Kleinemonde beaches soiled
CHOKKA fishermen from Port Elizabeth have been blamed for the garbage washing up on Kleinemonde‘s pristine beaches.
TotT was alerted to the increase of flotsam which had washed ashore on the beaches since the number of chokka boats had multiplied off the Ndlambe coast in late December.
Kleinemonde has been the most popular spot, with 50 chokka boats counted on New Year‘s Eve.
Holidaymaker Kerry Muller, from Grahamstown, said she and her local friends were appalled by the amount of debris they encountered along the coast west from Kleinemonde‘s main beach.
They found blue crates, which may have been used for bait, plastic bottles, lots of thick blue fishing line and even the broken lids of pots and pans.
“There were also lots of dead seagulls,” said Muller.
She said the likeliest suspects were the chokka boats a few hundred metres offshore.
“There seems to be no limit to the number of boats that can fish in the area, and they can come as close as they like as long as they don‘t interfere with paddlers – that‘s very close!” she said.
She described the flotilla of boats as a second floating village off the Kleinemonde coast, and was also concerned about where the boats were dumping their sewage.
A TotT investigation confirmed the reports.
Another beachgoer reported coming across mounds of similar debris further east along the beach.
Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) inspector Andile Maki, who is based in Port Alfred, said the permit granted to chokka boats included the condition that they are not allowed to throw rubbish overboard.
Maki said he would contact the Integrated Coastal Management unit in Cape Town to report the complaint and also ask his counterparts in PE to monitor the boats which dock there to check on the refuse they had on board.
But he added that without being caught in the act, it would be hard to prove if they had thrown anything overboard.
“I phoned the environmental protection vessels and they will dispatch a vessel this week to check around,” he said.
Maki called on locals and holidaymakers to come forward if they had evidence, photographic or otherwise, of the chokka boats throwing rubbish overboard.
He also appealed to the community to help keep the beaches clean and thanked those who had already taken it on themselves to pick up rubbish.
MCM in Port Alfred can be contacted on 046-624-5496 or 073-387-0451. - JON HOUZET
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chokka bote
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 15/01/2010 - 09:58.
Ek wil net aan die dame se wat klink of sy heel moontlik n probleem met die chokka bote het,en ek sou ook gehad het as hul my strand bemors,dat toe ek nog as kind in Jeffreys baai vakansie gehou het was dit vir ons een van die mooier dinge wwarna ons saans as familie uitgesien het,al die liggies op die see was pragtig,soms op tot n 100 bote,patrykeer het hul tot reg agter die branders gekom en ons altyd met verwondering na hul gestaar!
Vandag is ek self n kaptein van een van die groot chokka bote en ek kan haar verseker dat van my boot af daar nie n enkele dingetjie in die water gegooi raak nie,ons is hier om ons werk te doen,n moelike lewe wat partykeer tot 45 dae weg van die huis af is te maak.
Die see is ons toekoms en van my kant af en almal wie ek hier op die see ken probeer ons om ons omgwing te bewaar en kan die mense belowe dat die meeste van ons niks in die water sal agter laat nie!!
moenie ons aanval nie,kyk liewers na ons liggies in die aand en weet verseker ons sal nie naby aan die branders of jul paddlers kom nie!!
Charles
