Cape crayfish stage another 'walkout'

Published Feb 28, 2002

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A second exodus of crayfish from the sea onto the beach at Eland's Bay on the West Coast has raised fears that another red tide could deplete the local resource.

More than 800 tons of the valuable shellfish have walked on to the beach since 5am on Thursday. A similar walk-out, of about 600 tons, occurred a month ago.

Crayfish walk out of the sea when red tide develops and depletes the oxygen in the water.

A month ago, the official response was slow and most of the crayfish died.

This time, however, authorities had responded speedily, said Greg Davis, spokesperson of provincial social services minister Marius Fransman.

"A large fleet of trucks and thousands of crates were made available to pick up live crayfish and transport them to St Helena Bay to be released," he said.

Davis said most of the crayfish were still very much alive, and hopes were that a large percentage could be saved.

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