Cape Town – A harmful algal bloom, or Red Tide, that has been developing in the West Coast in the Western Cape, has caused an estimated 5 tons of West Coast Rock Lobster to walkout since Tuesday.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) said it has activated the West Coast Rock Lobster Contingency Plan and issued a Situation Red Alert, placing all government role-players in the sector on full alert and ready to deploy on short notice to activate measures.
“Department officials, together with the local municipalities and law enforcement are working together to assist in rescuing live lobsters and with clean-up operations.
“All recovered live lobster will be rehabilitated and will be safely returned to sea once the red tide threat has abated,” the department said.
According to the department, there has been a build-up of large red tides in the greater St. Helena Bay region over the past few weeks.
These blooms of phytoplankton presently extend 50-60 kilometres dominating waters in the vicinity of Elands Bay, Lambert’s Bay, and Doring Bay.
“These blooms are dominated by a group of phytoplankton known as dinoflagellates and their inshore accumulation particularly during periods of calm often leads to their decay and the subsequent development of low oxygen conditions which cause marine mortalities.
“Such mortalities were observed on the beaches of Elands Bay earlier (Wednesday).”
With the prediction of light westerly winds over the next few days, the risk of further mortalities is high, the department added.
“Some of these dinoflagellates are also capable of producing toxins that may accumulate in shellfish and may pose a risk to human health.
“For this reason, members of the public are warned not to collect and consume any dead or decayed fish and shellfish washed ashore as a result of the red tide as this could pose a serious health hazard.”
In the Benguela upwelling region off the West Coast of Southern Africa, Red Tides have periodically led to rock lobster strandings.
The most famous examples are the strandings of hundreds of tonnes of rock lobsters in Elands Bay in 1997 and 2000.
In 2014, an extensive and long-lasting Red Tide occurred for the first time along the South Coast, extending from Knysna to beyond Port Elizabeth and causing wide-scale mortalities of fish.
Cape Times