FIVE tons of West Coast rock lobster have washed ashore on the West Coast since February 7.

Now the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has issued a red alert over the harmful algal bloom (red tide) causing the walkout and activated its West Coast rock lobster contingency plan.

Department officials, together with local municipalities and law enforcement, are rescuing live lobsters and conducting clean-up operations until the red tide threat has abated. The department placed all government role-players in the sector on full alert.

Spokesperson Albi Modise said the department was leading the contingency plan supported by the West Coast District Municipality, Cederberg Municipality, the police, SANDF, Western Cape Province and the local communities adjacent to the affected areas.

Modise said red tides were a natural phenomenon in coastal waters caused by a dense accumulation of microscopic algae, and some of the algal species were harmful because they contained toxins which were poisonous to humans.

“Poisoning may take place through the consumption of seafood that is contaminated by toxic algae. Red tide occurrences can have major environmental, as well as societal, implications with knock-on effects on coastal economies.

“Fisheries and aquaculture industries suffer from the episodic mortalities of stocks caused by red tides, while poor water quality and foul smells associated with these occurrences affect coastal tourism,” Modise said.

As is often the case in summer and late summer, Modise said there has been a build-up of large red tides in the greater St Helena Bay region over the past few weeks and it was dominating waters in the vicinity of Elands Bay, Lambert’s Bay and Doring Bay.

“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,” Modise said.

Western Cape Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Department spokesperson Rudolf van Jaarsveld said: “If they are collected by community members without permits and without permission to sell, this results in a sudden and massive illegal trade taking place … Therefore, there needs to be a structured process developed to save as many lobsters as possible.”

Van Jaarsveld said poaching had a bigger impact on lobster populations all along the coast as the quotas and recreational allowable catch have been significantly cut due to a seriously declining population.

Programme manager Carmen Mannarino at Masifundise, a civil society organisation that works with fishing communities, added it was concerning that the red tide was happening more and more every year and it has a huge impact on livelihoods.

“West Coast rock lobster is a major source of income for small-scale fishers on the West Coast and a crayfish walkout of this magnitude causes further distress in their ability to put food on the table,” Mannarino said.

Langebaan fisher Solene Smith said fishers were already seeing severe reductions in their total allowable catch (TAC) every year, and every year they have been seeing the effects of red tides get worse.

Cape Argus

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