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Sardine Run Update

Sardine Run Update

Date: 2022-06-28

Recently the KZN Sharks Board conducted an observation flight into the Eastern Cape Waters to assess the movement of the sardine shoals thus far. The flight departed from Virginia airport and turned at Hole In The Wall.

The water was still discoloured, ranging from l-4m in KZN, with some areas still having zero visibility. The upper region of the Eastern Cape, from Mzamba to Goss Point, had a maximum of 2-3m visibility, with areas where mud was still being churned up from the seabed to the surface. There was very little sardine related activity spotted in this area, apart from 2 very small pockets seen in the surf zone off the Wild Coast Sun. We then started seeing decent purple shoals of sardines, from Waterfall Bluff scattered right through to Poenskop, just north of Port Saint Johns. These pockets were mostly seen along the shallow line between the backline and slightly offshore. There were approximately 40 pockets seen with one being a long thin piece about 400m long. Throughout this flight we had large pods of common and bottlenose dolphin. We also saw 18 Humpback Whales and 2 Brydes Whales.

From Port Saint Johns to Hole In The Wall the sardine related activity was seen further offshore, with the majority of the Cape Gannets off Hluleka and Mtakatye. water on last week's flight, we could not really gauge how fast the sardine shoals are moving north or if they are still holding in the Waterfall Bluff/Mboyti area. There is also a possibility that the pilot shoals have already moved through the KZN waters unnoticed under the cover of the dirty water or on a deeper line.

As we all know these elusive little silver fish have minds of their own and seem to enjoy proving us all wrong, year after year.

Then suddenly there were reports of nettings coming in from the South Coast, with a decent haul in both Toti and Isipingo. A promising start to the season with hopes of more to come. Visit our website at https://www.shark.co.za for more information.