When is the sardine run in south africa 2017

So many dive bombing birds - my favorite. The only sad part is that my gopro got water logged right before this bait ball so I wasn't able to capture any of it and no others had cameras. Scuba happens when the Bait Balls are in tact, large and there is time to get back on the boat and don tanks! We offer a boat based adventure for everyone, whether a diver or non diver. Fluctuating warm water gyres in the mighty Agulhas current, pull cooler water along the coastline and bring pockets of sardines up from the Agulhas Bank spawning grounds.

Reports from this time were of scattered bait-ball activity in all of those areas. These nearshore counter currents arise from up-welling along the coast between Port Alfred to Port St. Further movement past Waterfall Bluff near Mboyti is believed to depend on a break-away eddy from the Agulhas current, allowing further NE movement of sardines along the Durban South Coast — The Waterfall Bluff gateway hypothesis.

By the time the sardines reach the South Coast of KwaZulu Natal, shoals of differing sizes tend to come through in pulses, that are further concentrated by predators; dolphins ,birds, sharks and whales following the shoals. Migration or not and semantics aside, there are many complex factors that contribute to a good or bad sardine run year. What is the history of the Sardine Run? The sardine run was an event traditionally associated with the Natal South Coast Port Edward to Durban , when locals and fishermen eagerly awaited the seasonal arrival of sardines and associated game fish in June and July.

The earliest reference we can find to the sardine run in Durban is from This stranding of fish has not been remembered to have occurred beforehand. Unable to compete with better equipped netters that arrived in later years, their operations became confined to the Durban area, where only one boat remained by At about the same time, sport fishing was becoming popular and local pioneers of rock and surf techniques used hand-made tackle; cane rods and flax lines to target the gamefish and sharks associated with the sardine run.

Sometimes the sardine shoals would beach as the sheer number of fish trapped against the shore would deplete all the available oxygen and suffocating fish would be left stranded, unable to escape the falling tide. In Natal it was the southern winter, the water was colder, and among the species in the nets was the great white shark. If sardine shoals move along the coast more than one kilometer offshore few, if any, sharks are caught in the nets. When shoals swim through netted areas hundreds of sharks are meshed.

Over sharks were removed from the nets in ten days. Many nets could not be located for several weeks and the number of sharks which decomposed in them is unknown. Thankfully the Natal Sharks Board is now removing the nets during the sardine run. Gill nets and drum lines are the weapons of choice, despite the non-lethal protection options that are now currently available.

As a government subsidised organisation The Natal Sharks Board continues to operate with impunity as a shark fishery, much to the dismay of many concerned South Africans. How has the sardine run changed over the years? The shoals were usually sighted off the Bashee River mouth in the Port St Johns area around the 8 th or 9 th of June, and given good weather would reach Durban by about the 25 th of the month.

He then goes on to express concerns over the shark nets and cites the absence of predator fish and sharks, to drive the shoals inshore as a probable cause for the decline of the South Coast sardine run. This unusually early run was attributed to the light winds which had prevailed for several weeks, and also to the large numbers of sharks and gamefish which had driven the shoal close inshore.

The last major sardine run to reach the South Coast in recent years was in , with some huge shoals making their appearance off Isipingo, Scottburgh and Warner Beach and a few shoals reaching Durban by the 21st of June. Ironically was the first year that Hibiscus coast tourism went all-out marketing the sardine run. Since then the netting on the South Coast has been sporadic to say the least although some catches were reported in , and Netting in and were by far the best sardine runs in recent years and this has led many to believe that the Sardine Run may be returning to the South Coast.

This trend seems to be holding true with and reporting huge volumes of fish passing the Wildcoast. We have high hopes for Whilst near to shore, the only launch site that can be easily utilised is our initial harbor entrance at Buffalo river. Often we are a two hour boat ride away from this harbor, thus cannot return back to land for sea sickness.

If you are prone to sea sickness, it is best to take as many precautions as possible to control it prior to launching. Bad weather is an unfortunate reality on the Sardine Run. The wild coast of South Africa got its name for being, well, a little wild weather wise!

Thus it is likely that we will lose a day or two on each expedition to bad weather. If there are more than one bad weather days, then it is up to you to decide what alternative activities you would like to do. Maybe a trip to the mall or relaxing on the nature farm where we stay?

Unfortunately, Blue Wilderness is not able to offer refunds on additional bad weather days for this expedition. Deposits are non-refundable however can be redirected to subsequent years expeditions in case of forced cancellation.

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