A catch of sardines pictured at the Hout Bay Harbour near Cape Town, South Africa, on Nov 20, 2011. (AP Photo\/Schalk van Zuydam, File)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-08-29T10:44:33Z<\/p>\n
JOHANNESBURG (AP) \u2014 Scientists in South Africa<\/a><\/span> are investigating why masses of sardines<\/a><\/span> have washed up dead or dying along parts of the country\u2019s west and south coast \u2014 and if a herpes virus detected in the fish is responsible.<\/p>\n The mass mortality of sardines this month has so far stumped the country\u2019s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, though scientists have come to at least one conclusion: it is the first time that the virus in question \u2014 pilchard herpesvirus, or PHV \u2014 has been identified in sardines off South Africa.<\/p>\n PHV, which was linked to two mass sardine mortality events in Australia in the 1990s, can cause inflammation and thickening of sardines\u2019 gills, which interferes with their oxygen uptake, according to the South African environment department.<\/p>\n Sardines and pilchards are the same type of fish, with sardines being the younger, smaller ones.<\/p>\n PHV is a fish virus and poses no known risk to human health, the department said, and its detection does not mean that healthy sardines caught commercially or canned sardine products are unsafe to eat.<\/p>\n Dozens of sardines taken from affected areas, some dead and some alive, are being examined by scientists at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity and a local university. <\/p>\n In some initial results, dead fish collected from the mass mortality events showed consistently high levels of PHV, the department said in a statement, while live fish that were examined had varied levels of the virus.<\/p>\n Scientists have also considered whether harmful algae found in the ocean<\/a><\/span> or unusually cold sea temperatures or low oxygen conditions might be responsible for the sardine deaths, but \u201cthe evidence increasingly points to PHV as the leading explanation,\u201d the environment department said.<\/p>\n