Swartkops - E Cape
- Thread starter SeanB
- Start date
I am very committed to the conservation and preservation of the Swartkops River. Any help in this regard is most important. Anything to do withn its destruction is important that it be reported and followed up untill a solution is found. There is the Zwarkops Trust who work tirerlessly to see to that.
It is a fact that the Swartkops is the most fished estuary in SA. We as anglers joined MCM and work as HFCO's to curb all illegal activities there. We need the support of people who witness wrong doings there and allow us to deal with it. Thyis is a new idea where a group were enrolled to serve rather than individuals. We work as a team and have numerous succeses to our credit since Feb when we formed.
Four gill nets of more that 200 meters and many other illegal devices used to fish such as crab traps and poles have been confiscated. I cant count the illegal bait but 70 000 mud prawn would be near accurate. Fortunately we liberate that bait. The pencilbait which is under heavy pressure is conpromised. It is killed when they extract it.
The Swartkops River is the "Bread Basket" for all the other estuaries in trhe Eastern Cape. We have a system of "Subsistence Fishers" who with a permit may collect bait by quota for sale to the public. This is a challenge on its own that works only on paper. I'll discuss this in detail should there be interest. It a can of worms which was funned by an overseas concern and allowed to deteriate into a free for all, at the cost of the environment, at the end of the three years for which the project ran. There was no hand over etc etc and the conclusion of the project. They simply open the circus gates and freed all in side to fend for themselves!
It is a fact that the Swartkops is the most fished estuary in SA. We as anglers joined MCM and work as HFCO's to curb all illegal activities there. We need the support of people who witness wrong doings there and allow us to deal with it. Thyis is a new idea where a group were enrolled to serve rather than individuals. We work as a team and have numerous succeses to our credit since Feb when we formed.
Four gill nets of more that 200 meters and many other illegal devices used to fish such as crab traps and poles have been confiscated. I cant count the illegal bait but 70 000 mud prawn would be near accurate. Fortunately we liberate that bait. The pencilbait which is under heavy pressure is conpromised. It is killed when they extract it.
The Swartkops River is the "Bread Basket" for all the other estuaries in trhe Eastern Cape. We have a system of "Subsistence Fishers" who with a permit may collect bait by quota for sale to the public. This is a challenge on its own that works only on paper. I'll discuss this in detail should there be interest. It a can of worms which was funned by an overseas concern and allowed to deteriate into a free for all, at the cost of the environment, at the end of the three years for which the project ran. There was no hand over etc etc and the conclusion of the project. They simply open the circus gates and freed all in side to fend for themselves!
The main purpose of the legal and ILLEGAL bait diggers at the Swartkops river is to gather what the locals refer to as TAPE WORM...it is a deadly bait for Grunter and sells for about R 150.00 - R 200.00 a nip bottle....which is then only about 1/2 full.
The only way to harvest it is to dig up the bait banks with garden forks....and by doing this the diggers harvest all manner of bait...prawn, pencil, kannetjie, case worm, tape worm and the heaps of mud dug up are then washed into the channels when the tide comes in and the river is silting up as a result.
The illegal and so called legal digging is causing huge damage to the estuary and anglers are requested to get their own bait legally .... that is the spirit of angling.
Unscrupulous anglers are buying thousands of rands of tape worm for fishing competitions all along the coast and rumour has it that Tape Worm is even been flown out to other centers...many of the bait diggers operate with cell phones given to them by " some " anglers and they are so to speak running organised bait digging syndicates.
Residents and old timer fisherman that live alongside the Swartkops river will tell you that getting bait for themselves with a prawn pump is now almost a impossibility on some of the prawn bait banks that until 5 years ago were full of bait....these banks have been dug up so often that they are now like concrete.
The diggers dig day and night and their is so to speak no control at night time and bags and bags of bait are removed and if not sold it is simply thrown away to rot and the digging goes on.
I was personally shocked when I heard that at a recent skins competition held at Knysna one angler got one of his employees to drive all the way to Knysna to
deliver R 1,000.00 of tape worm.
People like this should have their boats and fishing tackle confiscated and they should be severly prosecuted as it is this action by anglers that fuels illegal digging.
The only way to harvest it is to dig up the bait banks with garden forks....and by doing this the diggers harvest all manner of bait...prawn, pencil, kannetjie, case worm, tape worm and the heaps of mud dug up are then washed into the channels when the tide comes in and the river is silting up as a result.
The illegal and so called legal digging is causing huge damage to the estuary and anglers are requested to get their own bait legally .... that is the spirit of angling.
Unscrupulous anglers are buying thousands of rands of tape worm for fishing competitions all along the coast and rumour has it that Tape Worm is even been flown out to other centers...many of the bait diggers operate with cell phones given to them by " some " anglers and they are so to speak running organised bait digging syndicates.
Residents and old timer fisherman that live alongside the Swartkops river will tell you that getting bait for themselves with a prawn pump is now almost a impossibility on some of the prawn bait banks that until 5 years ago were full of bait....these banks have been dug up so often that they are now like concrete.
The diggers dig day and night and their is so to speak no control at night time and bags and bags of bait are removed and if not sold it is simply thrown away to rot and the digging goes on.
I was personally shocked when I heard that at a recent skins competition held at Knysna one angler got one of his employees to drive all the way to Knysna to
deliver R 1,000.00 of tape worm.
People like this should have their boats and fishing tackle confiscated and they should be severly prosecuted as it is this action by anglers that fuels illegal digging.
Steve Warren
Member
I see there was a Swartkops Stakeholders Workshop that apparently was supposed to represent all the users. I obviously missed the notice.
These nets are a huge problem and many hours in the dark are spent trying to locate and remove them. However I think they operate in the day mostly during the week when we all at work. Any tip offs about their activity is very important. We don't only want to remove the nets we want to arrest the perpertrators. That is so hard as you have to catch them handling or in possession. "Red Handed" in other words
The pic is a net of more than 100m that we removed on a Monday night at Modderspruit in August. I would have posted earlier but only got the pic this week.
The pic is a net of more than 100m that we removed on a Monday night at Modderspruit in August. I would have posted earlier but only got the pic this week.
