The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, confirmed that no new walkouts of the West Coast Rock Lobster in the West Coast, in the Western Cape, since 5 March 2022, has been reported.
However, the department warned that the potential for
additional lobster walkouts or marine life dying due to anoxic conditions in
the water column remains high for the foreseeable future.
‘’Satellite imagery shows that high levels of algae biomass
remain between Cape Town and Paternoster, as well as along coastal regions
located between Lambert Bay and Doring Bay. Warm weather and light wind
predictions over the next few days will contribute to elevated risks of red
tide over most the west coast,’’ it said in a statement.
Beach clean-up operations, involving various stakeholders,
are continuing and about 30 tonnes of live lobster have been returned to the
sea.
‘’These lobsters do not pose any threat to humans or sea life. Rock lobsters walk out of the water because
the water is starved of oxygen and they are looking for more oxygen. Thus the rock lobsters are not toxic or
‘contaminated’ in any way, and therefore do not pose a direct threat to
humans. Lobsters which have walked out
and died on the beach, however, do pose a risk because they start to rot very
quickly after they die and lie in the sun on the beach. This is why the public
are not allowed to pick up washed up rock lobsters (or other fish),’’ it added.
DFFE said between 10-28 February, satellite imagery
indicated very high Algal biomass in St Helena bay and Elands, when the algae
died and decomposed, the decaying process depleted the oxygen in the water,
causing the water to become so low in oxygen that the animals had no choice but
to leave the water or die. This resulted in a walkout of about 500 tones of
west coast rock lobster as of the 1st of March.
Done By: Mitchum George
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