Fishing in DE HOOP Nature Reserve – Tag and Release Project

Fishing in DE HOOP Nature Reserve – Tag and Release Project

The tag and release project has been going for 30 years, starting one year before De Hoop was announced as a Marine Protected Area in 1986. This is a government initiative managed by The Department of Environmental Affairs, Branch Oceans and Coast, Directorate –  Biodiversity and Coastal Research. The data collected from this project has been used to manage recreational fisheries outside the reserve and also study the movements and growth of fish species. There are two areas in DE HOOP where fish are tagged namely Lekkerwater and Koppie Alleen. There are 6 trips per year with 10 anglers per trip of which 2 anglers target sharks and 8 anglers target edible fish. Anglers tag fish for 4 days from sunrise to sunset and therefore only fish daylight hours.

We arrived on the Sunday afternoon at De Hoop. After unpacking all our fishing gear we went down to Lekkerwater to flag the beach where we were going to fish the coming week.  Over a 3,5km stretch we pinned down a flag every 100m. Each flag is numbered and represents GPS coordinates. Once you catch a fish you need to measure the fish, tag the fish, indicate what specie it is and at which flag you caught the fish. Each tag has a unique reference number which then belongs to that specific fish. When the same fish is caught again sometime in the future the tag reference number will give meaning to the initial data collected since the first time the fish was tagged and the recapture date. We tagged 346 fish over the 4 days. Most of the fish tagged were galjoen. The conditions was not that great but regardless we still caught plenty of fish. Check out this video which is a summary of the week’s fishing:

 

(I apologize if some of the footage is a bit blurry – due to water that splashed on the lens)

 

I have been fishing for many years and can say with confidence that I would not have caught 42 fish in 4 days anywhere along our coastline in those conditions. In fact I would have been lucky if I caught 10 fish over 4 days with the same amount of effort. This brings me to my next point – MORE MARINE PROTECTED AREAS. Why? I think the reason is obvious and I would like my children and other children to also be able to fish in 15 years from now. I don’t want them to listen to the stories like I have  how rock and surf anglers caught Rooi Steenbras and White Steenbras by the hundreds in 1 day. Today Rooi Steenbras is a protected specie and White Steenbras is not far from being on the red list unless some drastic intervention takes place. We have 1, 5000,000 rock and surf anglers in South Africa. You can imagine the human pressure on fish. IF De Hoop were opened to public to fish freely as they like the fish population in the reserve will be depleted within 3 months at the current catch rate in the reserve.

So what is the solution to this problem? Don’t fish, leave the fish alone. We all know that is not going to happen and I am the first to put my hand up.

For starters I think all anglers should take responsibility and make this our problem. We can start by respecting bag limits and seasons when fish can be caught as those rules are there for a reason to give fish time to breed. Be a responsible fisherman!

Secondly more Marine Protected Areas are necessary to give fish the opportunity to breed and feed without any human interference. For example the Hermanus Plaat is arguably the preferred fishing ground for many anglers targeting White Steenbras. Why not make the Hermanus Plaat from the De Kelders end right down to the Mouth at Grotto Beach a reserve? Anglers will still get good catches on the borders of the reserve as fish will move in and out of the reserve. If we have more Marine Protected Areas on our coastline it can only have a positive influence on the fish population. De Hoop is a perfect example! I caught a tagged Galjoen 4 years ago in Jongensfontein which is proof that fish do move in and out of the reserve.

You are probably wondering which species we tagged on the trip at De Hoop. We tagged Galjoen, Musselcracker, White Steenbras, Elf, Kabeljou and Sharks.

Here are some interesting facts about some of these fish:

Fish can feel a degree of pain but much less than humans, more of an irritation than pain which they experience. A fish was caught and tagged and the same fish was caught 10 minutes later. Can’t be that painful then?
Galjoen Males are sexually mature at 31 cm and females at 34cm. Hence the size limit is 35cm, giving them at least once chance to breed before being caught. Up to about 47cm you will find both sexes, but any Galjoen larger than that is always female. The maximum ages we have measured so far is 22.4 years for a male of 47cm and 41.3 years for a 67,5cm female. Pretty amazing.
White Steenbras and Kabeljou both migrate to spawn, they are not territorial like galjoen.

Finally here is a scenic video of the territory we fished in. Note that the white house in the video on top of the hill is the old holiday house of former President FW De Klerk. He gave the house back to the state after he stepped down as President. I wonder if our current President would have done that.

 

Please share your comments below and your opinion on having more Marine Protected Areas. Or maybe a solution on how we can protect our fish species please?