A scientific working group meets on 27 October, three days before the sardine catch limit expires, the fisheries department said on 25 October.
The limit lets every sardine right holder land no more than 33% of what is left of its 2026 directed catch, counted separately west and east of Cape Agulhas. It runs from 3 to 30 October, according to the department’s 11 October statement. The earlier cap, in force from 11 September to 2 October, was 25%.
What the tests show
Laboratory results so far show pilchard herpesvirus far more often in dead or sick sardines than in fish that looked healthy, the department said. That tightens the link between the virus and the die-off of late July to early September. Testing and sequence confirmation go on.
In its 11 October statement the department said that detecting viral material alone does not establish active disease. It has received no reports of a new widespread die-off, it said on 25 October, after no reports of dead sardines since 10 September.
On 23 October a small number of juvenile sardines, each under 5 cm, washed up along about 200 m of beach near Mossel Bay. Samples went for virus testing. Small strandings happen from time to time for different reasons, the department said, and it does not yet know whether this one connects to the earlier die-off.
Source: Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment statements of 21 September and 11 October 2026. Chart: Rand Desk
Catches and the survey
Fishing has been limited. The department said on 21 September that only one sardine catch, of 26 tonnes, had been landed since the start of September, after industry confirmed that strong winds prevented fishing west of Cape Agulhas and limited it in Algoa Bay. For October it recorded limited directed catches and some bycatch in several areas.
Sardines remain in parts of the coast, the department said, but these records cannot show overall abundance.
That count will come from an end-of-year hydroacoustic survey. The 11 October statement put its start in early November, with a route running from Hondeklip Bay to Port St Johns. The department said on 25 October that the tender to charter a research vessel closed on 23 October, with bid evaluation starting in the coming week.
The department said it will be the first estimate since the die-off of how much sardine biomass there is, where it is and how big the fish are, made without relying on fishing data.
Public guidance
The virus affects fish and is not known to infect people, the department said. Commercial sardine products sold through regulated channels remain safe, it said. It asked the public not to collect or eat dead sardines from beaches, feed them to animals or use them as bait, and to report unusual fish deaths to the coastal authority or the department.
The department said any management decision will follow the working group’s meeting only after the required scientific and administrative processes finish.
