Coast KZN

A frustrated beachgoer from Park Rynie, who asked not be named, was forced to spend hundreds of rands at his local doctor to remove a fish hook from his thumb. The man said he had been exercising at Scottburgh main beach just over a week ago when he unfortunately got hooked and became what would have been a fisherman’s big catch.

Some bathers have asked fishermen not to fish so close to the bathing area at Scottburgh beach. (Photo for illustration purposes)

“I was stuck on the line and there were other bathers around to witness this,” he said. “To my surprise, I didn’t even receive an apology, had to cut the line myself and was questioned as to why I was near the line.”

This is now the third time a local has been hooked by a fisherman at the same beach and he mentioned that many others have been victims too. “I was told by a few locals that I was the third person hooked at the beach the same week it happened to me,” he said. “To my knowledge, an elderly man and a child were hooked before I was.”

The man said he was in the water in the flagged bathing area when the incident occurred and questions why some fishermen choose to fish where there are bathers. “It is dangerous to fish near bathers and I’d like to warn beachgoers to be aware of their surroundings when at the beach,” he said.

Besides hooks, it was also brought to the locals attention that two young girls at the same beach recently got caught in some fishing line while swimming.

“We are not asking people to stop fishing, but to rather do it away from beachgoers because of how unsafe it is.”