Durban | Tuesday
A TEAM of researchers has confirmed the existence of a coelacanth population discovered by recreational divers of Sodwana Bay in northern KwaZulu-Natal in November 2000, the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology said on Tuesday.
Ministerial representative Andrew Aphane said the rediscovery was made by the on board South African research team led by Dr Tony Ribbink and Mike Roberts from Marine and Coastal Management and the German submersible research team led by Professor Hans Fricke from the Maxplanck Institute in Germany.
The department was notified from the fisheries research ship Algoa shortly after the discovery at 10.30am on Sunday.
The ministry in February channelled R10-million to start the South African Coelacanth Conservation and Genome Research Programme.
International partners in the programme already includes countries in the Southern African Development Community, Europe, North America and Singapore.
The programme was initiated following the discovery of a coelacanth population living at a depth of about 108 metres off Sodwana Bay in November 2000 by a team of divers led by Pieter Venter.
It was the first time that the fish had been sighted outside a submersible craft.
South Africa made history in 1938 when a coelacanth was found in a trawl net in the East London harbour in the Eastern Cape. The species, which was in existence between 400-million and 70-million years ago, was believed extinct.
The discovery then was hailed as the most important zoological find of the century. South Africans have been involved in coelacanth research ever since.
The coelacanth is a large predatory fish that lives in deep water mainly in the Indian ocean, although specimens have recently been found off Indonesia.
Coelacanths have also been found off Mozambique, Madagascar, Comores, and Kenya, with an unconfirmed catch off Tanzania.
The South African coelacanth population was the southernmost group of a wider spread species.
”The Ministry has made a commitment of R10-million to initiate the programme and is delighted to receive this news and reaffirm its support for the research programme,” Aphane said.
He added that the programme underpinned efforts by the department to conserve natural resources and would support the advancement of scientific research.
The Minister, Ben Ngubane, is expected to officially launch the coelacanth programme at Sodwana Bay on April 12.
The first phase of the programme will be an initial survey to establish the size of the population and their environment. The coelacanth location has been sealed off to the public and is under departmental protection. – Sapa