Fishing for the Future

Mackay Bridge Angling Club: "All Clubs Light Tackle Boat Competition" introduces catch and release fishing methods in its competitions to ensure sustainable fishing

Sport or Recreational Fishing has become increasing popular. Angling clubs across South Africa promote fishing as a sport but how many angling clubs promote sustainable fishing? The Mackay Bridge Angling Club based in Colchester in the Eastern Cape has actively promoted sustainable fishing in recent years by hosting fishing competitions with a catch and release ethic.

South Africa is historically an agricultural nation and has a unique dual agricultural economy with well-developed commercial agricultural practices and more subsistence-based production in the deep rural areas. The Eastern Cape in particular depends to a large extent on agricultural practices for both commercial and subsistence purposes. The Eastern Cape boasts 800km of coastline and numerous inland water bodies providing great opportunities for fisheries. The Eastern Cape is also the most rural and poorest province in South Africa with many citizens living along the coastline and depending on natural resources for subsistence. Therefore, there is a dire need to retain fish stocks not only for utilitarianism reasons, but also for sustainable purposes said Chairman of the Mackay Bridge Angling Club, Chris Tye.

The Mackay Bridge Angling Club hosts an annual fishing competition, the All Clubs Light Tackle Boat Competition. The competition, which takes place over a weekend in August each year, traditionally entailed a weekend- long fishing expedition where winners were judged by the weight of their catch, which included heaviest fish and heaviest bag of fish. However, four years ago when a team of researchers from the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) in Grahamstown were on a field trip at the Sundays Estuary, the club’s anglers were exposed to catch and release fishing. SAIAB’s Principal Aquatic Biologist, Dr Paul Cowley got involved in the competition in 2006 when he was asked to give a talk on sustainable fishing and introduced anglers to catch and release. Cowley’s research interests lie in the management of declining fishery resources and he specialises in tag and release fishing.

“The Sundays Estuary is one of our tagging study sites and so we expressed an interest to participate in the competition” explained Cowley. The following year, in 2007, the competition started changing its format. Catch and release became a voluntarily aspect to the competition and Cowley and his research team were asked to assist with tagging and releasing fish.

“I have been the chairman for fours years now and realised that the need to bring everything to the scale is no longer valid since we are facing sustainability issues” said Tye. According to Tye, the decision to change the format of the competition is grounded in three main goals. Firstly to promote sustainable fishing, secondly to allow people to catch more than the bag limit allows and then release the fish and finally, the new format allows for a closer relationship working with SAIAB and educating anglers.

The Education component of the programme is held on the first day of the competition which allows for the enjoyment of fishing as a sport and an opportunity for SAIAB to educate anglers said Tye. “We take all our posters, banners and brochures and give a little talk on successful catch and release methods, the importance of conservation and angling techniques” said Cowley. According to Tye, the change in format of the competition was well-received by participants and created much needed awareness around fishing in a sustainable manner. Cowley admits however that in the beginning anglers were still too competitive, “one guy already had four fish on a string and then only called the research team over to tag his fish and obviously the fish were not healthy enough to be tagged so were not considered for the competition”. Karl Kretzman from Kretzmarine, one of the sponsors of the competition believes that catching and releasing fish forces anglers to be more careful with their catch, “we have learned so much from Paul about fish handling and there is a challenge in keeping the fish healthy and unharmed until one of the SAIAB taggers arrive”.

The catch and release event also has prizes to encourage release. Cowley and his research team are on site to ensure that all released fish are livable. The first 25 fish to be caught and successfully released are awarded prizes. If previously released fish are caught again, the angler is awarded R2500, however, this prize remains to be claimed said Tye.

Tye was very pleased with the turnout for this year’s competition which drew 235 anglers and 100 boats. According to Tye, the draw card for this competition is the fact that it is appealing to both the sponsor and the angler who want to be associated with conservation activities.  For this reason, the competition has managed to attract generous sponsors such as Proservices, African Skiff Marine, Colchester Spar, Kretzmarine, Andrè Koen Motors, Addo Affrique Estate, MDB Switchboards and Coega Leisure.

Kretz  Marine started sponsoring the competition four years ago with the initiation of the new format, “We have been pushing to have a catch and release competition because it’s a really nice aspect to the competition” said Kretzman, one of the Managing Directors of Kretzmarine. Alfie Oates, owner of a panel beating shop in Port Elizabeth and avid angler has been a member of the Mackay Bridge Angling Club for 11 years and enjoys catching and releasing “I believe that we have to conserve for the sake of the next generation, I only keep the a catch if I know I am going to eat it”. Proservices Consultant Andre Beneke deems the catch and release format as very successful and is proud to be associated with the competition.

South African fisheries are on the decline and it remains a necessity that all citizens take measures to protect aquatic environments and their resources. The implementation of catch and release competitions provide testimony of the commitment by the Mackay Bridge Angling Club to promote sustainable fisheries. The challenge is to encourage other angling clubs, competition organisers as well as social anglers to practice catch and release and promote responsible recreational fishing.