On Wednesday we reported on various social media posts concerning controversial fishing practices occurring along South Africa’s east coast.

Unnamed boats have been caught appearing during the early hours of the morning in Marine Protected areas, only to disappear into oblivion as soon as day breaks.

The posts provided images of tracking maps, but the commentary that went along with them was vague, as no one really knows what’s going on.

Questions were followed with more questions, paired with various suspicions, guesses and assumptions.

We then received an email from someone who works for a fishing company that “recognises the need to look after our oceans.” Finally! Believing it is their duty to expose any “funny stuff”, they sent us a couple of pictures along with this explanation:

I first read about these dodgy long liners fishing off the east coast of Transkei yesterday on Facebook.

I immediately thought that these vessels looked very much like the ones that pitched up at Hout Bay a few months ago – see photos below.

They were in Hout Bay for a few months being repainted, refitted etc. These vessels are easily recognisable and not your typical Taiwanese/Japanese Long liners, they very much smaller and only a handful around in South Africa.

The people behind this I believe are not Oriental but rather from South Africa – I did hear some stories that the people behind it were dodge. People that have been in the papers before if you know what I mean.

In fact, I was there when they were painting the top two boats and they were definitely not ‘Oriental’ of any kind – I’d say they had more of a Dutch heritage.

The bottom two boats are similar to the ones that Graham Rhodes published, photographed off the Transkei coast in a Marine Protected Area. Nice to see what a little paint job can do:

You see, the fact of the matter is, if you read Wednesday’s post (There’s Something Really Fishy Going On Off The Transkei Coast And People Want Answers) you might have noticed that most of the boats tracked could not be identified.

In fact, none of those who published any information had any idea of who the boats belonged to.

It’s too easy to blame the Chinese for illegal activity when they have been given a name for not caring about the ocean. But what if it’s our very own that are involved with the shady deals? Who knows, we’re still looking for answers.

If you have any information, email us at editor@2oceansvibe.com and let’s spill some beans.