Outrage at spearing of 150kg protected fish

Published Jan 17, 2003

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Residents of the South Coast resorts of Pennington and Kelso are outraged at the killing of a giant protected brindle bass, shot twice by a spearfisherman over New Year.

Its body, still with two spears sticking out of it, washed ashore at Kelso last week when crowds gathered around in anger. The brindle and potato bass are nationally protected fish.

Paul Buchel, district conservation officer for Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife for the Scottburgh area, said a local spearfisherman called him to say he had shot a large fish off Pennington which he could not identify or retrieve. Buchel was later informed a large fish had washed ashore at Kelso.

"I immediately identified it as a brindle bass," he said. "It was 1,8m long and weighed about 150kg. We have confiscated the spears and speargun and opened a docket.

"Any fish of that size and form is instantly recognisable to even the most amateur angler or spearfisherman. And it is common knowledge that basses are protected. This is the second brindle bass to be shot in the past four months, the first being on the wreck of the Nebo near Aliwal Shoal."

Johan Visagie, 19, of Pietermaritzburg was on holiday on the South Coast when he spotted the crowd gathered around the dead fish. He said: "I used my dad's video to film it. People were frustrated that a protected fish had died this way."

The most famous potato bass on the South Coast was Clive, a resident of Aliwal Shoal. He was so tame that eco-tourism operator and scuba diver Andy Cobb would regularly remove fishermen's hooks from his mouth.

Clive was shot in 1992 by a spearfisherman, causing great sorrow to divers for whom he was a highlight.

"These bastards are still hitting these basses," Cobb said on Thursday. "They do it openly and without impunity, thinking themselves macho if they can get away with it. The rape of the ocean is blatant."

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