People who cut floating buoys from fishing gear, with the intention of removing the gear in which whales and other marine mammals may become entangled, may be doing more harm than good, according to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing.
The department's fisheries management branch highlighted this in a statement, saying it was alerted that some concerned citizens are cutting buoys from fishing gear in False Bay.
It stressed that while it recognised that the citizens’ cutting of the buoys may be well meant, their actions may do more harm than good to marine mammals and whales.
“The floating buoys are markers which mark the ends of lines of fishing gear lying along the sea floor. Removing the floating buoys may result in slower times to find and retrieve the fishing gear by the fishers, thus increasing the opportunity for entanglement of whales and other marine animals,” explained the department.
But what was of even greater concern, it said, was when the removal of the buoys resulted in the fishers not being able to find and retrieve the lines of fishing gear at all.
It said lines of fishing gear that cannot be found and retrieved continue to engage in what was known as "ghost fishing" - meaning that they continue to entrap marine creatures, and lie around on the seabed where they are an ongoing entanglement risk to whales, other marine mammals, sharks, penguins and other sea birds.
“The recent death of a Bryde's Whale in False Bay was the result of 'ghost fishing' when the whale became entangled in old fishing gear that was lost from a fishing vessel which sank some years ago,” said the department.
Responding to a query from the Cape Times, a spokesperson, Kim Prochazka, said the matter of people cutting floating buoys from fishing gear was brought to the attention of the fisheries management branch by a broad range of interested parties.
She said that although detailed data, regarding frequency of such incidents, was not available, the interested parties were sufficiently concerned to request the fisheries management branch to issue a press statement highlighting the possible unintended consequences of this practice.
“We appeal to concerned citizens not to interfere with any fishing gear, as doing so might result in unintended negative consequences to the whales and other marine animals that we are all working hard to protect.”