By Melanie Gosling and Lisa Emanuel
The small town of Struisbaai near Agulhas was up in arms on Thursday when the Two Oceans Aquarium captured a huge stingray in the harbour.
The townsfolk say the stingray has been coming into the Struisbaai harbour for over 20 years and was a tourist attraction.
Abrie Bruwer, from Struisbaai, said on Thursday the fish was so tame it ate out of people's hands: "We love the thing, man. It's not nice to see it go into an aquarium."
Another resident, Con Kruger, said the stingray could recognise the sound of boat's engines.
"It would hear the sound of the chokka boats returning from sea and go and wait at the moorings. The fishermen used to throw it scraps of fish
"The sea is full of stingrays. Why don't they go and catch one in the open sea, not here where it is like a pet," Kruger said.
Glynn Shield said a regular visitor to Struisbaai from the UK used to swim with the stingray every time he visited the town.
"He used to feed it pilchards. This is our tourist attraction and now the aquarium is stealing it," Shield said.
After some residents complained to Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) about the stingray being captured, the organisation on Thursday instructed the aquarium to return it to the sea.
Andre Reinecke, the MCM's regional manager for the south-west coast, said the directive to return the fish hinged on a technicality.
While the aquarium had a permit to catch the stingray, they did not have the permit required to use a net in a harbour.
He said he should have been consulted before the fish was caught.
"The kids love the fish, the tourists love the fish. The fish should go back in the water. It's the right thing to do," Reinecke said.
He said there was no reason the aquarium could not catch another stingray. But, if they wanted to catch fish in a harbour, they would need a permit.
"They've got an exemption to go and fish a stingray. They can legally jump on a boat and go get a fish somewhere else. There's been no foul play, just a misunderstanding," he said.
On Thursday the Cape Times visited the Two Oceans Aquarium where the stingray was swimming in their predator exhibit tank.
Groups of excited children pointed at it and at two divers who were swimming with the ray.
Pat Garrett, curator of the aquarium, said: "See their excitement. That's why we do it. We've got three flagship species here, the big sharks, the sunfish and the rays.
"If we can get a male ray, and they breed successfully, we will return the adults to the sea."
Later, when he had been told by MCM to return the 'ray to the sea as soon as possible, Garrett said he was "hugely disappointed".
"It's not as if we did this underhand, or wanted to kill it.
"I think it's really senseless to have to take it back and go and catch another one. But if that's what they want, we'll just have to go that route," he said.
He said if they caught a 'ray in the open sea, they would have to use a hook, which would be more traumatic for the stingray.
An MCM inspector said he would meet the aquarium staff on Friday to discuss when the stingray would be returned to Struisbaai.