Holsloot Dam

[ArcherFish]

The farmer at Dwarsberg keeps putting up wiers and dams in the river on his property. This is illegal as new inline dams have been banned.
My concern is that this will affect the fishing, in that it will prevent the movement of fish up and down the river, and warm up the water.
Perhaps on the positive side it could stop bass from moving up.

Do you think I should report these dams to water affairs or not?

[gazzarowan]

i agree with the 3 guys so far (1 being me)

it will probably be doing a little more harm then good in the long run

[gkieser]

I think someone should check out if it is causing an issue.

It won't solve any bass problem - Stettynskloof will always supply the Holsloot with bass.

[gkieser]

It is amazing to see the holsloot when you leave rawsonville - it is a trickle, but in the area we fish it has beautiful flows. Just shows you how much is extracted from those weirs.

Would be interesting to know how much further down we could fish if there was not that extraction (provided we had access of course).

[MarkK]

Good luck with that. One year I counted 13 bulldozed weirs on the Breede between Wolseley and Worcester. And if you drive through Slanghoek in summer you'll inevitably see a weir just downstream of the Slanghoek bridge. When I contacted DWAF, I was referred to and fro and eventually to the "responsible authority" for the area. He noted the report, but nothing was done. I contacted my favourite fanatic in CapeNature, thinking that he'd at least pretend to care (after all, a dry riverbed eats up more redfins than trout do?) His reply was that the farmers had been doing this sort of thing for years, so there wasn't much that could be done about it. Don't get me wrong - I understand that farmers need water and that we need farmers. Somewhere along the line there has to be a sustainable solution, though. Perhaps reservoirs outside of the riverbed that can be filled in times of excess water, or is the long-term answer simply less water-intensive agriculture?

[wernerm]

If it's illegal, report it.

[dlampert]

This might be biting the hand that feeds us. I suggest we discuss at next committee meeting as opposed to throwing it open to mob justice on FlyBrawl.

[BuzzLiteBeer]

This might be biting the hand that feeds us. I suggest we discuss at next committee meeting as opposed to throwing it open to mob justice on FlyBrawl.

I agree. Anything that changes the flow of water cannot go unchallenged. (diplomatically)

[Appin69]

From what i understand, some rivers are going to be poisoned in the Western Cape to help rectify a historic rose tinted view of what our rivers woud have looked like without introduced alien (foreign and domestic) fish. Yet the distruction and alteration of rivers by man is justified as 'that is how it has been for years'. The argument doesn't add up for me. Some countries have welcomed their aliens (though controlled) and have legislated the amount of water that may be abstracted and even how far farmers must keep their crops and livestock from river edge.

Think something must be done. Legally of course!

[ArcherFish]

This might be biting the hand that feeds us. I suggest we discuss at next committee meeting as opposed to throwing it open to mob justice on FlyBrawl.

My intention is to act as a private citizen.
Mark, you are spot on about water abstraction which is going to be a major problem in the future. Water hungry vineyards are replacing grazing, wheat and other low water use agriculture.

What do we do, boycott wine and drink beer?