By Rizwana Sheik Umar
Did we miss the greatest shoal on Earth?
The KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board said it was possible that the run moved through the KZN area deep offshore, which was why no sightings had taken place.
Debbie Hargreaves, the public relations manager for the Sharks Board, said: "There is a strong possibility that they came our way, passed us and we didn't even know it."
Board officials say there have been no confirmed nettings in KZN at all. Regular updates on the Sardine Hotline have also come to a halt.
Hargreaves said they had stopped because it was unfair to ask callers to keep calling when there was no new information available. She said because there had not been any activity in KZN, the board could not warrant the cost of staff travelling up and down the coast. The last update was done on Monday morning.
Continues Below ↓
According to Hargreaves, should any sardine activity begin on the coastline, East Coast Radio (their Sardine Hotline partners) would broadcast the news and the hotline will then be updated.
The last signs of activity - in the form of hundreds of dolphins and gannets - were reported in past weeks mainly 6km to 7km offshore in the Transkei area from Port St Johns to Waterfall Bluff. But activity in that area has since died down.
Hargreaves, however, remains optimistic, based on previous years when the sardine run happened as late as August.
According to Ina Gericke, Marketing Manager for South Coast Tourism, the "no show" of the sardines would not impact on the success of the line-up of festivals. She said the excitement is still prevalent on the South Coast.
Bobby Naidoo, a commercial fisherman for more than 20 years, said he relied heavily on the sardine run for bait.
He said: "When the sardines arrive we are easily able to stock up on bait for the whole year. If the sardines don't arrive, we have to buy our bait elsewhwere. It definitely impacts on our business."
Naidoo said there was a shortage of sardines at the moment all over the country.
"The Eastern Cape fisherman will probably feel the pinch more as they export most of their sardines."
-
This article was originally published on page 3 of Daily News on July 14, 2009
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
