On Tuesday 15 February I accompanied Conrad and Rainer from Ocean Messengers up and down the Swartkops River. We were very kindly escorted by Gustav from Marine and Coastal Management.
Meeting up at Redhouse we burbled along down towards Swartkops.
At the bend downstream from Redhouse I began to smell a particularly sulphurous and, sadly, familiar smell which only increased in intensity as we approached the Motherwell Stormwater Canal. Now this area of Port Elizabeth last had rain more than 10 days prior and yet water was still running down the canal slope. It is presumed that the water is from leaking pipes and illegal sewage connections.
At a cost exceeding R5 million our Metro has begun to deal with the problem with the installation of a catchment in the canal that feeds a portion of the water into a reed bed forming almost a green lung for the Swartkops River. Unfortunately the funds are not presently available for another reed bed to complete the second ‘lung’.
Gustav tells me that he and his crew collect in excess of 100 municipal bags of mainly plastic rubbish daily from the area and that it is not unheard of for them to retrieve mattresses, dead animals and the occasional human body washed down the canal. What a soul destroying job that must be – knowing that every day you will be picking up other people’s rubbish.
The banks were lined with fishermen and part of Gustav’s task is to ensure that all the fishermen have the correct permits. Tuesday’s fishermen were special though, as fishing on a Tuesday is reserved for subsistence fisherman. They too need the correct permits.
What must be seen as a ‘good thing’ is that the subsistence fisherman do assist with information about poachers and have alerted the authorities to wholesale netting within the river by unscrupulous foreign fishermen. Also under the ‘good thing’ banner is the removal of the public slipway and ablutions which have made it harder for our ‘beloved’ perlemoen poachers to launch or retrieve their illegal haul.
Motoring past Redhouse Yacht Club we noticed that the bank opposite the club has eroded quite significantly – another ‘good thing’ in my book as, when the flood does eventually come, there will be more room for the flood water to escape to sea and it will ensure a longer start line for dinghy racing.
Further up past the Pump House, Rainer took a sample of water for analysis.
Ocean Messengers will soon release a book about water in the Metro to be distributed to schools in and around this sensitive area.
Alan Straton
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do humans eat the fish they catch in this area?
And the crabs. Just like we eat Crayfish.