Durban - A photograph of two Durban fishermen with a haul of 10 very big black mussel-crackers has sparked outrage on social media, with calls for both men to be prosecuted and banned by local fishing clubs.
The black mussel-cracker (poenskop) is a vulnerable and long-lived fish species whose numbers have crashed by almost 80% in recent times. Licensed anglers are not allowed to catch more than one a day.
Now Warner Beach anglers Craig van der Linde and Garth Richardson have been labelled “greedy” (along with some much rougher terms) after the photograph went viral on several social media sites. The fish were said to have been caught near the Aliwal Shoal near Umkomaas.
While neither Van der Linde or Richardson could be tracked down to respond on Wednesday, the incident has also heightened concern about the impending vacuum in marine policing on the KZN coastline with the departure of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife fishing inspectors at the end of this month.
They are due to be replaced by war veterans and other personnel from the Western Cape when the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries takes over responsibility for fisheries compliance and monitoring in KwaZulu-Natal from August 1.
Fish scientists and other interest groups fear that the departure of Ezemvelo will leave a policing vacuum that will be exploited by unscrupulous recreational and commercial anglers.
While The Mercury made several attempts to contact Van der Linde and Richardson to hear their side of the story, commentators on social media embarked on a naming and shaming campaign against the pair.
“This is simply nauseating. Nothing can ever justify 10 dead poensies,” remarked Andre Laas on an online fishing forum.
Clint Lentz said they should be banned by local fishing clubs and prevented from launching their boats.
Bruce Mann, a senior scientist at the Oceanographic Research Institute in Durban, told The Mercury that black mussel-crackers were a very popular eating fish.
But because they were vulnerable to over-fishing, they were currently protected by a strict size limit and bag limit of one fish per angler per day.
Mann estimated such a haul could fetch at least R30 000.
It came to light earlier this month that the KZN Provincial Coastal Committee, an advisory body to the government on on marine matters, had urged the MEC for environmental affairs to meet Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries officials urgently to reverse the decision to cancel Ezemelo’s marine contract.
The Mercury sent queries to the office of MEC Sihle Zikalala and the department on Wednesday on this issue, but neither has responded.
The Mercury