Sustainable Fishing – Green List

Posted in Fishing | Recreational Fishing

SASSI Green List

As a fisherman or lover of fish dishes it is important to understand the impact that your choices make on the environment. SASSI – South African Sustainable Seafood Initiative was created to highlight the plight of some species and to focus on the species that are top options to consider when, fishing, buying fish or eating fish.

Fishing methods:

Pure Seining – involves the use of a large net to encircle shoaling fish.

Demersal trawling – also known as bottom trawling or dragging, is one of the most widely used industrial fishing methods around the world. It involves towing a large net across the seabed targetting the species that live on the sea bottom.

Line fishery is one of the oldest fisheries in South Africa and operates from both small boats or from the shore. Linefishing is done with either a handline or a rod and reel, which must have less than 10 hooks per line.

Demersal longlining is also known as bottom longlining and is one of the major industrial fishing methods used around the world. Longlines can be up to 100km long with as many as 20 000 baited hooks.

Jigging is a specialised method used to target squid or tjokka, which is also known as calamari. Squid are attracted to boats at night by powerful lights and caught with barbed lures that are halued vertically through the water.