We spent the morning at uShaka Marine World where we saw most of the sea life that lives in the Indian Ocean near Durban. The staff were highly informative and we shared the space with only a few school groups. Durban has the highest population of Indian people in the country and I must say the children are absolutely beautiful.
In the afternoon we happened upon a group of locals netting sardines right off the beach near our hotel. The sardines, which are about 10 inches long, migrate from the Cape; we are at the tail end of their season. It was fascinating learning about the process and the highlight of my day. Mark and Annika even helped pull in the net. People swarmed to buy them right from the crate on the beach (1 dozen for 10 Rand; or a whole crate, about 360 fish, for 60 Rand; 7 Rand = $1). Later we learned people will buy them by the crate and take them home to freeze them to use for fishing throughout the year. Some people, of course, also eat them. A good net will catch up to 40,000 fish!
Mark’s highlight came later when a man from a local fishing club taught us about fishing for shad and shark which both follow the sardine’s migration. The tackle, knots and technique were all so interesting. When used for bait, the sardine’s head is cut off and its body is split open. Then a large, barbless hook is place inside the body and string is wrapped around the fish. A man (there were no women) then casts the bait over the waves with a 14-foot rod right from the shore. Within about 15 seconds a 12-15 inch fish has been caught. A local gentleman caught a skate and the captain of the fishing club hooked into a shark while we were milling around. I’d tell you the kind of shark but I can’t always understand the accent of the people. These sharks take up to 5 hours to land but this one broke the line just after an hour. These guys invited us to a beach up the shore tomorrow morning where they will catch fish about 3-4 feet long.
It was a great day.
Deb
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