The Greatest Shoal On Earth is a natural phenomenon that takes place each year in June/ July in Kwazulu Natal; most South Africans refer to it as the Sardine Run.
The Sardine Run is made up of billions of sardines that spawn in the cold waters of the Agulhas Bank south-east of Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa. These shoals then move up the East Coast of South Africa where they come close to shore and sometimes even beach on the South coast beaches of Kwazulu Natal; they've even been seen on Durban's main beaches, but this is a rarity.
We visited Cape Agulhas in March this year and spotted dark blotches deep in the ocean; many Gannets and other sea birds were very active down there at the time.
2020 has been a bumper Sardine Season that has not been seen for many years, with birds, dolphins and sharks as well as other sea predators having a feeding frenzy; one good spin-off from Covid19 restrictions, as has been seen in many countries of the world where nature has reclaimed its rightful place!
This spectacle annually attracts many tourists but this year due to Covid19 travel restrictions, only locals can enjoy the bumper Sardine Run!
Local radio stations report on the movements of the shoals with locals flocking to the beaches hoping to see a shoal beach or watch the seine netting of sardine shoals and get to buy crates of sardines.
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The first sign of Sardines is large dark spots in the ocean with hundreds of gannets circling and dive-bombing into the water. Tourism operators take people out to sea to spot the sharks and dolphins that follow these little silvery delights.
There have been many television documentaries on this phenomenon such as the BBC's Blue Planet series and National Geographic.
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Friends went to the beach this week when they heard that sardines had been spotted and brought us a packet of freshly netted Sardines.
I usually enjoy cleaning fish, but Sardines is not my specialty as these little silvery fish are way too fiddly and tiny, so hubby was left to do the gutting and cleaning; I was only too happy to do the cooking afterwards!
BAKED LEMON & HERB SARDINES
- 16 fresh Sardines
- Juice from 1 Lemon
- 1/4 cup Olive Oil
- Chopped fresh herbs - Thyme & Fennel
- 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp Dry Onions flakes
- Salt & Pepper
Mix marinade ingredients together, pour over Sardines & mix lightly to coat fish.
Bake in very hot fan oven 200°C for approx 30 min, turning halfway through cooking.
Serve with a fresh Garden Salad and Potato Wedges.
Almost forgot I still had some Avocado left that a friend gave us and this would finish the salad off beautifully.
I have prepared Sardines before by frying in a light batter but as it's an oily fish, baking them to a slight crisp in Lemon & Herb marinade sounded good and really brought out the flavours from the ocean; the tails were crispy and crunchy, absolutely delicious!
One could actually eat all the bones as well as it's soft and full of calcium, but I prefer pulling the flesh off the backbone.
We're going Sardine hunting this week as they're still very active so I hope we're successful; all the fishermen are allowed on the beaches again and everyone else is joining them when the Sardines strike:)
Hope to have some photos and show you some action from my view point.
I'm posting this Nature/Foodie post in the OCD Community as I'm celebrating reaching a rep of 70! This is one of the first communities I joined and I have to thank you @ocd as well as many other curation groups AND all my friends here on Hive for helping me grow!
My third birthday is peeking at me and what a wonderful journey it's been; only 9 more sleeps!
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I've never been a big fan of sardines but your story and presentation of how you prepare them is excellent. Look forward to seeing your catch soon.
Sult
Thank you Sult, glad you enjoyed reading it, wish you could have tasted fresh sardines though, they're really good!
My experience with sardines was canned sardines so that should tell you something, way to salty tasting for me and I like salty food.
Well there really is no comparison between canned and fresh Sardines Sult so I'm sure you would enjoy these if you like fish of course.
I love fish but only when it is breaded and deep fried. Most all of the fish I eat are freshwater type fish but I do eat some fried cod occasionally.
@lizelle , admirations for this post - it’s not only a tasty looking recipe but an entire experience that you share! I admire your dedication and if I have to be completely honest so far I have never seen someone presenting everything like you did - from the destination through the catching and then closing with the process of preparation of the food!
I am happy that this post crossed my feed here and you have a new follower and cooking fellow in me from now on! =))
Thank you so very much for the lovely comments @misskate, really appreciate it! I do enjoy telling the story behind the dish if at all possible. Had a peek at your blog and am looking forward to seeing more of your cooking as well;)
I rarely see cooking profiles and/or recipes that stand out from the crowd and I just had to share with you!
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Excellent post and everything looks delicious, greetings and success @lizelle!
Thank you so much, glad you enjoyed it!
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Wow, muy instructivo y se ve delicioso, tratare de que me salga igual, te dejo mi voto y te sigo.
Gracias, me alegro de que lo hayas disfrutado, ¡aprecio tu apoyo!
Oh @lizelle this dish looks amazing! You made me crave for some sardines...
What a lovely surprise seeing you @ruth-girl, thank you! Those sardines were really good, we're taking a drive today to see if we can find some :)
The end result looks wonderful. I ever ate sardines not in a tin with tomato sauce. How does it taste? Like Shad maybe?
Thanks for sharing.
Shad is one of my favourites but fresh sardines has a richer taste, tinned sardines pales in comparison. Thanks for popping in!
Thank you @lizelle. Hope you have a great week. 🌺🌼
That Looks Yum! Upvote
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Wow, I had not heard of the sardine run before. That's really cool. It's so neat that nature has been making a come back with fewer people out fishing.
Yum those sardines look really amazing. Thank you for supplying the recipe!
It's quite a spectacle here, I still have to see them come close to shore though, hopefully this season as there's no surfers not bathers in the sea, nor jetskis etc etc, so nature is really making a comeback with us humans not imposing on their territory;)
Those baked sardines were excellent!
Thank you for visiting @jayna.