RiverWise
Issue 23 ~ June 2020
The monthly newsletter of the Lower Breede River Conservancy Trust
How your membership
can help the Breede
Thank you for your support over the last year!
All estuaries in South Africa are under severe pressure resulting from over-exploitation of natural resources, habitat destruction and deterioration of water quality.
If you take an active interest in, or use, the Breede River Estuary we hope that we can persuade you to become a member of the LBRCT and to support our endeavours on your behalf by way of your contribution to these efforts.
The authorities who are ultimately responsible for ensuring protection of our valuable natural resources are contributing, however, they simply cannot afford to allocate sufficient of their available funds to meet the estuary’s conservation needs.
Your membership contribution supplements the funds obtained from the licence fees paid by users of boats; the municipalities by way of supplementary grants constrained by their many other social upliftment and development imperatives, and grants from those government agencies to whom we are contracted.
There are 62 estuaries in the Western Cape and all need support. The Breede is one of the two largest and most important and we all need to play a role in preserving it. 100% of your membership subscriptions are put to the best possible use to help maintain the conservation infrastructure that has taken many years to put in place and initiate new projects such as:
• Turtle and penguin rescue transport
• Environmental education programmes
• Holiday activity programmes
• Funding conservation interns
• Printing brochures, pamphlets, posters and information packs
• Producing and erecting signage
• Materials and equipment for monitoring projects
For R 100 a year, you can assist us with all of the above and add your voice that is so important to ensure that your opinions and concerns are heard. The LBRCT can speak more authoritatively when dealing with the vast number of threats, regulations and legislation that already affect the estuary with the backing of a sizeable member base.
Please think about the future of the estuary and the importance of maintaining its good health for you and your children’s benefit through supporting our effort.
In this issue
This issue covers our activities for June 2020. We start off with our Penguin rescue and some promising feedback from the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary , photos recieved during the month as we looked at our rocky shore. For the species of the month we look at the Shad or better known as Elf. Unfortunately no summaries and data from our routine monitoring projects covering downriver permanent probe data, bird counts and marine debris as the COVID-19 lockdown got in the way.
What we have been up to
Penguin Rescue
On the 2nd of June a penguin was spotted by a concerned citizen on the rocks at Oysterbeds Estate. Thank you to Sheralee Theron for calling us and keeping an eye on him until we got there. He was transported to Heidelberg and handed over to African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary - APSS, for a complete check-up.
On his arrival at APSS later that evening he was given 120ml of Darrows and 120 subcut fluids, a warm bed and on top of that he got hot water bottle. Further feedback recieved from them during the month is that, his condition was extremely emaciated and weak, but he is slowly recovering and started moulting again. He will be there for a while and as soon as he is ready he will be released on Dyer island, that's the closest penguin colony .
Photo's recieved for our Rocky Shore theme this month
During the month of June we celebrated two important days - World Environment Day on the 5th and World Oceans Day on the 8th. For this celebration we had a theme around our rocky shores and the importance of protecting them and some of the interesting sea creatures that live there. We recieved the most beautiful photo's from the public that we used during the month.
Sea star
Kirsty MacSymon
Four-tone nudibranch
Ronel Heyes
Rocky shores
Fred Stausebach
Oystercatchers in flight
Robyn Hofmeyr
Sea urchin
Robyn Hofmeyr
Spiny Chiton
Ronel Heyes
Anemone
Ronel Heyes
Sea Hare
Ronel Heyes
Species Focus:
Shad (Pomatomus saltatrix)
Elf have an elongated body that is silvery in colour with light green/blue on the upper sides. They have a large mouth with a single row of sharp teeth on each jaw. It is a globally occurring species in temperate and tropical waters. Within southern Africa it occurs between Namibia and Mozambique. Elf also use estuaries within their range and are mainly found in the lower reaches of permanently open systems as the salinity is similar to that of the sea.
It is a is a popular angling fish along the South African coastline. It is a target species by fishermen along the KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Southern Cape coastlines. In KwaZulu-Natal it accounts for 28-80% of the reported annual catch in the recreational shore fishery. Adult elf are aggressive predators and feed mainly on fish.
Adults and subadults migrate seasonally, with adult fish common off the cape waters during summer and autumn. In winter and spring the are common off the KwaZulu-Natal coastline. At the end summer adults and subadults will leave estuaries to join the annual migration. Spawning occurs in northern KwaZulu-Natal with peak spawning between October to December. The elf migrating northwards feed primarily on pilchard which also undertakes a similar annual migration (the famed sardine run).
Elf breed at 25 centimetres total length. A maximum length of 1.0m and weight of 10.3kg has been recorded in South African waters. Elf lives for approximately 10 years. Current regulations state that the minimum size for elf is 30cm and a maximum of 4 fish per person per day. A closed season occurs between 1 October – 30 November each year. It is currently overexploited in South Africa.
Whitfield AK. 1999. Biology and Ecology of Fishes in Southern African EstuariesMaggs JQ, Mann BQ. 2013. Southern African Marine Linefish Species Profiles. Mann BQ (ed).
Oceanographic Research Institute. Special Piublication No. 9.
Branch GM, Griffiths CL, Branch ML, Beckley LE. 2010. Two Oceans: A guide to the marine life of southern Africa.
In the data
Monthly routine monitoring
Unfortunately no summaries and data from our routine monitoring projects covering downriver permanent probe data, bird counts and marine debris as the COVID-19 lockdown got in the way.
Thank you for reading
We hope you enjoyed this months' issue. Should you have any feedback, questions, or matters you would like us to cover in a future issue, please do not hesitate to write to us at news@breede-river.org.