CAPE TIMES – 1933, 4 August
The
imposition of heavy duties by the French Government caused consternation among
SA exporters of Crayfish in 1933. Dr. C von
Bonde, Director of Union Fisheries, who returned to Cape Town from Pretoria,
was interviewed by several exporters to initiate some steps to secure Government
supervision of the new export industry. Dr. Von Bonde sent copies of the
articles on the subject which have appeared in the Cape Times to the Board of
Trade in Pretoria. He was unable to give the exporters any assurance on what
steps the Government would be likely to take.
DIRTY
PACKING
Up to that day
the Government had not contemplated taking any measures to supervise the
export of frozen crayfish tails. Apparently, the Board of Trade had been
approached beforehand with this object.
This present position
could be due to a large extend to the activities of smaller exporters who
had rushed into the crayfish industry attracted by the possibility of quick money. They were
packing anything off to the French market, and there could be no question of
maintaining a satisfactory standard under those conditions.
Dr. Von Bonde
saw people packing the tails of crayfish into large tubs of ice, and when a
tail was dropped in the mud and filth of the quayside, it was thrown into the
tub, mud and all. According to him, the industry was being conducted in a most
uneconomical and short-sighted manner. The method of severing the tail
and dumping the remainder of the crayfish overboard would have a very damaging
effect on the fishing grounds. It would probably drive away crayfish and
other fish as well.
HOW CRAYFISH WERE KILLED
Dr. Von Bonde
said that, under properly organized conditions, the offal part of the
crayfish (head & claws) could be used profitably as fowl food and
as fertilizer. Older Malay fishermen confirmed that it had always been
the rule not to throw dead fish or parts of fish into the fishing grounds. One
old man said that one crayfish head could disturb a bed for two years.
There seemed
to be some misapprehension over the manner of killing the crayfish. Apparently,
people thought that when the tail is separated the rest of the body, still
alive and kicking, will flounder in the sea to die a slow death. The crayfish “tail”,
however, is almost the entire fish, only a shell of a head being left with the
claws and legs attached. It was considered that the method of wrenching the “tail”
off as soon as the fish is caught – thereby killing them quickly – was far more
humane than leaving them to suffocate en masse in the bottom of a boat. It was
the general opinion of crayfish exporters that unless the Government would take
some steps, the Union’s youngest industry would pass out with the same rapidity
as it was instituted.
Read more about the History of Crayfishing in South Africa at https://www.route27sa.com/crayfish.html
Read more about the History of Crayfishing in South Africa at https://www.route27sa.com/crayfish.html
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