Fish caught in a gillnet (credit: Coastal Marine Task Force (CMTF))
Gillnetting is a passive form of fishing in which a curtain-like net is suspended vertically, weighted down at the bottom and held up at the top by floats. These nets often span the entire depth of water and are used to entangle any fish or animal that may swim into it. When a fish swims into the gillnet its head fits through the mesh, but its body does not, and it becomes stuck. With the movement of the fish trying to free itself, the net slips behind the gills of the fish causing it to be trapped – hence why it is called a gillnet. In the past, nets were constructed with cotton and multifilament braided nylon meshes. Currently, almost all nets have a monofilament mesh. Although these nets are not as compact to transport and require more frequent repair than multifilament nets, they are widely regarded as being more efficient at catching fish, because of their low visibility in the water. To avoid detection and apprehension at landing sites, illicit nets are also often deployed permanently and/or stored in the bush beside the waterways. This also results in more nets being lost and an increase in the incidence of ghost-fishing.
Bycatch (credit: Durban Metro Police)
Gillnets are unselective in nature and a highly destructive fishing practice that catch nearly anything, including unwanted or threatened species, posing a significant threat to marine, coastal, and freshwater ecosystems. Many species such as sharks, rays and linefish use estuaries as nurseries for their young. Gillnets trap fish of all sizes, including juveniles, disrupting the reproductive cycle and reducing the population by preventing new fish from reaching adulthood and reproducing.
They also contribute to the problem of pollution and are often swept away, lost or discarded in our oceans and waterways. Here, they act as ‘ghost nets’ that continue to kill fish and other animals like water monitors, crocodiles, turtles, dolphins and birds.
Apart from this type of gillnetting being problematic for the environment, these nets endanger the lives of water users such as paddlers, boat users and swimmers, making it a danger to public safety. There are a number of reports where people, including the fishers themselves have become entangled in these nets and drown.
Confiscated gillnetting paraphernalia (credit: Coastal Marine Task Force (CMTF))
There is a good understanding of ecosystem response, stock assessment of priority species and predicting the consequences of any expansion and increases in fishing power and effort across South African fisheries. However, compliance monitoring and quantification of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing have been identified as a gap in the management of both the legal and illegal fisheries. This tool was developed to improve the ease of reporting, identify hotspots, understand the scale and magnitude of the problem, provide maps and spatial representations of this type of fishing, validate and provide evidence for decision makers and to provide intelligence in the planning of enforcement operations.
The information, captured on the App is automatically integrated into the National Environmental Crime Database (CMORE), and the National Oceans and Coastal Information Management System (OCIMS), satisfying both environmental and enforcement monitoring. This tool aims to collate the location of incidents, catch quantity, and species being caught within this illegal fishery to assist law enforcement in targeting hotspots as well as to give fisheries management insights into the extent of this illegal activity. This tool is suitable for use by both law enforcement officials as well as civilians reporting gillnet incidents taking place while ensuring the safety of those sending reports.
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