Francesca Villette
THE exorbitant price of fish over the Easter period has never fazed Lindsay Johnson and his family of seven from Lavender Hill.
On the contrary, it creates an opportunity for Johnson, who is unemployed, to make money from his own catch.
For as long as he can remember, every Easter Johnson and his father would walk, rod, bait and tackle in hand, to different parts of the False Bay coast and catch their own snoek and yellowtail.
It is a tradition that Johnson passed down to his five sons.
“We must have pickled fish on Friday, there is no doubt about it. That we can’t afford to buy fish is not going to stop my family from eating a feast,” Johnson said yesterday.
Johnson and his sons met up with three other relatives on the rocks at their favourite spot in Clovelly yesterday, where they fished for about six hours.
“If I catch more than I need, I would sell the the rest to willing buyers for less than what the fishmongers are selling. If I can’t manage to sell everything, I would barter the snoek for chicken or steak with my mother,” he said.
City residents have complained that they have had to pay three times more than usual for fish in the run-up to Good Friday.
At Kalk Bay Harbour, one of the most popular places to buy fresh fish, customers have forked out R350 for yellowtail and R250 for snoek.
Fishmonger Rafiek Isaacs said he wanted people to understand that he and others did not make a big profit on their sales.
“We are not the hyenas that people are making us out to be. We are at the mercy of fishermen who are selling the fish to us for prices we can barely afford. I make about R10 profit on a snoek during Easter. Blame climate change for there being less fish in the sea.,” Isaacs said.