MOSSEL BAY NEWS - It's December - a month when people enjoy catching and eating fish.
Seafood is also popular in restaurants at this time of year.
Before you catch as many fish or collect as much shellfish as you can, consider the limits imposed on certain seafoods and also consider how much you really need and whether you might end up giving seafood away or wasting it.
The Mossel Bay Advertiser asked marine biologist Mark Dixon of the Strandloper Project for his advice for seafood lovers who are also concerned about marine conservation.
Dixon said: "Someone told me they had enjoyed a 'miniature' sole at a restaurant recently. Well, if you are being served sole which are undersized - smaller than a man's hand, you should ask pertinent questions at the restaurant."
Dixon said one should ask who supplies the fish and try to find out if the restaurant abides by legislation regarding fish sizes and quantities.
Red list
He also urges: "You can get the SASSI red list of fish on your phone. Don't eat those."
SASSI stands for the Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative. The red, orange and green lists of fish are available at here.
The WWF at the beginning of the website address stands for World Wide Fund for Nature. The fish on the red list are threatened. Do not eat them. Those on the orange list should also be avoided because they are scarce. The ones on the green list, one may eat.
Dixon says: "If you are going fishing, you should note that some species are in-season and others out of season. There are breeding cycles.
"Shad have a closed season - usually when they are in their reproductive state."
Dixon says fishermen should ensure they are not "chasing something that is busy breeding", because this will have a negative impact on the fish population. "Go online and check breeding seasons," he advises.
"Kob (kabeljou) is a threatened species. Fish stocks of kob are incredibly low. Everyone wants kob when they come to the Southern Cape. There is legislation for kob: no fishing at night, yet many fishermen catch them at night."
Bag limit
Dixon urges: "Know what is threatened. Know what your bag limit is. Catch what you can consume and no more than that. Release everything that is beyond what you can consume.
"People coming from upcountry catch fish and do not eat them all. They try to catch everything they can.
"If there is a family of five, two fish are enough. Release all the others. Carry on fishing but release the others."
People should not brag about the number of fish they catch. "It's especially detrimental if everyone has this bragging mindset."
Fishermen should also not give fish away to friends because it is not guaranteed that friends will eat all the fish.
Spearfishermen should also curb their enthusiasm, Dixon said. Many of them "buy their first spear gun and shoot everything they see".
Bait collection should be done with conservation in mind.
"With a permit, you can collect 30 mussels, but everyone rushes out with family members and takes 90 mussels off the rocks. Then they complain in two weeks' time that there are no mussels. If each family takes 90 mussels, they are all depleted. Mussel reproduction is hindered."
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