Tag Archives: aquaculture

Weekly Press Review – 13 November 2017

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Yet another perlemoen bust has made headlines this week, this time in the Mfuleni area where 5,553 perlemoen were discovered in 55 bags with an estimated value of R1 million.

In a separate incident a tip-off  led to the arrest of five people found in possession of perlemoen with an estimated value of R3.5 million. This included the equipment used by the suspects in the Mfuleni incident.

A total of 4,645 interested parties and residents from Langebaan in the Western Cape have signed a petition requesting that plans for an aquaculture plant in the Langebaan lagoon be abandoned.

According to the press, the planned aquaculture project, over an estimated 884 hectares in the town’s lagoon, is part of the government’s Operation Phakisa and is driven by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, as well as private investors.

Jennifer Kamerman, spokesperson for Save the Langebaan Lagoon Action Group (SSL), says that the proposed area for the aquaculture development is predominantly used by small-scale fishers. The development will deny this community the right to fish in the lagoon.

“These people earn a living from the fish that they catch here,” says Kamerman.

SSL has said that they are not against aquaculture development in the area, but feel that it should be an inland development, not on the coast, and definitely not in the lagoon.

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Weekly Press Review – 31 July 2015

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Rescuers have freed another trapped whale according to the press this week.  The incident occurred about 100 metres offshore of Sunny Cove in Fish Hoek.  The 8 metre long humpback whale was freed after it became anchored to the sea bed by Whelk trap lines.

The whale was spotted by a local resident whilst he was out jogging.  The South African Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) was called to the scene and the rescue operation carried on late into the night.  Due to the severity and desperation of the operation, the SA Navy were also on standby to assist.

Due to the way the whale was trapped only its’ head was able to reach the surface for air.  Network spokesman Craig Lambinon said, “The line was anchored to the sea bed between the Whelk traps and had snarled around the tail, effectively meaning that the whale’s tail was trapped underwater.”

With the whale rapidly tiring it was a race against time, but the whale was eventually freed.

A thirteen year old girl has made the headlines this week by running her own aquaculture and aquaponics business in Johannesburg.  Rikalize Reinecke says it all started when she watched the movie “Dolphin Tale”.  She says it inspired her to want to be a marine biologist.

“I started doing research and this one page just popped up of an aquaculture farm in America,” she says.

After nagging her father for weeks and weeks he eventually agreed to assist her, but only if she managed to get a qualification.  He believed this would be enough of a deterrent.

His determined young daughter did not give up and completed a week long course at Aquaculture Innovations in Grahamstown and the rest, as they say, is history.

Reinecke’s aquaculture farm is expanding.  She want s to invest in steam boilers and solar power to allow her project to go completely off the grid.  Demand for her products is so great that she will soon be erecting 10 new dams that have already been donated to her project, and she has not given up on her dream of becoming a marine biologist one day…

Weekly Press Review – 20 September 2013

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South African maritime salvors have made the headlines this week with the righting of the Costa Concordia cruise ship from the Italian reef where it has been stuck for well over a year. It’s a pleasure to see the local as well as international media focus this operation has generated.

Never before has such a large vessel been righted. The salvage team was headed by Capetonian, Nick Sloane. Sloane previously worked for Smit Amandla Marine and was salvage master on many wrecks along our shores, but the Costa Concordia represents his first battle against a passenger ship, and particularly one of this size. Those in the know credit him as being the man to get the job done. Dave Murray of Smit Amandla Marine was quoted saying, “A job like this, most people would run a mile, but for Nick it’s a challenge, and he thrives on challenge.”

After a 19-hour operation, and many months of preparation, the vessel was righted. “I am relieved. It was a bit of a roller-coaster. The scale of it is something we’ve never seen before,” said Sloane.

This serves as another example of individuals from South Africa’s maritime industry making waves in other countries and leading the way forward. And the full operation included the input from many more South African individuals as well as companies.

Another Capetonian in the news this week is innovator Alan Fleming, who has created a fish farm in a shipping container. We have seen these large containers being recycled for many interesting purposes before, but never as a fish farm and this innovation has made it to the final round of a global competition.

The farm produces four tons of fish per year and has been selected as a finalist in the Siemens Stiftung’s Empowering People Award. The winner is to be announced next month.

Fleming said that he is overjoyed. “It is a prestigious award recognised globally.”