Here’s how much you could be fined if caught collecting washed-out red tide lobster

Every late summer and autumn, a natural but destructive phenomenon grips South Africa’s West Coast. Harmful algal blooms, massive accumulations of single-cell algae called phytoplankton, built up in coastal waters stretching from St. Helena Bay through Elands Bay, Dwarskersbos, Doring Bay and Lamberts Bay.

Locally, these blooms were known as “red tide,” and their consequences for marine life were devastating.As the blooms decayed in inshore waters, they stripped oxygen from the sea. The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) explained that this oxygen depletion triggered mass die-offs of marine organisms, with the West Coast rock lobster, known locally askreef, among the most visibly affected species. “When these blooms start to decay in inshore areas, they cause a depletion of oxygen levels in the seawater,” said DFFE spokesperson Zolile Nqayi.

“This, in turn, often results in mass mortalities of marine organisms.” What followed were events locals called “walkouts”, though the term was misleading. The department explained that oxygen levels dropped, they migrated toward the shoreline where wave action slightly increased oxygenation. When the tide retreated, they were stranded.

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“Females and juveniles, who naturally lived closer to shore than males, were typically the first to wash up and made up a disproportionate share of the casualties.” The environmental toll of these events was not abstract. Nqayi pointed to recent figures that illustrated just how severe a single walkout could be. “Large walkouts of 550 tonnes in 2022 and 50 tonnes in 2023 caused a substantial reduction of lobster densities in Elands Bay, as recently revealed by research conducted by the department’s crustacean research team,” he said.

That reduction rippled through the entire local fishing economy. Lower lobster densities meant smaller catches in the seasons that followed, and the communities whose livelihoods depended on the West Coast rock lobster resource bore the brunt of that pressure.

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