North Durban Honorary Officers River Patrol

The  North Durban Honorary Officers attended a patrol up the river on the 23rd February 2013 to check for crab traps and any other signs of illegal fishing activities.  Here are some photos with kind permission of Norman Frances.

Crossing the Mgeni River at low tide

White mangrove sapling growing on the mudbank.
You can see where the root system is by the pencil roots which branch out in all directions.

The collapsed section of bridge - is the municipality going to remove it?

The mangrove trees on the banks of the river are full of climbing whelks


Hundreds of fiddler crabs (Uca annulipes) on the mudbanks of the mNgeni

Taking a break in the shade
We were pleasantly surprised to see the whelks and fiddler crabs, hopefully an indication that the river is not as polluted as expected.  Also the amount of litter washed up on the tidal beaches seems to be less, no doubt due to all the hard work Umgeni Estuary Conservancy and DUCT are doing upstream and the Working for the Coast are doing at the Beachwood Mangroves - well done guys and gals!

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