December 08, 2008 Edition 1

STRANGE lights at night. The sound of powerful diesel engines and of voices drifting across the water.

These phenomena are unlikely to be the mark of “aliens”, of smugglers coming ashore nor of an invasion force preparing for an assault on the Pondoland Coast.

People living near the Wild Coast beaches believe they actually emanate from fishing trawlers illegally entering South Africa’s 12km protected zone at night. Numerous people have reported hearing these vessels close to Pondoland beaches at night, including the writer of our Idler column, Graham Linscott.

Environmentalist Pat Goss, whose family owns the Mngazi River bungalows near Port St Johns, believes these boats enter the protected zone either to trawl or to drop pot traps. He says they disappear by morning.

Janice Sutherland, a staff member at the Kob Inn resort at Qora Mouth, says she has given up reporting the presence of vessels to the Crime Stop hotline number, because operators insist she provides them with the name of the vessel or other distinguishing marks. But, she argues, how can a resident obtain the name of the vessel when it arrives in pitch darkness, and leaves before daylight?

Goss says the proclamation of the Pondoland Marine Protected Area needs to be accompanied by vigorous law enforcement.

Those tasked with the duty of protecting the coast’s precious environmental heritage are sceptical about most of the trawler reports. They argue that most local fishing vessels are tracked by satellite, through the VMS vessel monitoring system. They believe the vessels may be simply moving close to shore at night to get out of strong currents.

We are, however, uncomfortable with these arguments. Not all vessels are on the VMS system and there is a serious shortage of environmental patrol vessels, although plans have been announced to add to their number (it would be an exaggeration to use the word “fleet”).

Violations of environmental laws, unfortunately, are visible to all on our beaches these days. Fishermen blatantly exceed permitted fish sizes and bag quotas, often with impunity. Trawlers can do even more harm than individuals.

The authorities need to take warning calls from the public far more seriously and step up patrols in areas where there appear to be most violations

Posted on December 11th, 2008
Filed under: Newspaper and Media