Sardine run back in Durbs after 5 years

DURBAN: Big catches of sardines on Durban’s beachfront this week have caused great excitement with even the queue at Addington Hospital dissipating as people ran to the beach to watch.

The slippery silver fish had eluded fishermen in Durban for more than five years.

But this week fishermen on boats scoured the waters close to shore in search of sardine between Blue Lagoon and uShaka Beach.

Tony Outar Moon, a seasoned fishermen, said there was a lot of sardine activity on the South Coast and it was bound to move to Durban beaches.

“The sardines were in deeper waters in the past few years. It is hard to predict where they will show up next. We sell them by the crate to fish shop owners, street vendors and bait shops,” he said.

The fish were selling for R30 a dozen on the beach. A net full of sardines could fill 400 crates. A crate of sardines was selling for R700. About 60 crates were netted within a few hours.

Harris Naidoo, a netter from Scottburgh, explained how they caught sardines. “We prepare our nets into a left and right portion and load them into different containers on the boat. Keeping the boat steady is difficult as we look into the water to spot dark patches. We drop the net and circle around the shoal of fish forming a horse-shoe shape.

“The workers on the shore pull on the ropes attached to the nets until the nets come ashore.”

“Fried sardines are a delicacy,” said Zubeida Essop, 63, of Overport, as she abandoned her wait for medication at hospital and rushed to the shore.