No West Coast Rock Lobster walkouts at West Coast red tide
Since last week’s 05/03/2022, there have been no reports about any new West Coast Rock Lobster walkouts on the Western Cape’s west coast. For the foreseeable future, however, there is still the possibility of additional lobster walkouts and marine life dying from anoxic conditions in their water column.
Satellite imagery shows high levels of algae biomass in the region between Cape Town and Paternoster as well as along the coast between Lambert Bay, Doring Bay and Paternoster. Red tide risk will increase along the west coast because of warm weather and light winds forecasts over the next few days.
Beach clean-ups are ongoing, with various stakeholders involved. Around 30 tonnes of lobster have been returned to sea. These lobsters are not a threat to sea life or humans. Rock lobsters are unable to swim in water that is depleted of oxygen. They are searching for oxygen. The rock lobsters aren’t toxic or ‘contaminated’ and do not pose any danger to humans. However, lobsters that have died on the beaches pose a risk as they rot quickly and then lie in the sun. The public is not allowed to pick up any rock lobsters or other fish washed up on the beach.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment is monitoring Red Tide activity in close to real time using the Fisheries and Aquaculture Decision Support Tools accessible on the Oceans and Coastal Information Management System’s (OCIMS web portal, www.ocean.gov.za). Satellite imagery showed very high Algal biomass in St Helena Bay and Elands from the 10th to 28th February 2022. The decaying process of the algae caused water to lose oxygen, leading to animals having to leave the area or die. As a result, there was a walkout of approximately 500 tons of west coast rock lobster by the 1st March.
