No further sardine deaths have been reported along the northern Wild Coast since 10 September, while investigations continue into a virus linked to the recent event.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment says the absence of additional reports suggests the acute phase of the sardine mortality event has ended, although monitoring remains in place because further incidents cannot yet be ruled out.
The most recent reported fresh wash-up occurred near Mbotyi on the northern Wild Coast on 10 September 2026. Coastal authorities, fishers and members of the public are being encouraged to continue reporting any new sightings of dead or dying sardines.
Investigations have meanwhile identified pilchard herpesvirus, or PHV, in a sardine sample collected from the beach at Port St Johns on 1 September.
Confirmation of the virus extends its known occurrence in fish associated with the mortality event to the northern Wild Coast, giving scientists an important additional piece of information as they work to understand what caused the deaths and how widely the virus may be distributed.
PHV is currently considered the leading biological factor associated with the mortality event, but the Department cautions that several questions remain unresolved.
Laboratory and epidemiological investigations are continuing to establish the prevalence of the virus, when it may have emerged, its possible origin and whether oceanographic or other environmental conditions contributed to the sardine deaths.
The response is also moving beyond the immediate mortality event to assess what it could mean for South Africa’s wider marine ecosystem.
Preparations are continuing for an end-of-year hydroacoustic survey, which will provide the first fisheries-independent estimate of sardine biomass and distribution following the event.
The survey will help scientists determine the size and distribution of the sardine population independently of commercial catches and provide a clearer indication of whether the mortality event has had a measurable effect on the resource.
Monitoring is also continuing for possible impacts on predators and other marine species that depend on sardines as a food source.
Sardines play an important role in the marine food web, meaning changes in their abundance can potentially affect seabirds, marine mammals and predatory fish. The coordinated response therefore includes monitoring beyond the sardines themselves.
For members of the public, the Department has stressed that PHV is a fish virus and is not known to infect humans.
Commercial sardine products released through regulated channels remain safe for consumption.
People are nevertheless being advised not to collect or eat dead or dying sardines found on beaches or floating close to shore. The fish should also not be fed to animals or used as bait.
The absence of further mortality reports is an encouraging development, but continued surveillance, laboratory analysis and the forthcoming biomass survey will be important in determining the longer-term significance of the event.
For environmental authorities, the next phase is therefore less about responding to mass wash-ups and more about building the scientific evidence needed to understand what happened, whether the virus remains present and what impact, if any, it has had on South Africa’s sardine population.
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