Where there is sardines, there is sharks… Image © jtresfon / Flickr

Between the month’s of June and July each year the east coast sees masses of slippery, silver fish moving northwards en-masse. It’s called the Sardine Run and is eagerly awaited every season by fisherman and beachgoers alike. As surfers we have a love-hate relationship with the spectacle: we love to see nature at work, but not when it forces the closure of our beaches due to increased shark activity on a cooking winter land breeze morning.

We’ve learnt to work around it though, and each year sardine season comes and goes like the tides, with only a couple of scary stories and sightings doing the rounds. All this, however, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep an ear to the ground and listen out whether the sardines are active in our areas. And with the sardines as little as a week away from the KZN coast according to Mike Anderson-Reade of the KZN Shark’s board, it’s definitely worth paying attention.

Read the full ECR Newswatch report for an update on the approaching sardines>>