Spearfishing in South Africa

(12-Aug-11) Coffs Harbour - July 2011

Coffs Harbour report for July 2011 by Mark Kallman is in the News And Stories.

(12-Aug-12) Some new pics up in the gallery from the Umhlanga Spearfishing Club

Pictures in the gallery, click here.

(22-July-11) Report back on Freedivers Blue Water Gamefish Challenge 2011

Was a fantastic competition with some great fish and prizes click here for the full story.

(22-July-11) Some great new pics up in the gallery click here

(15-July-11)The Official press release for the recent shark attack on the KZN south coast

The KZN South Coast diving community was devastated this morning (28 June) with the bite by a large Dusky shark on an Advanced SCUBA diver who was on a dive within the Aliwal Shoal Marine Protected Area (MPA). Although the injuries sustained by the diver were not fatal, the incident was nevertheless quite serious with the diver being evacuated by air. The diver is now in a stable condition following surgery at Albert Luthuli Hospital in Durban.
 
Netcare911 Spokesperson Chris Botha commended the Blue Wilderness team for their exemplary handling of the situation, commenting that “this young man owes his life to the well trained Blue Wilderness staff who managed to stop the blood flow so quickly.” Ryan and Clare Daly (Blue Wilderness), Peter Bauer (rescue diver) and Alistair Louw (local skipper) were all on hand to assist with the medical care that saved the diver’s life, and all kept a cool head in a very stressful situation.
 
Speaking about the incident, Mark Addison of Blue Wilderness said that "after over 23 years in the diving industry, and 15 years in the shark diving industry, this has been the first time we have had an encounter such as this at Aliwal Shoal. Taking all that we have observed and learnt over the last two decades, there is no way that one could have known that that this individual animal would break all of the rules. However, the young diver is our main concern right now and our thoughts go out to him and his family during this difficult time.  Anyone who comes into our environment is considered to be a member of our family and we are very close to the diver and deeply saddened by today’s events.”
 
The bite occurred when a large Dusky shark bit at the diver’s fins in what is most likely a case of mistaken identity. The SCUBA diver was wearing split fins with black and grey stripes, and to the shark this may have looked like a small shoal of fish.
  
According to Addison, “having swum with sharks on thousands of occasions, I can testify that isolated freak accidents such as this rarely occur. Although there are more large Dusky sharks around than usual at the moment due to the presence of sardines, there is no reason for them to have any more interest in us than they normally do, and this was really unfortunate”.
 
These large Dusky sharks generally live offshore, but come closer to shore during this time of the year as they follow the massive shoals of sardines that are making their way up the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal coastlines. Dusky sharks are listed on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List as “near threatened” and are one of the most vulnerable of the shark species to exploitation because it reproduces so slowly and at such a late age.
 
The diver was part of a team of interns who have been diving with Blue Wilderness for almost a month. “The interns are well-versed with the nature of these animals, these guys are competent divers and are passionate about sharks – that’s why they travelled around the globe to join us during the sardine run. They have been making a valuable contribution to furthering our understanding of these sharks at the Aliwal Shoal MPA” said Mark Addison.

(15-July-11)Feedback from Erika Steyn from ORI on the survey of lobster, mussel, oyster and general bait collection in KZN

In April I did a survey of lobster, mussel, oyster and general bait collection during the months of January to March 2010. Thank you very much to all who participated in this survey. Your responses were added to a database documenting long-term invertebrate collection in KZN... and you were also entered into a lucky draw for a few prizes. Your information is important and is used to improve management of recreational fisheries. Relevant information is passed on to our fishery management bodies, Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. In the near future, I hope to also provide some feedback on survey results to the permit-holders.

It is now time to survey your collection efforts from April to June 2011. As in the April survey, all survey participants will be entered into a lucky draw for the following prizes:

First prize: Two uShaka Platinum Passes – free entry into Sea World and Wet ‘n Wild for a whole year
Second prize: Sea World Meet a Dolphin experience for two people
Third prize: A choice of one Island adventure experience (Xpanda Shark dive, Ocean Walker and Avis Snorkel Lagoon – subject to availability) for two people at Sea World
Four consolation prizes: Two Sea World / Wet ‘n Wild combo tickets

The prize draw will be on 16 January 2012 at the Oceanographic Research Institute and winners will be contacted by phone before 31 January 2012. To qualify for the prizes you must have an East Coast rock lobster, mud crab or mollusc / general bait permit and complete in full the survey about your harvesting activities from April to June 2011. Complete the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/InvertSurveyJul2011 or go to the ORI website (www.ori.org.za) and click on INVERT SURVEY. The questionnaire should take no longer than five minutes. Please complete the survey even if you caught nothing – this information is important. You may only complete the questionnaire once per survey, but are allowed to participate in all of the 2011 surveys (in April, July and October 2011) and improve your chance of winning a prize. Please fill in your personal details in full and provide a phone number where you can be contacted between 16-31 January 2012 during office hours. Your information will remain confidential. Please take note that the permit system changed last year. Mussel and oyster permits are no longer sold and these animals are now collected on the mollusc / general bait permit (09).

Thank you very much for your help.

The survey will run until 7 August 2011.
   ‘

(23-Jun-11) Michael Le Cordier and Shane Dawson sent in some great pics

Pictures in the gallery, click here.

(23-Jun-11) Anthony with a 12.5kg Garrick shot at the Cutting

Picture in the gallery, click here.

(01-Jun-11) Roy Bealey with a Cracker & a Leerie shot in St. Francis

Picture in the gallery, click here.

(01-Jun-11) Richard Colyn with a Large Yellowfin Tuna off Cape Town

Picture in the gallery, click here.

(17-May-11) Aliwal Shoal Report for April 2011

April's report on Aliwal Shoal from Basie, read it here News and Stories

(09-May-11) Coffs Harbour - April 2011

Coffs Harbour report for April 2011 by Mark Kallman is in the News And Stories.

(04-Mar-11) Freedivers Blue Water Gamefish Challenge 2011

The organizers of this gamefish challenge have managed to come up with some fantastic prizes. The prize for the biggest gamefish landed is an awesome cash prize of R7000.00.

This is certainly one competition not to miss. See you there!

(04-Mar-11) Richard Colyn with a nice Cuda taken in Mozambique

Picture in the gallery, click here.

(04-Mar-11) Marc White shot a record Carpenter off Oyster Bay point

Picture in the gallery, click here. The Carpenter weighted in at 2.28kg, and was shot over a month ago or so. All details were sent to Corry Versliuis to ratify the record.

(28-May-11) Gamefish Challenge

The Freedivers Blue Water Gamefish Challenge 2011 poster in the in News and Stories

(20-Jan-11) Aliwal Shoal Report for March 2011

Much awaited report on Aliwal Shoal from Basie, read it here News and Stories

(12-April-11) Kwa-Zulu Natal Marine Survey

A Marine Survey by Erika Steyn is in the News And Stories.

(12-April-11) Coffs Harbour - March 2011

Coffs Harbour report for March 2011 by Mark Kallman is in the News And Stories.

(28-Mar-11) Results from the Bluewater Freediving Classic in Australia

Click Here to go to News & Stories for the results of this great event.

(16-Mar-11) 2 new pictures with impressive Cudas in the Gallery

Click here to see the pictures inthe gallery.

(04-Mar-11) Michael Le Cordier with a variety of Fish shot at The Cuttings

We have some new fish pictures in the gallery.

(01-Mar-11) Coffs Harbour - February 2011

Coffs Harbour report for February 2011 by Mark Kallman is in the News And Stories.

(18-Feb-11) Coffs Harbour - December 2010 & January 2011

Coffs Harbour report for December 2010 & January 2011 by Mark Kallman is in the News And Stories.

(14-Feb-11) Jason Mair with another good catch

We have some new fish pictures in the gallery.

(14-Feb-11) Jason Mair with 8.135kg Yellow Belly Rock Cod

We have some new fish pictures in the gallery.

(14-Feb-11) Ruan Smal with a Once-In-A-Lifetime Catch

We have some new fish pictures in the gallery.

(09-Feb-11) Quintin White with a 6.7Kg Snoek off the North coast

We have some new fish pictures in the gallery.

(09-Feb-11)East Coast rock lobster, mussel, oyster, mud crab and mollusc/general bait permit holders

The Oceanographic Research Institute urgently needs your help. We are conducting a study to gather information on the harvesting of marine invertebrates by recreational harvesters along the KwaZulu-Natal coast. With this information, we hope to estimate the number of organisms harvested each year and thus improve the management of our invertebrate resources and the quality of your fishing.

If you collected East Coast rock lobster, mussel, oyster, mud crab, sand/mud prawn, redbait octopus, mole crabs or ghost crabs during October to December 2010, please answer a few questions at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B5FWFFC or go to the ORI website (www.ori.org.za) and click on INVERT SURVEY. The survey should take you no more than 5 minutes and all information is strictly confidential. Please complete the survey even if you did not use your permit during this period – this information is very important. We truly appreciate your help in this regard!
   ‘

(07-Feb-11) Crayfish Competition

There is a crayfish compo on 26 March 2011 by the Umhlanga Spearfishing Club (Entries close 18 March 2011), click here to get the entry form (right click, select save-as to download it)

(20-Jan-11) Aliwal Shoal Report for December 2010

Basie entertaining report on Aliwal Shoal, read it here News and Stories

(18-Jan-11) Monthly Report for December 2010

Finally here is the December report, sorry about the delay guys, but read John's full report here

(17-Jan-11) Adrian Barichievy with a Fulvie Kingfish at Southern Mozambique

We have some new fish pictures in the gallery.

(21-Dec-10) 14 ft Cox-Craft Boat for Sale

Good Condition, No Leaks, No Damage. Comes with Life Jackets, Boat Cover, lots of saftey equipment. Ideal for Fishing & Spearfishing, easy to launch. 30 Yamaha in good condition. Boyancy Certificate. Seaworthy.

(Click on image for bigger picture)

R16000.00 - Worth Every Cent - Phone 084 616 3295

(21-Dec-10) Juan Greef with Cracker & Soldier taken off East London

We have some new fish pictures in the gallery.

(15-Dec-10) Aliwal Shoal Report for November 2010

Basie has sent through his usual amusing report on Aliwal Shoal, read it here News and Stories

(06-Dec-10) Darryl Hiscock with an excellent catch in PE area

We have some new fish pictures in the gallery.

(06-Dec-10) 2 Photos of Mike Pellegrini with good catch at Ballito

We have some new fish pictures in the gallery.

(03-Dec-10) Coffs Harbour - November 2010

Coffs Harbour report for November 2010 by Mark Kallman is in the News And Stories.

(03-Dec-10) Monthly Report for November

Not much to report for the month of November, but read John's full report here

(04-Oct-10) Few photos of Michael Le Cordier at various places

We have some new fish pictures in the gallery.

(08-Oct-10) Aliwal Shoal Report for October 2010

Basie has sent through his usual amusing report on Aliwal Shoal, read it here News and Stories

(20-Sep-10) Coffs Harbour - October 2010

Coffs Harbour report for October 2010 by Mark Kallman, giving us some welcome news from Aus, is in the News And Stories.

(04-Oct-10) Monthly Report for October

Not much to report for the month of October, but read John's full report here

(04-Oct-10) Photo of Keegan Wrathmall with a 39kg Daga Salmon

There is a picture of Keegan Wrathmall with a 39kg Daga Salmon in the gallery.

(30-Sep-10) Photo of the Entrants to the Border Open Comp 2010

There is a picture of the Entrants to the Border Open Comp 2010 in the gallery.

(14-Oct-10) Natal Trial - 10 October 2010

Congratulations to Jaco who got an amazing bag of fish in tough conditions. Jaco also shot a Whitespot Rockcod of 3.8 kg’s which is a new SA record.  John Girdza holds the previous record at 2kg, shot in 1983.

Below and attached are the results:

(12-Oct-10) Border Open Spearfishing Challenge 2010 Report

Click here for the report or go to News and Stories

(08-Oct-10) Aliwal Shoal Report for September 2010

Click here for the report at Aliwal Shoal or go to News and Stories

(06-Oct-10) Crayfish Competition - South Coast

There is a crayfish compo on 23rd October 2010, click here to get the entry form (right click, select save-as to download it)

(04-Oct-10) Monthly Report for September

Not much to report for the month of September, but read John's full report here

(30-Sep-10) Taken on the the wreck of the Nebo

There is a picture of Barry Skinstad with a 55kg Daga Salmon in the gallery.

(27-Sep-10) FOUND - Buoy and line off Port St Johns

From a post on Sealine...

I came across a compressed orange spearing float 4km off Port St Johns.
There is an ID number written on it 6803285289089.
Also attached were 20m of line and 2 stainless line holders. The end was frayed and looked like something had been rubbing on it.

I'm keen to find out what happened. If anyone knows please let me know

Cheers

Steve

http://www.sealine.co.za/view_topic.php?id=44118&forum_id=68

(20-Sep-10) Coffs Harbour - August 2010

Coffs Harbour report for August 2010 by Mark Kallman is in the News And Stories.

(19-Sep-10) Central Natal Trial Dates for 2010/2011

(19-Sep-10) New License Fee Structure

Of Interest to Spearos is page 10, detailing the new license fee structure effective from 1st October 2010. Click here to go to News And Stories to get the artical.

(18-Sep-10) Day One Results

Ryan Bermester came 11th and South Africa was placed 8th   overall for day one. Ryan managed to shoot three conger eels, Craig one and Angelo hit a blank. Conditions were rainy with a strong wind and current with the top placed diver managing 11 weighers.

(17-Sep-10) Day One of Worlds Today

Day one of Worlds. South African team diving today is Ryan Bermester, Craig Heslop and Angelo Spada. Competition is from 10:00 to 15:00 and we will let you have the conditions and results as soon as Andrew sends them.

(13-Sep-10) More news from Worlds

18 countries taking part in worlds. comp boats are all ducks with 40 - 60hp motors.minimum weight is 500grams ungutted and one point per gram. exception is conger eels which must weigh min 2.5kg and you get 2500 points regardless of size. fish targeted are congers, forkbeards, scorpions, mullet, blacktail, karanteen, class fish are dentex, gilthead bream, yellowbelly and outside chance of amberjack. guns used 60cm for tight work in caves going up to 120cm. mostly 75cm used. the spanish team have previously surveyed the entire area and each team member has two divers to work with to show the lengths some of the teams go to.

(13-Sep-10) Dealing with Maine Parks

An Interesting Topic considering we find ourselves facing the same closures. Dealing with the issue of marine protected areas by Mark Kallmanin the News and Stories

(08-Sep-10) Taken on the South Coast recently

There is a picture of Ryan Daly with a 30kg Daga Salmon in the gallery.

(08-Sep-10) Border Open Spearfishing Challenge

Click here for the Entry Form to the Border Open Spearfishing Challenge (right click and save as to download it)

The Musselcracker will be there, Will You? Don't be a Poenskop, enter early please.

P.S.: Don't forget you spearo licence (and cray if you want), skippers ticket and seaworthy, book your boat space early.

(07-Sep-10) Aliwal Shoal Report for August 2010

Click here for the report at Aliwal Shoal or go to News and Stories

(07-Sep-10) Lastest News from South African Team at Worlds

Locals report that this has been the coldest water for many years in this region. It has started to warm up with 21c on top and thermo at 20 meters of 18c. Fantastic diving but very few fish to be found in the cold water. Guys are using a 2.5kg drop weight and making 38 meters. Diving until 19:00 as it is the European summer and only gets dark late.

(06-Sep-10) Lastest News from South African Team at Worlds

Water warmed up 1.5 degrees and thermocline down to 20m+. Guys starting to find a few more fish but small isolated rocks difficult to pick up on sounder and some teams using tow boards to cover more ground. Areas are very big and the fish are mostly deep. Guys are out today and will update tomorrow.

(06-Sep-10) 50kg tuna taken in Sri Lankan waters

There is a pic of Russain spearo Misha with a 50kg dogtooth tuna taken in Sri Lankan waters in the gallery.

(03-Sep-10) News from South African Team at Worlds

We will be having a daily update from Andrew Henwood who is part of the South African Spearfishing Team at the World Spearfishing Championships being held in Croatia.

Ryan Bermester and Brent Borslap report that conditions are very trying with cold water and very little fish life. Any fish that are seen are very deep mostly past the thirty meter mark. There are a lot of big boulders on the bottom but these do not seem to hold much fish. It seems like there is more fish life on the isolated smaller rocks. Andrew and the rest of the guys fly out on Friday evening and the first report should be up by Tuesday 7 September

(03-Sep-10) August News

John's spearfishing report for east coast of Africa for the month of August is up. Click here to go to it

(19-Aug-10) Ultimate Spearfishing

The 3rd Volume of the Ultimate Spearfishing Mag is out, Its a great mag with a FREE subscription, their web address is www.ultimatespearfishing.com for subscription. This is a preview sent to us.

(18-Aug-10) Bluewater Challenge

"The 2010 Challenge took place at Sodwana Bay on the KZN northern coastline. Sodwana Bay forms part of the Isimangaliso Wetland Park, a World heritage site and being part of a marine park it is a gamefish only area. It is one of the premier gamefish locations in South Africa", John has more here.

(31-Jul-10) Sardine Fever!

Its Sardine time again, and there have been sardines right up the coast, the small fish were recently netting at Addington beach.

News from the past month in Johns report was posted today as well, you can read it here. We have also got news from Coffs harbour up today from Mark Kallman.

The news from Basie at Aliwal shoal, Its been a very quiet month with very little happening at all, his report has more.

(16-Jul-10) Gallery

Some nice photos of fish shot in the gallery, thanks for sharing the photos.

NB: Please take note that the date for the Border Open Hole in the Wall has been changed to Sat 2nd October.

(29-Jun-10) June News

Johns report from June is up. Check it out here. Basies report from Aliwal and Marks reports from Coffs Harbour are also up.

(22-Jun-10) Upcoming Comps

Martin Victor (Border Undersea Club Spearfishing Officer 2010) asked us to anounce "BORDER OPEN HOLE IN THE WALL will be held on SAT 2 OCTOBER 2010, details and entry forms closer to the time". This as always will be a great event.

FreeDivers will be hold the Bluewater Gamefish Challenge 2010 at Sodwana bay on the 7th and 8th of August, The Zululand Coast is Prime gamefish area. You can download the the Entry Form here.

(02-Jun-10) Hibiscus Underwater Club Comp

The Hibiscus Underwater Club Presents the Gamefsh Open Competition on the 26th June! These are always great fun and they are offer a R5000 cash prize. You can download an entry form here.

(01-Jun-10) Notice - BUC AGM

"The Annual General Meeting of the Border Undersea Club will be held on: Friday 4 June 2010 at the BUC Clubhouse, Orient Beach at 7pm Finger snacks will be provided by the club Subscriptions are due before the meeting: R250 individuals R300 family Please make every effort to attend! See you there! BUC Committee"

Johns news from may was posted today, some good fish around with garrick already coming out in the lower South coast.

(31-May-10) Photos

Luke and Marcus sent through 3 photos of a good haul of fish, photos are up in the gallery.

(12-May-10) Nationals 2010 Results

We have the results from the Nationals held recently in an xls file, click here to download it. Also a report back from John about the competition.

News from Coffs harbour from Mark is up now from Aprils happenings.

(06-May-10) News from April

Thanks Andrew for helping out with a report back while John was over in the UK. April was a quiet month ...

(30-Apr-10) News from Coffs Harbour Ausstralia

Lots happened in Coffs Harbour in March, Mark has sent through news on the competition and other happenings last month.

(03-Apr-10) A look at March

John has some news on what happened in March.

(25-Mar-10) NOTICE

Individuals are being asked to “make themselves and their views known”, here is a Notice sent out by the Dept. of Enviromental Affairs.

(19-Mar-10) Down Under

Mark kallman has sent through some news from Coffs harbour in Australia and also a report back on a spearfishing trip to the Great barrier Reef.

(04-Mar-10) Durban Harbour

Durban Harbour is currently being widened to 220m from 130m and deepening by 16m from 12m. This project, being undertaken by Group 5 has been underway for about 11months as at this date ( Jan 2008) and is due to be completed by early 2010. A series of monthly photoshoots will be taken and presented here over the next two years. Follow the progress of this huge project.

(02-Mar-10) Licience Fee increase

There is a lot of talk of the huge price increase for permits, John has a more in his monthly report.

News from the Shoal, Basie has post his news and happenings at Aliwal shoal for February 2010.

We also have some new images in the Gallery.

(23-Feb-10) SA Records

We have put the lastest spread sheet with the SA Records up for people to download. It is always interesting to see what has beeen shot and to get an idea of what size fish can get to.

Great White shark experience by Sheldon Posthumas

Great White shark experience wow. We started spearing on a reef called GSPOT in Southern Mozambique. There were three of us on the boat at the time. Myself ( Sheldon Posthumus ), Ryan Daily and Justin Blake. Both these guys are shark researchers for Ocean Researchers and are both part of Shark Life.

Aaron was in the water still trying to get that last fish in. We saw what looked like a shark swimming toward him and we still debated about it being a tiger or zambezi shark. All of a sudden Aaron started shouting for us to fetch him with the boat which we soon did. Frantic to know what the fuss was about, he said he had to jab the shark with his gun it came so close and then he said it was a massive great white shark. Pretty crazy but without hesitating we donned our fins and masks with the shark on the surface again and we slowly slipped into the water. As we entered, there it was +- 2m away from us she came in for a look an easy 3 to 4m long beauty. She just stared straight at us for about twenty seconds then swam down to the bottom where she disappeared into the dirty water at the bottom. 

  Date 05 February 2010

Sheldon sent a nice photo of a 54kg Sailfish shot off Southern Mozambique.

(15-Feb-10) 63kg Ignoblis

Well done to Emil Pirzenthal for the 63kg Ignoblis Kingfish shot on 12 Feb 2010, its a pending South African record. We have a photo in the gallery.

Basie sent trough a report back on January 2010 at thee shoal.

(09-Feb-10) No Vertical Jigging at Isimangaliso Wetland Park!

The link will take you to a statement recently issued by the Park authorities with regard to the vertical jigging method of fishing. I am very happy that this has happened and hopefully it will be policed as these guys were killing everything they caught whether they tried to release it properly or not.

This is the reason why spearfishermen still make the same catches on Deep Scottburgh they made twenty five years back. We can only hunt fish to thirty meters and that is for the top guys. All fish below that depth are protected by the mere fact that we cannot get to them. These are the fish that continually re-supply the shallower reefs and maintain the status quo.

Fishermen are not regulated by depth and once one depth range of reefs has been fished out they move to the next. So when you dive Number One reef and Deep Scottburgh you do not see fishing target species as they have been fished out. There are no protected deeper reefs to re-supply these reefs as the deeper ones have also been fished out.

The vertical jigging method targets deep water fish and has opened up a whole range of previously unexploited reefs to fishermen. These deep water reefs can be likened to our over thirty meter reefs and probably act as important feeder reefs. It is a pity that this form of fishing cannot be banned world wide as our oceans need all the help they can get

Coffs Harbour

Mark sent us News from Down Under at Coffs Harbour, interesting as always.

(02-Feb-10) Beached sharks!

Unusual happening down the South coast, Whales Sharks Beached at Umzumbe Point.

Report back from John on the first month of 2010.

(13-Jan-10) Coffs Harbour!

News from Mark has been posted here...

(12-Jan-10) Shark attack in Ponta do Ouro!

Many thanks to Elaine in Ponta do Ouro for news of the shark attack, here's a more...

On Tuesday 22 December 2009 at about 14h00 a juvenile Tiger Shark came swimming into the bay of Ponta do Ouro and attacked a young man on holiday here who was playing in the surf with some friends on an inflatable lilo about 2 meters off shore.

The skipper from Simply Scuba, Wayne, and James a staff member from Scuba Adventures were busy working in the launch area when they saw this guy come stumbling out the water bleeding heavily. They immediately rushed to assist and phoned Sandy from Brittlestar Guesthouse for assistance.

At that stage Sandy was in Manguzi but she referred them to Karl who immediately got hold of oxygen and rushed down to the beach where the guy had already collapsed because of shock and blood loss. He had been attacked by the shark and was bitten on the upper arm/shoulder area and on his hand. Fortunately the wounds were not severe, but the poor guy was in shock and had to be stabilized.

Wayne and Petro from Simply Scuba stayed with the victim while he was taken to the local clinic for attendance Daryl, a paramedic and skipper for Gozo Azul helped to get the patient stabilized but failed to get a drip inserted into the victim's arm. He then decided to just stop the bleeding and bandaged up where needed The local commandant of police, arrived at the scene and gave permission for the patient to be airlifted by helicopter and taken to hospital in Manguzi. Colin, a resident of Maputo who owns a holiday home in Ponta fortunately had his helicopter in Ponta and could assist immediately. The man was flown to Manguzi Hospital and transferred toEmpangeni Hospital from there.

He is fine after the incident but holiday makers were furious with the shark and tried to catch it with their fishing rods from the beach right in front the Beach Bar. The Tiger launched out the water twice and the spectators enjoyed the view although with aggression. The shark remained in the shore breaks for the rest of the day where it was visible to all, while fishermen tried to catch it.They had it on their hooks twice but both times the shark escaped.

This incident was discussed in all earnest with the head of marines (MPA), Miguel and Antonio the Port Captain for Ponta do Ouro. This incident was due to happen some or other time, due to the negligence of fishermen throwing fish remains over the sides of their boats after cleaning their catch in the Bay of Ponta do Ouro. Of course this will attract sharks, and if this is not going to stop immediately more unfortunate incidences like this might happen in future.

Ponta do Ouro is a very safe and tranquil village with no shark attacks for the past 15 years since 1994 when a guy lost a foot. This is because we are naturally protected by the school of dolphins permanently staying in Ponta area. They will drive away all sharks from their territory. People must not get upset about this unfortunate incident, but fishermen have to be informed of the dangers when they throw the remains of their catch out into the water in the bay. Many thanks to all locals in Ponta involved in the very quick and rapid assistance to this poor guy. We all appreciate the wonderful way in which this was done.

(05-Jan-10) A Wet South Coast!

The South Coast has been very wet, Basie sent through a report back on the happenings on the Aliwal shoal through December.

Vetchs Pier is under threat! More about that here ...

(02-Jan-10) Happy new year!

A very happy new year and all the best to all our readers for 2010!

Our last report back for 2009 is up, John has all the news as usual in his last report.

(08-Dec-09) Gamefish Masters

Well done to Alister Louw who added 2 fish, a 42kg Sailfish and a 48kg Dogtooth Tuna to his Gamefish Merit board

The Rob Allen Gamefish Challengee 2010 iss going nto be held at Struisbaai on the 30th Jan 2010. You can get an entry form here.

News from Coffs Harbour, Summer seems to be on its way there with some good fish being taken, Mark has more here.

Eric and Alister are offering a spearfishing experience like no other at Latham Island, here is their pitch.

(02-Dec-09) November 2009

A slow November on the shoal according to Basie, but as always his report back makes for good reading.

Unsettled seas, cold and dirty water all over the coast, there are still some fish coming out but summer still hasnt hit us properly. John has more in his report.

(21-Nov-09) New Spearfishing Club

A new Spearfishing Club (Blue Spearos) has been formed in the Cape by veteran diver Faiz Abrahams.

The Blue Spears has grown steadily over the past 6 months to a solid 50 active members and growing every week. They even have members from Mossel bay. If you are looking for a club there email them at bluespearos@gmail.com.

We got some new photos in the gallery and also a good new trip report back from Danie Hyssteens of a Sodwana trip.

(08-Nov-09) Aliwal Shoal and Coffs harbour

News of Aliwal Shoal from Basie and Mark sent through news from Coffs harbour too.

(01-Nov-09) November

Another year has just about wizzed by, John has his news and review up for October 2009...

(28-Oct-09) Cracker time

Andries Linnow & Ashley Willcox got some nice cracker down in East London, photo in the gallery ...

(14-Oct-09) Border Open 2009

The Border Open 2009 competition was recently held, Paul Toich sent us a rundown of the events ...

(07-Oct-09) More September News

Things are quite down under too ... Mark sent through thye news from Cofffs harbour. Basie has bits of news from Aliwal shoal as well.

(05-Oct-09) September News

They say 'better late than never' my apologies for getting Johns report up so late, we have vodacoms poor coverage over northern Zuluand to thank for that. Anyway here it is ...

(13-Sep-09) Aliwal

Strong winds and few fish seem to be the order of the day through August, Basie sent a report back on the shoal for August

(04-Sep-09) Coffs Harbour Australia

Mark has news from down under at Coffs Harbour again, these reports always make for some interesting reading about the happenings in our sport.

(02-Sep-09) News from August

Some good fish shot in August - John has more in his monthly report.

(31-July-09) News from July 2009

News from both sides of the earth, Mark has sent in news from Coffs harbour and Basie sent news from Aliwal Shoal.

Paul Toich shot two nice bankies in the East London area which we have uploaded to the photo gallery.

Border Open 2009

The border open 2009 Spearfishing challenge is to be held at Hole in th Wall in the wild coast on the 3rd of October. You can download the entry form here.

(31-July-09) July 2009

Clean settled seas were the order of the day for most of July ... John has more in his report

(24-July-09) Mission Possible! A 60m dive!

To be able to swim down to sixty meters in unfamiliar waters where sharks are present and then manage to successfully shoot a fish and come up again is a truly amazing feat, read more about this amazing dive by Trevor Hutton

Freedivers Gamefish Merit Board

Well done to Mark Rogotzki who made the FreeDivers Gamefish Merit Board with Four good fish.

(14-July-09) Aliwal

We have had some really good and realy bad days at Aliwal in June, Basie sent us the low down.

(08-July-09) FreeDivers Gamefish Merit Board

Shane Breedt of Freedivers has generously agreed to sponsor the Gamefish Merit Board to the tune of R5000.00. Any spearfisherman from Africa experienced enough to land all ten gamefish species at or above the specified weights will receive R5000.00 worth of Freedivers gear. A great prize!

(04-July-09) Merit Board Entry

Well done to Grant Mitchell for making the Merit Board with 3 good fish.

John has sent through a report back on the month of June's happenings, still a no show in KZN with Sardines ...

Coffs Harbour news from for the Month of June from Mark is up as well.

(22-June-09) Photo Gallery

Gerhard Canot sent a photo of an early Garrick of 20kg for the Photo Gallery ...

(22-June-09) Merit Board

Well done to Mark Keyser for adding a 30.5kg Cuda to his Merit board this weekend at Cape Vidal ...

(16-June-09) News from Australia

Some interesting news, fishing management in Australia, shows what can be done when the will is there ...

(09-June-09) Freedivers Gamefish Open

Freedivers is hosting a competition on the 4th of July, The Gamefish Open will be between Portedward and Sodwana Bay, with the weighin from 3pm to 5pm at Freedivers.

We have posted their poster with entry details and more here ...

Basie has sent through a short update on the happenings at Aliwal Shoal for the month of May, and for interest we have uploaded the CMAS Underwater Fishing Rules here.

(03-June-09) Middle of the year

Storms and floods at Coffs habour with only a few divable days in the whole month of may! Mark has more in his short report back for May

Quite the opposite in KZN with some nice settled sea and good fish, even though the cape has had such rough seas and floods. John has more here

(06-May-09) SA Champs

The South African Spearfishing Champs was held on the 9th May at Park Rynie. Here is a report back on the competition. We have placed links on the report to xls spread sheets with the results.

The Wahoo Winter Gamefish 2009 Competition will be held on the 06 June, you can download a entry firm here.

(06-May-09) April News

Another report back on April news from Basie at Aliwal Shoal down the South KZN coast. Also two new photos in the gallery, Darryl Kemp with a nice Poensie that was blind in one eye.

(02-May-09) April News

News from Down Under at Coffs Harbour and news from South Africa with Johns Report.

(27-Apr-09) Nationals 2009 Rules ans Scoring

We have posted a PDF document on the rules for Nationals 2009 as well as the New Scoring system for Nationals 2009.

(10-Apr-09) National Teams

National Trials were held at the end of March and the following teams were selected to represent South Africa against Australia on 9th May 2009 on the Lower South Coast.

Protea Team
James Lawson-Smith (Captain)
Angelo Spada
Broderick Whittaker

SAUFF Team
Ryan Burmeister (Captain)
Garret Staats
Andrew Henwood

The Australian team to compete against them will be:
Tony Heugh (Captain/Manager)
F.R.J de Vries
Robert K. Wills
Graham Carlisle

New photos in the Photo Gallery ..

(06-Apr-09) Aliwal

Visibility has been terrible for most of the month, with days of no viz to average of 6-8metres. There were some serious thermoclines, with the lowest temperature 18 degrees Celsius. More on Aliwal from Basie

(03-Apr-09) Coffs Harbour

The weather pattern in Coffs Harbour follows a similar one to that experienced around the Aliwal Shoal area. Most of the S fronts are over and the system is influenced by Highs moving from W to E along the S regions of the Australian continent. Read more of whats been happening over in Ausie from Mark...

(30-Mar-09) Chumming for Sharks

The three licensed shark diving operations in the Aliwal area are attracting a large number of sharks into the area. The recent springbok spearfishing trials held in this area high-lighted the problems ... More in Johns Monthly report.

(29-Mar-09) Protea Trails

Spearfishing trials were held on the Natal coast recently to choose the top six divers for two international teams to compete against an Australian side this year in May. Area dived was Deep Scottburgh together with Nineteen Fathoms and the trials were over two days ...

(24-Mar-09) Gamefish Masters

Well done to Andrew Henwood for making the Gamefish masters board with 4 fish ...

(12-Mar-09) Coffs Harbour

Bush Fires, Droughts and rain measured in Metres is what happens in Australia, Mark sent through a Coffs Harbour report (my apologies for getting it uploaded so late) that makes intresting reading...

Gamefish Masters

Well done to Alistair Louw for making the Gamefish Masters board on Spearfishingsa.

(04-Mar-09) Tribute to Dave Crews

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Dave Crews was of the “old school” of spearfishermen and associated with many of the pioneers of the sport. Dave was a member of the Dolphin Underwater club in PE as well as the Wahoo dive club in Durban. He was an active committee member at the Wahoo dive club for many years and was always willing to ‘lend a hand’. He loved attending the Wahoo Winter Gamefish competition and relished chatting to old and new divers alike. He opened his house and hospitality at Hougham Park, Port Elizabeth to travelling spearos and friends.

In his day he shot some fine fish with the older reel gun equipment including some big yellowtail and fairly recently big garrick and king mackerel.

He will be fondly remembered for his enthusiastic spearfishing conversation and loud laughter.

Our condolences to Kate and family and friends.

Rest in peace dear friend.

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Basie sent in his report for February, we have uploaded it here

(28-Feb-09) February 2009

John has some interesting bits of info in his February report back.

The Australian Points scoring for their National Championships might interest our divers in SA, we have put a PDF up here to see how it works. A roundup of the Australian Champs was sent to us by Graham Carlisle

(24-Feb-09) Circular 2009

The 2009 South African Inter Provincial and Open Individual Spearfishing Championships – 4th Circular has been sent out to keep spearos up to speed. We have posted it here.

(17-Feb-09) DUC Open 2009

The Durban Undersea Club is hosting their annual Spearfishing Competition on the 28th March 2009. You can download the Entry form here and the Comp info here.

(29-Jan-09) January 2009

Johns last report was put up before the end of the month on the 22 December. The last week of December had rather windy weather with some big westerly fronts passing up the coast in quick succession, Johns update for January is up.

(28-Jan-09) Aliwal and Coffs Harbour

Our regular contributors Basie and Mark each sent through their first report back for January 2009 for Aliwal Shoal and Coffs Harbour respectively.

(03-Jan-09) Happy New Year!

A happy and prosperous new year to all our readers from John and Myself at Spearfishingsa.

Mark has sent through his last report on Coffs Harbour for 2008 and Basie sent his report for Aliwal shoal both make interesting reading as usual.

(23-Dec-08) Another year behind us!

John has posted his last report for 2008. Mention is made of Darryl Kriel who was fatally attacked by a shark whilst spearfishing at Chidenguele in southern Mozambique. Our condolences to his family and friends.

Barges Scuttled Off Cape Vidal - December 2008

The 128m dumb barges Dar1 and Dar2 ran aground five kilometres north of Cape Vidal opposite King Oscar hill on the 24 October 2008. They were both successfully re-floated and scuttled having being declared total losses by the insurers. The most powerful tug in the southern hemisphere, Smit Amandla, managed to pull both vessels off the beach.
The one was scuttled in 30m of water and it will be interesting to see whether Cape Vidal becomes a scuba destination now there is something of interest near the launch to scuba dive on.

Gamefish Merit Board

Well done to Eric Allard for his submission to the Gamefish Merit board with five really good fish.

SAUFF Record updates

We have put the new South Africa Record list as well as rules and application form up for easy access.

(15-Dec-08) Big fish with a Reel Gun?

Corry Versluis sent us a great article about Hunting Big Fish using Reel-Guns

Here are the results for Natal Trails held at Umhlanga on Saturday. Viz was from 15-20 metres. There were some good fish that came out the biggest Gamefish was a Cuda of 13kg’s by James Lawson and Carl Werner got a daga of 6.52kg’s. Also very impressive to see some Rubberlips close and over the 5kg mark!!

(11-Dec-08) Fishing in Ausie

An interesting news letter with some snippets on what is happening in the Australian recreational fishing front at the moment.

(07-Dec-08) New Spearfishing Book

Darrell Hattingh has just released a spearfishing book aimed at the beginner spearfisherman. It has lots of tips for the start-up diver and is selling for twenty-five rand plus ten rand postage which is a steal. To order a copy contact Darrell on mobile 0833100596 or e-mail darrellhat@gmail.com

(03-Dec-08) Gear

What do you need to shoot a big fish? John has posted an article on how to gear-up for the big one

(29-Nov-08) Reports

John has sent his Report back for November already. As usual its worth the read, packed with bits of info and news.

Coffs Habour Oz

(21-Nov-08) UKZN Underwater Club course

On the 26 - 29 November the UKZN Underwater Club (Princess Alice Road) will be hosting another spearfishing course. They had great success with their last one. More info here ...

Trials Results

The final Natal Trials results for November 2008 have been posted here. It was not an open trial so Gyula and Brent’s scores do not count for scoring purposes, even with their fantastic scores, well done to all who competed.

(18-Nov-08) Tanzania Spearfishing Adventure 2008

Tanzania is known for unspoilt waters with lots of big fish, this is an interesting Spearfishing Adventure on search for Dogtooth there

(14-Nov-08) Natal Trials for November 2008

Thanks for a good trial. We had an excellent turnout so thanks to every one. Conditions were very good and you could make out the bottom in some places in 20 metres. Well done to Gyula who got an excellent score and showed us why he is a bok diver.

Biggest Gamefish was a Iggie by Gyula of 7.07kgs and Richard Bruno got the biggest bottom with a Poensie of 4.05kgs.

Well done chaps and see you all on the 13 December. Hopefully the Cuda will be in full swing by then.

All the rain down the South Coast this week brings back memories of the 1987 Flood. We have been sent of Photo of the Mgeni River in Flood in 1987 showing all the brown water that was washed into the sea.

(02-Nov-08) Johns October Monthly Report

Some better diving days in October to the previous month even though it has still been a windy October. The whole report here.

(27-Oct-08) Latest World Spearfishing Championships 2008

Final placings for the South African team in the Worlds are as follows: Jaco Blignaut placed 14 in the overall standings. He would have placed second overall if he had not been disqualified for stringing a fish on day one. Gyula Plaganyi placed 38 overall but it looks like he got no fish on the second day. Allan Fraser placed 41 overall but got no fish on day one.

South Africa placed 10th out of 21 countries and about 20 divers shot no fish during both days of the competition. View the full results at www.apneamagazine.com. Click on the news tab just above Tanya Streeters head. It is in Italian but classifica finale de Venezuela gives you the full results and the tab one down gives the results for day one.

(24-Oct-08) Coffs Harbour

Mark Kallman recently moved to Coffs Harbour in Australia and has sent us a report on the conditions etc over there, we hope to have him as a regular contributor.

New Standards in the Hunting Industry

Here is the discussion document for the development of new standards within the hunting industry that caused all the buzz in spearfishing circles. It seems you will be able to spearfish provided you are in possession of a permit to do so. It is still a concern that we might have to get hunting permits to spearfish considering the mess that firearm licensing is in.

The bathymetry of the Aliwal Shoal, Scottburgh, South Africa

This paper by Charl Bosman presents the first accurate geo-referenced bathymetric map of the Aliwal Shoal and illustrates its value as an essential tool for a wide range of applications useful to the broader scientific community.

(20-Oct-08) World Champs Update

We have had some news back from Venezuela from the SA Team, looks like things are on track and the chaps ready for the competition.

KZN Trials October 2008

The first KZN Trials were held off the Bluff area. Conditions were not bad with 3 – 6 metre viz depending on the area you were in. There was a slight s-n current and water was green. During the day a lot of the yellow “sludge” seemed to move into the different areas. It was a real scratch fish wise and there were not a lot of fish about. Guys had to dive extremely hard to get a weigher never mind your 10!!

• Angelo Spada won the day with 6 weighers. Well done Angelo.
• Biggest Gamefish went to Glen Van Nooten with a Garrick of 6.6kg’s
• Biggest bottom went to Gary Uys with a Brusher of 8.4kg’s

(16-Oct-08) World Champs

We are all holding thumbs and wishing the best of luck for our 4 SA spearos over at Venezuela, Gyula Plaganyi (Captain), Jaco Blignaut, Alan (Moo) Fraser and Mark Jackson who will be competing in the 26th World Underwater Fishing Championships off the Island of Margarita from the 20-26th October. This is a link to an article published in the Natal Mercury news paper.

(10-Oct-08) Border Open

The 2008 Border Open done at Hole in the wall, Transkei was a great Success, a report back has been posted.

(06-Oct-08) Wild Seas for September

"For the first time in over a year not one but two Dive Charter boats went over at Umkomaas". Basie Sent through his report back on Aliwal Shoal for the Wild Windy Month of September ...

Below are the results of the recently held Border Champs

(30-Sep-08) 27kg Wahoo

Well done to Mark Keyser for bagging a 27kg Wahoo at Cape Vidal and adding to the Merit board.

September has produced some good fish even with the bad weather. John has more in his monthly report.

We also have an update on the 2008 World Champs at Venezuela from Mark Jackson.

(17-Sep-08) Tag and Release

There has always been alot of controversy of how effective tag and release is. In theory this is a fantastic way to gather info. With some species like sharks it seems to be really effective. However a recent article by John reminded Mark Jackson of a trip to Mozambique where he also watched tag and release ...

(15-Sep-08) Crayfish Competition

Rob Allen is hosting a Crayfish competition held over the crayfish season till the end of October. Crayfish need to be taken to the dive factory in Gale street tp be weighed, it is for the biggest crayfish. More info here

KZN Spearfishing Association Trials Programme 2008-2009

*All areas subject to chamge if conditions are not favourable. If dive is not possible on Saturday it will be moved to Sunday.

(10-Sep-08) Storms and wind

Sean Porter sent some interesting images of wave height derived from satellite altimetry.

Basies sent us the happenings or rather lack there of for the month of August at Aliwal in his regular report back.

(01-Sep-08) Spring Day!

Spring has finally sprung with wild storms in the Cape and Pounding sea and huge winds in Natal. John has posted his report back for the Month of August ...

(08-Aug-08) Trails program for Midlands 2009 Nationals

The first trails were held in Umdloti. Water was clean but cold on the bottom and there were not alot of fish around making it a tough competition with close results. Click here for the xls spreadsheet of results...

(08-Aug-08) Yellowfin Blue Water Open

The Cape Yellowfin Blue Water Open will be held from the 6th to the 9th May. More details here

Two new photos in the Photo Gallery.

(05-Aug-08) Aliwal

Basie sent through his report back on the conditions and fish at Aliwal Shoal this past month of July.

Eric Allard sent through an interesting report on what its like spear fishing off the Tanzania coast.

We also have a new photos in our Photo Gallery of some good fish shot and also an interesting photo of the Umhlanga Lighthouse Reef from the Ethekwini Municipality, and bathy by EMS

(31-Jul-08) July Review

John has just posted his July Report back ...

(18-Jul-08) Photos

We have gathered some more photos of good fish shot by spearfishingsa readers, they are posted in the gallery.

We also posted this intresting Multibeam bathymetric image of the Cooper Light Wreck off the Bluff thanks to Marine Geosolutions for the image.

(11-Jul-08) Why Competition

Gyula Plaganyi the South African Team Captain sent an Article with an interesting question...

(05-Jul-08) Aliwal Shoal news

Most Wahoo in many years, and the first in many years of a constant north south current for more than a month. Some days hardly any, but not one day of that pesky reverse current. Even against some serious fronts marching up the coast. Basie has sent us an update on Alwal during June.

Crayfish & spearfishing competition

Pietermaritzburg Underwater Club is hosting their annual fundraising crayfish & spearfishing competition at Rocky bay. More info here.

(01-Jul-08) Nationals Catch Stats

An interesting bit of info. Below are the catch Statistics for the recently held Nationals.

Club name: Midlands Spearfishing Association
Permission Number: 23/2008
Contact person: John little
Competition Dates: 18-May-2008 to 23-May-2008 (4 Days Diving)
Number of Anglers: 42
Locality: Sodwana Bay