Fishing places
Africa
From the Atlantic surf of Morocco and the Western Cape to the reef and current systems of the Indian Ocean coast.
Being listed here is not permission to fish. What that meansClose
Access, fishing rights, seasons, licences, local bylaws and permitted methods vary and can change. Check current access, permission, local regulations, closures and restrictions before you travel or fish. FishingHQ describes what the ground is and names who holds the answer; it does not hold the answer itself.
Find the authority for a jurisdiction · What FishingHQ does and does not cover
- 16 fishing regions and destinations
- 24 publicly documented places
Where to start
24 publicly documented fishing places across 16 coasts, islands and systems, under the 1 jurisdictions that administer them. Pick one and work down.
Every place, listed
24 publicly documented fishing places, under the jurisdiction that governs them and then the coast they belong to. This is the complete list — everything plotted on the map above is here, and nothing here needs the map to reach it.
South Africa 24 places
Who to ask before fishing anywhere in South Africa
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. South Africa licenses recreational sea angling nationally — a permit is required from the age of twelve — and layers over it a minimum size and daily bag limit set SPECIES BY SPECIES, a cumulative daily cap across all species, closed seasons on some fish, a prohibited list of species that may not be caught at all, and separate rules again for spearfishing, which is prohibited outright in estuaries. Much of the accessible coast additionally sits inside a marine protected area zoned into no-take and controlled areas, administered by a park, provincial or conservation authority rather than by the fisheries department. All of it changes, and the department's own guidance says adjustments may be forthcoming. Check the current position with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and with the authority that manages the protected area before going.
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. South Africa licenses recreational sea angling nationally — a permit is required from the age of twelve — and layers over it a minimum size and daily bag limit set SPECIES BY SPECIES, a cumulative daily cap across all species, closed seasons on some fish, a prohibited list of species that may not be caught at all, and separate rules again for spearfishing, which is prohibited outright in estuaries. Much of the accessible coast additionally sits inside a marine protected area zoned into no-take and controlled areas, administered by a park, provincial or conservation authority rather than by the fisheries department. All of it changes, and the department's own guidance says adjustments may be forthcoming. Check the current position with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and with the authority that manages the protected area before going. This water is tidal and transitional, so the freshwater regime may also apply above the tidal limit: FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Inland fishing in South Africa is administered provincially rather than nationally, and the arrangements differ substantially between provinces; many waters are additionally on private land or inside a reserve, where the permission of the landowner or the reserve authority is what actually governs access. Several endemic freshwater species are threatened and carry their own protection. Check with the relevant provincial conservation authority and with the landowner or reserve before going.
The Cape Peninsula and False Bay 4 places
One peninsula with two oceans on it: cold Atlantic kelp on the west side, warmer False Bay on the east, and a summer kob fishery that starts when the south-easter starts blowing.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: cliffs and rock platforms, cold water shock.
4 places on this coast
- Cape Point headland · salt water · cliffs and rock platforms
- Gordon's Bay harbour wall · salt water
- Kalk Bay harbour wall harbour wall · salt water
- Strandfontein surf beach · salt water
The Cape west coast 5 places
The cold Atlantic side: Benguela upwelling, kelp forest, snoek and hottentot, and water that is colder in midsummer than in midwinter because the summer wind is what drives the upwelling.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: cold water shock, cliffs and rock platforms.
5 places on this coast
- Jacobsbaai rock platform · salt water
- Langebaan Lagoon estuary · salt water
- Saldanha Bay bay · salt water
- St Helena Bay bay · salt water
- Yzerfontein beach · salt water
The Eastern Cape and the Wild Coast 4 places
The rock-and-surf heartland: the coast the blacktail statistic is about, where the Agulhas starts to bite, and where a hundred kilometres of Wild Coast has almost nobody on it.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: cliffs and rock platforms.
4 places on this coast
- Algoa Bay bay · salt water
- Mazeppa Bay rock mark · salt water
- Port Alfred and the Kowie estuary · brackish water
- The Dwesa-Cwebe coast cliff coast · salt water
The Garden Route 3 places
The estuary coast: a warm-temperate stretch where the river mouths rather than the rocks are the main event, and where the country's most important estuarine system sits inside a national park.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: cliffs and rock platforms, boat safety.
3 places on this coast
- Mossel Bay bay · salt water
- Plettenberg Bay and Robberg headland · salt water
- The Knysna estuary estuary · brackish water
The KwaZulu-Natal coast 5 places
The subtropical coast: warm Agulhas water, couta and kingfish, the sardine run in winter, and the reefs where the seventy-four was fished to a prohibition.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: boat safety, cliffs and rock platforms.
5 places on this coast
- Aliwal Shoal reef · salt water
- Durban harbour entrance harbour wall · salt water
- Protea Banks reef · salt water
- Sodwana Bay bay · salt water
- Umhlanga Rocks rock mark · salt water
The Overberg and Cape Agulhas 3 places
The actual southern tip of Africa, a legal boundary in the national fishing rules, and the coast where a marine reserve demonstrably brought the national fish back.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: cliffs and rock platforms.
3 places on this coast
- Arniston rock mark · salt water
- Struisbaai surf beach · salt water
- The De Hoop coast cliff coast · salt water
Also covered, with no individual places under them yet
Full guides to coasts, islands and systems in Africa whose places are catalogued under a finer coast above, or not yet catalogued at all.