PORT ST. JOHNS

Over the last few days & maybe a week or so, I've seen quite a number of pictures of garrick & kob catches at Port St. Johns & seemingly in the Mzimvubu river.
Images depict anglers showing of garrick being caught in their numbers & with good sized kob also being caught.These reports & images spreads like "wild-fire" on social media, with absolute no further comment even if asked, one would get responses like "it was shared" & further that this "hot spot" is flooded by anglers who wants "in" on the fun & action.
I am not familiar with PSJ at all, & would love if someone who is, could elaborate on the annual phenomena & environmental impact these catches has on future stocks.
I am by no means saying what is caught is illegal, beyond bag limits etc, but at 1st glance looking at the great numbers of garrick caught & not being released, it would seem as if the system might be over-fished, not properly managed by the relevant authorities, but that being my sole point of view until I know better..
It is always a great sight to see lovely catches, but one would always appreciate the facts behind the venue & its capabilities.
Regards.

Only way you could get guys up there to put back breeding fish is by making it unlawful to keep them, ie. slot limits..and enforcing it. Yup it is the normal state of affairs there, ous will come from way down south and way up north to go slag them there..And that cob and garrick stocks have collapsed means nothing to the ignorant, it doesn't seem like that when the spawning shoals are coming past..

Well, there you have it. I am actually shocked that anglers can go into a frenzy & slaughter the garrick in that fashion.

I will post 1 picture which was shared, now it may not reveal the number of anglers who caught, but we anglers are not blind nor stupid.
I will not post the anglers with their catches as I am not starting a war, but was merely trying to understand the activities of PSJ.

Thats heart breaking and from what I hear that garick is not a good eating fish

Thats heart breaking and from what I hear that garick is not a good eating fish

Dr halibut hoffman wrote:

Only way you could get guys up there to put back breeding fish is by making it unlawful to keep them, ie. slot limits..Yup it is the normal state of affairs there, ous will come from way down south and way up north to go slag them there..And that cob and garrick stocks have collapsed means nothing to the ignorant, it doesn't seem like that when the spawning shoals are coming past..

Click to expand...

It was/is one of my favorite spots to fish. This is a yearly phenomena and not sure how long the stock will last! It seems that as soon as the shoals starts moving in the locals starts phoning "friends" from all over SA to come and "feast" (in doing so collecting money from the "friends"). I have been there when this happens and is not a very good thing to witness.
DR...even making it unlawful won`t change anything, because there is nobody to "police" it. I was there the one year and the cob was biting, the locals were smashing them catching and keeping more that there allowed quota. At that stage there was one MCM (hope that is what they are called) officer measuring the catches. The moment he left they "collected" their other catches that they were hiding in the bushes and took off!
To sum it up: It won`t stop until the stocks are depleted.

We can all sit here and talk or moan about it, but unless you change the mindset of the people partaking in this carnage then it will be a total waste of time!

I moved to the Western Cape recently and in this short time here I have seen it happening on my doorstep. People taking 6 or more Galjoen home (per person)...just to mention one species! No wonder it is becoming difficult to catch fish! Ten years from now we can all use our fishing rods for pool cue sticks!

Had to get that off my mind!...Sorry

appologies, As i had started a similar thread.

This is an annual thing and i have witnessed it first hand more than once, have even infact impersonated a concervation officer as i have access to the attire and repremanded these guys. Though obviously i could take no real action. But these guys, as said by Mr valliebassman, will not stop until stocks are utterly destroyed. They have no moral nor ethics and only greed. concervation at psj is extremely poor at best.

I will happily post every pic with every face as without naming and shaming, what power do we have to stop this other than actually taking matters into ones own hand which can pottentially end badly.

pic 1

pic 2

pic 2

they are Jigging these fish Using three trebs on a line with sinker at the end.

This is essentially a commercial practice, as without doubt these fish will be sold. These are not impoverished people, they have boats, high quality tackle, expensive vehicles and the funding for petrol etc to go and destroy these fish immediately upon hearing from there mates.
Please gents, If you see this sort of practice taking place, say something atleast.

Psj is and has been a slaughter house for these stunning fish as it is an area where they congregate in massive numbers. In truth this area should be an mpa due to this, as this is the only thing that will stop it, if it will. There is a concervation office right near the point by cape hermes yet i have not once seen an officer there so this clearly is of no help.

People, anglers should come with workable solutions or advice in order for this slaughtering to stop in its tracks before its to late.

Identifications of any sort of destruction is always vital at its early stages. Then the process starts to inform the correct people, be it authorities or organizations who actually deals with such issues & who has a say, voice or influence to bring about change.

So lets us be part of the change & not part of the rest closing our eyes to the problem.

I honestly think a fishing license should go hand in hand with a competency certificate of some sorts. Because the excuse these guys are gonna give at the end of the day is that they didn't know about the limits or some other bullsh*t like that. And there should be much stronger repercussions for idiots like these, but tbh I haven't seen any action being taken what so ever against people like this, so it's highly unlikely that anything will be done about it now or in the future.

It should be made more visible for all to witness. Maybe someone knows a person in the media or can publish it in all the fishing magazines. If lucky someone in a position of power that also enjoys his/her fishing will see it and try to stop this.
I am sure the lodges in the area knows what is happening and what they don`t realize is in 10 years time nobody will be visiting PSJ anymore, because there will be no fish. PSJ relies on tourism and without that it will be come a ghost town and many people will loose their jobs and hence will not be able to feed their families.
The jerks catching/slaughtering the fish won`t care, because the have jobs back home!

eisch

This does not seem to be good.
Ok, do we have proof that the pictures posted is of this years catches?

So if it is, going to the authorities is one thing.
will something come of it?
Unless we make it happen and we baby sit the matter through court, then yes, y not.

I am not one for slandering people on a open forum.
but if we as a community, just leave it, then it will obviously continue

I am one, for exposing of people who are breaking the law.
If we do it through the forum, then we just need to do it in a orderly manner.

I cannot see it go much further.... if we decided to expose a person/s for breaking the law.

The only thing is, that the mods, needs to delete comment which is of bad taste/ slander.
So please do take note of your posts.

Even just a "discus ting " statement should be deleted by the mods,

We need to keep it clean and if needed, we can show, that the tread was about identifying the person/s and to obtain all the information in order to report it to the authorities.


so, lets rather get the facts and post it here.
when was the fish caught.
by whom and where.
how many anglers involved?
was the law broken and what actions was taken by us to see if we can get the authorities involved?


Lets identify the culprit/s and expose him/ them to the media in order to get action from the authorities if needed.

If we do nothing, then our moaning and bitching will not get us any where?

So it will be.....up to us, to make things happen.

I have even thought about the bag limit of 10 fish pppd.

for what is it still in place?
if Garrick is under such huge pressure, why is it left at 2x pppd?

why can we keep 10 cudas?
for what?
and 10 snoek? so 4x anglers on a boat can take 40 snoek a day?
Even if it is pelagic, it does not matter!!!!


LETS RATHER MAKE THE BAG LIMITS SUSTAINABLE!!!!

It is also time, that Dr. Bruce Mann, see if they can get it changed for future purposes for the safety of our fish stocks and our hobby.
Asb Dr. Bruce.

Asb...!

And please we need laws protecting our breeding stocks..it needs to be unlawful to take them out the sea. If everyone returned them, then one day it would be fully sustainable to take ten fish a day out..if they were not juveniles or breeding stock. The resident eastern cape shoal of breeding fish that used to return after the sardine run was up to 20 km long, that was a few decades ago..in those days the guys used to catch them at plett and the rocks would be littered with too many dead fish to count ,and they'd just leave them there in the sun so that some hungry soul could walk the 5km to the point to go fetch them, im told most times they'd just rot..they were so wasteful, thought the sea would never empty. Times have changed hey..

So i spoke to Rob Kyle about certain aspects.

they are trying their best to get advise about quotas and bag limits in governments head!!!

they can only advise them of what is the best, but if government ignores it, then it is up to us.

it is also of no use, that new laws are implemented because there is no one to police it.

i will attach the bag limit regulations just for knowledge sake.

so it is up to us!!!!!!

about this tread:
how far are we in identifying the culprits?
do we have confirmation about when the pic was taken and when the fish was caught?
what have we learned?
do we have more info?

I think the majority of anglers & especially the die-hard environmental conscience anglers will agree that any form of an attempt to curb this slaughtering will be gladly appreciated.

To answer a few of WWS (Pottie's) questions & in no spesific order....

Yes the pics were taken this year at PSJ during the garrick/kob run they experienced recently. Been confirmed by many.

Will something come of it as you asked ? Well, that depends hugely on the public (anglers, general public, our children, owners of beach guesthouses & rental properties, marine biologists & many more ) outcry & a request for stringent legislation wrt the open slaughtering of fish stocks & perps, knowingly the stocks are on the serious decline.
Let this slaughtering be a step in the right direction for other species.

What purpose does it serve the authorities to catch & fine an angler for being over his bag limit for ie. Shad at a certain beach or spot like Blue Lagoon or Tugela mouth but nothing is done at PSJ ?

We as an Angling community cannot ignore such incidents. Yes it makes us part & parcel for looking the other way.
My reasoning is simple....it gives us all as anglers a very bad name.
More strict legislation might be implented without our participation which could lead to an angling industry loosing billions in income & revenue for the country.
So, do we say something or keep quiet ?
We must be seen & heard & protect what we enjoy not for tommorrow but years to come & make it clear to those individuals who give us a bad name.

Without revealing to much, Yes there are very good, kind hearted people out there at this very minute trying their level best to convince authorities to open their eyes & start acting. Not only PSJ & not only garrick & kob, but at least its 1 of the many issues.
Unfortunately one cannot expose the who & what (Those helping) in order to try & be successful in the attempt.

Yes, we are achieving something with these posts. We are creating awareness amongst our children, new anglers, uniformed anglers & hopefully sending a clear message to the culprits, be it that they are being watched, pics taken, or messages passed on to them or that their days are numbered, but they will get the message.

Litteraly numbers of social media platforms are talking about this very event at PSJ & out of all the participants commenting, 99% of them are crying out for help to preserve our environment,but seemingly none or a few have a solution.

So Pottie, I sincerely hope SL as an angling community & pro-environmental conservation group can make a positive contribution without resistance.