Thousands of Sardines Wash Ashore in South Africa as Virus Fears Grow

Thousands of dead sardines covered parts of Gqeberha’s coastline after waves pushed them onto Hobie and Pollock beaches. Residents and environmental groups described the scene as alarming, while scientists warned that the fish visible on the sand may represent only a fraction of the die-off.

Nadine Strydom, a zoology professor at Nelson Mandela University, said most of the dead fish were sardines and pilchards. Some may still lie on the seabed, she said, meaning the full scale of the mortality could be much larger. The Algoa Bay Conservation group called the sight "a heartbreaking spectacle."

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It was a heartbreaking spectacle.

The Gqeberha event followed a similar mass death on the Western Cape coast several weeks earlier. The two incidents have fueled concern over sardine herpesvirus, or PHV, a disease that devastated sardine populations in Australia and New Zealand during the 1990s.

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What we see on the beach is only a fraction of the total, because some fish could be lying on the seabed.

South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment said a link between the Gqeberha and Western Cape events was probable, but still required confirmation. It described PHV as the most likely explanation for the Western Cape mortality while saying investigators would also examine other causes and environmental factors.

The department first confirmed the virus in South African waters in July, after samples from sardines off Saldanha Bay, Cape Canyon, Elands Bay and Gansbaai tested positive. Genetic sequencing found more than 99% similarity with the strain linked to the Australian outbreak. PHV genetic material appeared in both dead and apparently healthy sardines, with the highest viral loads in dead fish, but that finding alone does not prove the virus caused the deaths.

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This is a first in South Africa’s history.