Kalky’s 5 is one of the larger hand-line boats with a crew of up to twelve. The South African traditional linefishery is made up of close to 600 vessels and just over 4,000 crew. 28,000 households depend on fishing for food security.
In December 1968, Geoff Fridgeon posed for a picture holding a white musselcracker he had speared off Dalebrook beach. A fish this size would have been close to thirty years old. Forty-six years later he stands in the same spot posing with an enlargement of the picture. Today, reef fishes of this size and age have all but disappeared from the bay, and the white musselcracker is near threatened with extinction.
A large roman swims in one of False Bay’s no-take zones. Marine protected areas are proving to be the light at the end of the tunnel for the future of the country’s iconic reef fishes and the people that depend on them.
