Chokka boats must make an effort to keep beaches clean
With thousands of visitors about to ‘invade’ St Francis the importance of presenting a beautiful, well-kept holiday mecca goes without saying. Certainly we do have a few problems with eroding beaches, potholes, although the municipality along with St Francis Property Owners association are doing a great job in addressing some if not all of these matters which bodes well going forward.
Obviously the beaches are one of the reasons so many choose St Francis as their summer holiday destination and simply have to make every effort to present them clean sandy beaches St Francis is so renowned for.
But alas the chokka fleets are not playing their part and the owners and skippers of these boast simply have to make every effort to encourage their crews to respect the ocean from which they derive their living by not throwing their waste overboard but rather storing aboard and disposing of their waste, particularly any plastic product.
A letter from reader Fiona Malherbe pleading for chokka boats and others to keep our beaches clean.
“Last week, in Cape St Francis, I looked out of our window, one clear night to see the twinkling lights of three fishing boats anchored out, just past the beach break.
The following morning, my husband and I walked along the normally pristine beach to find it littered with debris which had been dumped off the picturesque fishing boats. We collected a huge sack full consisting of plastic wrappings, plastic rope, bottles and tops.
The boats remained off our coast for a few days and every day we could see exactly what each boat had consumed the night before, mostly all wrapped in some sort of plastic. Sadly, we also came across a dead gannet, the plastic rope could be seen clearly down the gullet which had obviously caused its death
These fishermen derive their income from the sea and ironically are killing the source of their income by the endless plastic that is scattered along our beach.
I remember a few years ago, an effort was made to educate both the skippers and their crews about the dangers that plastic causes when fish and birds ingest this plastic debris and I believe it is time for the owners of these fishing boats to once again bring in stricter measures and to be responsible in protecting our marine life and our beaches.
Maybe they need to pick up the litter along our beaches themselves and have a look at the penguin rehab to see the injured birds that their plastic has caused. Or maybe they just need to be taught to put their rubbish into bags which should be recycled and taken back to the mainland.
We have been blessed with a truly beautiful coastline and a sea that teams with all sorts of marine life, let us protect it now for the future, it brings so much joy to so many people.”.
A suggestion by another Cape St Francis resident is that chokka and other fishing vessels should be made to pay a ‘pollution deposit’ that is refunded part or all when they return to port. Some formula would need to be worked out but the refund could be paid to crew members as a bonus for helping to save our oceans. Possibly there are others out there that have ideas so if you do, please add you comment bel ow.
But it is not only the chokka boats!
One needs only read any of the many websites on ocean pollution to realise how serious the presence of plastic derivatives in all its many forms from ropes to plastic bags to those little “natural” water bottles that so many simply discard when empty. Apparently even certain cosmetic products contain micro-plastics are now being found to be contributing to this flood of plastic threatening a major food source, fish.
That this deluge of plastic is killing off marine life is a reality and everyone must play their part by making sure no plastic finds its way to the ocean.
The importance of recycling has often been the subject of articles in St Francis Today and it really is time that the municipality joins in the effort by creating a recycling facility either by themselves or better still, funding a project that some environmentally conscience entrepreneur can start up and thereby create jobs for some of the many unemployed in all the towns, villages and townships within the Kouga municipality.
10 Ways to Reduce Plastic Pollution
Well said, Fiona.
I do agree with the sentiments shared above but your journalism in incomplete as you have not engaged the squid industry on the issue. I would have liked to see their response in your article. Just a thought.
True Jal but there can be little doubt that the some if not most of the debris being washed ashore on Cape St Francis beach is from the chokka boats and even if not, they should still be encouraged / educated not to throw anything overboard. Our oceans are in dire trouble and the suggestion of a ‘waste’ deposit was a comment from a concerned CSF resident who suggested the idea. Obviously the entire fishing industry should be approached, a job for the department of Fisheries, to find a solution and possibly it should be an inclusive policy, whatever it is, to apply throughout the coastal waters of SA. Education will always be the ultimate solution and we are positive the entire fishing industry will agree that more can be done. Sadly it is easier for some to throw a plastic bottle or packet overboard, out of a car window or drop it on the pavement instead of keeping the litter until it can be properly and safely (for the environment) disposed of, preferably for recycling.
I’m a skipper on a squid fish boat. Based out of port st francis. It is a on going battle to educate. Wich I engage on a daily basis. Our company policy is to document all rubbish that is taken off the boat. Each trip we have to account for all our waist which is documented in the boats log papers. I’m not sure what the other companies policys on waist management are. But I do feel there is a big need for harsher penalties and stricter control on waist management. And education will play a big role in this. I’m not deniein that fact the waist does come from the fishing industry but you also got to take into consideration that there are rivers and sea currents that bring in waters from all around the world. So the idea is there we just need to implement it better.
Fantastic Dallas. It really is good to hear such positive feedback and we can only hope other skippers follow your lead. Thanks for a very positive comment.
As an owner of a few vessels I feel I must comment on a few misconceptions. The chokka Fleet and any commercial vessel has to abide by certain waste disposal policies. These are laid down by the Maritime authorities and by Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. One just has to look at the skips which are provided in the Port to see how they overflow when the vessels return and offload. This is not to say that there is 100% compliance . However there was a University student who did a study along this coast and analysed the debris which was washing up.We were glad to note that due to the shape of our coastline and the prevailing currents and winds that the debris could not be attributed to the squid fleet. Flooding rivers as far away as Mocambique could result in huge amounts of trash being deposited into the current and landing up along our beaches.The squid industry will however circulate your concerns to the skippers who will in turn remind the cooks on the vessels to store the garbage as per the prescribed Garbage Disposal Plan as laid down by the authorities.
The squid industry is very often the convenient whipping boy to all sorts of problems from pollution to housebreaking.
Thanks Greg, your comments are important for it is great to know there are policies in place. As you so rightly state it is not just a few bad eggs in the squid industry polluting our oceans for land waste is a far bigger cause. Possibly the squid industry in St Francis is a convenient whipping boy but one cannot blame those who walk the garbage free beach at sunset only to find the beach littered with garbage not ten hours later on their sunrise walk with the only visible culprits a group of chokka boats anchored off the beach. As in any walk of life there are those who adhere to the rules and give us hope and those who don’t resulting in a whole industry being tarred with the same brush.
I agree wholeheartedly with remarks and statements made. As a reader I would like to see a response from the squid industry as the awareness and concerns around the issue grow. It would be nice to see what the owners are doing above and beyond the mandated requirements. Good to see the issue on the table Collo