“We then started seeing decent purple shoals of sardines, from Waterfall Bluff scattered right through to Poenskop, just north of Port St Johns. These pockets were mostly seen along the shallow line between the backline and slightly offshore. There were about 40 pockets, 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 two Bryde's whales.”
From Port St Johns to Hole In The Wall the sardine-related activity was further offshore, with most Cape Gannets off Hluleka and Mtakatye.
“Unfortunately, with the muddy water on last week’s flight, we cannot really gauge how fast the sardine shoals are moving north, or if they are still holding in the Waterfall Bluff/Mbotyi area,” said Thompson.
The next flight to East London is scheduled for June 21.
Every winter‚ most often in June or July‚ millions of sardines leave the cold waters off Cape Point and make their way up the coast to KwaZulu-Natal.
Each year holidaymakers flock to the province to catch a glimpse of the spectacle, which is dubbed “the greatest shoal on Earth”, and includes sharks‚ birds and dolphins in a feeding frenzy as they prey on the sardines.
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
Where are the sardines? Did we miss the pilot shoals?
Image: 123RF/Andamanse
There is a possibility the pilot shoals of sardines moved to KwaZulu-Natal unnoticed under cover of dirty water or on a deeper line, the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board said on Friday.
The board's acting head of operations, Greg Thompson, said the elusive fish have “minds of their own” and “seem to be enjoy proving us all wrong, year after year”.
His crew conducted an observation flight into Eastern Cape waters on Tuesday to assess the movement of sardine shoals so far.
“The flight departed from Virginia Airport and turned at Hole In The Wall. The water was still discoloured, ranging from 1m to 4m in KwaZulu-Natal, with some areas still having zero visibility. The upper region of the Eastern Cape, from Mzamba to Goss Point, had a maximum of 2m to 3m visibility, with areas where mud was still being churned up from the seabed to the surface,” Thompson said.
“There was very little sardine-related activity spotted in this area, apart from two very small pockets in the surf zone off the Wild Coast Sun.
'Unpredictable' sardines may be swimming their way to KwaZulu-Natal
“We then started seeing decent purple shoals of sardines, from Waterfall Bluff scattered right through to Poenskop, just north of Port St Johns. These pockets were mostly seen along the shallow line between the backline and slightly offshore. There were about 40 pockets, 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 two Bryde's whales.”
From Port St Johns to Hole In The Wall the sardine-related activity was further offshore, with most Cape Gannets off Hluleka and Mtakatye.
“Unfortunately, with the muddy water on last week’s flight, we cannot really gauge how fast the sardine shoals are moving north, or if they are still holding in the Waterfall Bluff/Mbotyi area,” said Thompson.
The next flight to East London is scheduled for June 21.
Every winter‚ most often in June or July‚ millions of sardines leave the cold waters off Cape Point and make their way up the coast to KwaZulu-Natal.
Each year holidaymakers flock to the province to catch a glimpse of the spectacle, which is dubbed “the greatest shoal on Earth”, and includes sharks‚ birds and dolphins in a feeding frenzy as they prey on the sardines.
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
READ MORE:
Flood impact won’t affect annual sardine run
What spawned the sardine run? How the ‘greatest shoal on Earth’ works
Mystery of why annual 'sardine run' happens revealed
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
News and promos in your inbox
subscribeMost read
Latest Videos