating species, is a part of life.
On to another matter – swimming prawns are about to make their yearly visit to our estuaries. This usually happens about now and a flush of freshwater just after good rains usually stimulates this influx.
How safe are they to eat? I don’t think there should be too much concern here. They are also excellent bait and any surface lure that imitates these prawns will entice a strike.
The water quality of the Swartkops has greatly improved from the results I have been supplied with. However, there is still forced dumping of sewerage into the river as the systems are pushed to capacity.
Kelvin Jones and the Motherwell Canal are of huge concern as they continually exhaust faecal coliforms and E.coli at unacceptable levels. But there has been significant reduction in the concentration levels this past month so there is some hope.
On a more positive note, Cliff Donaldson landed a whopping yellowtail of 18.2kg at Rhye Banks this week. The Rhye Banks are situated about 15km out from the port, a set of reefs and pinnacles.