Another whale dies in False Bay

A young whale drowned after it became entangled in octopus fishing line in False Bay. Its body was spotted floating about half a kilometre off Sunny Cove on Wednesday.

This is the third entanglement and second whale to have died in the last two weeks as a result of octopus trapping in False Bay. The carcass was freed and towed to the Miller’s Point slipway so that it could be taken to a landfill site.

On 8 and 10 of June whales got entangled in the lines. The first whale was freed but the second, a Bryde’s whale, died. As a result, the City of Cape Town has called for a suspension on octopus fishing and for octopus nets and ropes to be removed.

Further up the coast on Monday, 24 June, the SA Whale Disentanglement Network set a humpback whale and her calf free after they became entangled in fishing lines near St Francis Bay.

Craig Foster, filmmaker and co-author of Sea Change, opposes the nets as well as the general practice of octopus fishing, describing octopus as the ‘world’s most intelligent invertebrate’. He attended a session in Parliament on Thursday, 20 June to discuss measures to protect whales in False Bay alongside Garry Nel, a commercial fisherman who received a licence from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 15 years ago for experimental octopus fishing.

According to IOL, questions were raised about whether ‘the annual quota of 50 tons was viable as so little was known about number of octopus in the ecosystem.’

Environmentalists from change.org have also drawn up a petition, which requests an immediate moratorium on all octopus fishing in the False Bay area, claiming that is not only a danger to whales and other marine life but also to naval and recreational boats.

The petition calls for the moratorium ‘until such time as stakeholders and concerned citizens are consulted and can agree on a safe operating standard/procedure for the use of traps used in the octopus trapping fishing industry and that the Department uses this period of Moratorium to gather much needed information on stock levels and the impact of octopus trap fishing on the environment.’

According to TimesLive, Marian Nieuwoudt, the mayoral committee member for the environment, said, ‘I am very worried about the impact this is having on our marine life and ecosystem, and the ethics of the octopus fishing practice in general.

‘I thus request the new [fisheries] minister Barbara Creecy to place a moratorium on this permit and that all fishing gear be removed from False Bay until such time as the fishing gear and equipment are redesigned, tested, and proven not to pose a threat to our marine life.

‘We are aware that livelihoods and jobs depend on the octopus fishing industry. However, we have to insist on sustainable practices. We cannot allow a situation where whales continue to die because of these nets.’