Seine netters haul in masses of sardines during the annual Sardine Run, which can be experienced on the KZN South Coast this winter!
Image: File
Sardine fever has officially hit KwaZulu-Natal leading to the banning of swimming at all southern beaches, until further notice.
The eThekwini Municipality stated that this is due to the removal of shark nets to facilitate the sardine run.
At the weekend, the KZN Sharks Board reported sightings of sardine shoals in the Port Edward area.
"The seine netters were at the beach and netting took place. There were two successful nets taken during the morning. The sea conditions were tremendously difficult for netting with a strong ground swell running and surf size of about 2.5 meters or possibly larger on occasions," said the KZNSB's Wayne Harrison.
He said this led to a feeding frenzy with sharks and gannets preying on the thousands of tiny silver fish.
"Two netters were successful on Saturday and a total of approximately 80 crates of sardines were netted at Port Edward. One of the nets had 21 sharks caught, all of the sharks were released alive," Harrison said.
On Sunday, just over 40 crates of sardines were recovered at Sandspit while more were caught along Banana Beach. Fishermen were luckier in Pennington and Rocky Bay with better conditions to net.
With all the activity in the water, Harrison warned that swimming is banned from Port Edward to Isipingo beaches.
seanne.rall@iol.co.za
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