Durban - Fishermen are scouring the southern KwaZulu-Natal coastline in search of sardine shoals but none has been spotted yet on Monday.
One of them is Tony Moon Outar, a sardine netter, who had driven between Port Shepstone and Mtwalume early on Monday morning.
"Since Sunday there have been no sightings. There were reports of shoals in Port Edward but nothing could be seen from the shoreline. A plane also flew down the coastline on Sunday and nothing was sighted. Until we get a proper cold front things look dull for us,"Outar said.
The KwaZulu-Natal Sharks board said the 083 913 9495 is no longer used for the sardine hotline run updates. All updates are published in a form of media releases on the KZN Sharks Board website www.shark.co.za.
On Friday, the KZN Sharks Board said there had been an increase in sardine activity between Manteku and Mbotyi.
A whale swallows a mouthful of sardines. Picture by Marc Gottlieb sourced from Walter Bernardis-Facebook
Acting head of operations Greg Thompson said a diver operator in the area, Walter Bernardis, had reported birds and dolphins “feeding over an area that covered about 10 rugby fields, which was amazing to watch”.
“Most of the action took place on Wednesday, but it had dispersed by the next day. He did report that they thought this was the first pulse of sardines which had gone past towards KZN. There is a frontal system approaching, so hopefully this keeps pushing the fish north,” said Thompson.
Thompson said sardines were very unpredictable and “have always kept us guessing about their movements.