Some sardine news at last
There are signs of the approaching shoals but sea temperatures here are still too warm.
ALTHOUGH their arrival is not yet expected, there is at last some good news regarding the ‘Greatest Shoals’.
KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board spokesman Mike Anderson-Reade, who has just returned from a sardine-spotting flight along the coast, reported that the sardine situation has improved significantly since his last flight.
“We saw quite a bit of activity around Waterfall Bluff, but divers and other sardine spotters there report that most of the fish they are seeing are East Coast round herring, commonly known as red-eye sardines. However, there were plenty of diving gannets south of Port St Johns,’ he said.
Mike was not expecting the sardines to arrive just yet. For a start the sea temperature is far too warm. Temperatures taken long the Lower South Coast today ranged between 23 degrees around Margate to 21,5 degrees near Port Edward. For the sardines to extend their range into KwaZulu-Natal the temperature of the sea must drop to below 19,5 degrees.
Mike also believed it was probably still too early for the sardine run. Although the little silver fish had surprised sardine watchers by arriving early, in June for a few consecutive years, they were much more likely to put in an appearance towards the middle of July, he said.
In the meantime, there were plenty of whales to watch although they tended to stay far out to sea on their northern journey to their breeding grounds in Mozambique waters, he said. It was later in the year, on their return journey to the Antarctic, when they came in close to our shores, treating land-based whale watchers to some wonderful displays.
