Discarding sand sharks a shame

Update

GEORGE NUUS - A visitor from Pretoria, Charl Geldenhuys, aired his concern after finding a dead sand shark on the beach at Leentjiesklip recently while he and his wife were taking a stroll.

"At the time there had been a lot of fishing activity," he said.

Geldenhuys referred to the article, 'Death of unwanted sharks disgusting and immoral' (George Herald, 29 April) and added his voice to that of Graeme Paper, the local resident quoted in the article, who had come upon a number of dead sand sharks at Kaaimans River mouth.

In both instances the sharks were found above the high water mark, which indicates that they had been left there by fishermen. "I believe that what Graeme Paper saw was not an isolated case and it is something that happens more often, which is very sad," said Geldenhuys.

When approached for comment, Tersius Baard, a local fisherman who is involved in organised derbies, told the newspaper that this kind of destructive behaviour unfortunately casts a bad light on all fishermen. "You will not find it among those involved in organised fishing. When we hold derbies every fish is returned to the water," he said.

He also recently found 10 sand sharks lying on a sand dune near Gonna. "It is difficult to catch the fishermen who do this. They usually fish at night. These sharks were all about 90cm and longer in size, which makes it worse, as they are at a reproductive age."