By Sulyman Gobir
Thousands of dead sardines have washed ashore along South Africa’s southern coast, raising concerns among marine scientists and environmentalists over a possible outbreak of pilchard herpesvirus (PHV).
The mass fish mortality was recorded last week along the coastline of Gqeberha, where stretches of Hobie and Pollock beaches were covered with dead sardines and pilchards by dawn.
Residents watched in concern as successive waves deposited more fish onto the shoreline, prompting fears that a virus linked to major sardine die-offs in Australia and New Zealand could be affecting fish populations in South African waters.
“It was a heartbreaking sight,” local environmental group Algoa Bay Conservation said.
The incident also triggered numerous calls to marine scientists, seeking explanations for the unusual mortality.
Nadine Strydom, a professor in the Department of Zoology at Nelson Mandela University, said most of the fish recovered were sardines and pilchards, but warned that the number of dead fish could be significantly higher than those found on the beaches.
“What we see on the beach is only a fraction, as some could be lying on the seabed,” Strydom said.
The Gqeberha incident occurred only weeks after a similar sardine die-off was recorded along South Africa’s Western Cape coast, hundreds of kilometres away.
PHV emerges as leading suspect
The successive fish deaths have heightened concerns over the possible spread of pilchard herpesvirus, a disease that caused devastating sardine mortalities in Australia and New Zealand during the 1990s.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) said on Sunday that a connection between the Gqeberha and Western Cape mortality events was considered likely, although further investigations are required to confirm the link.
