Sardine Run 2011: What happened?

It’s amazed and astounded us with spectacular displays of marine action in previous years. But if there’s one thing the Earth-Touch crews have learned from filming South Africa’s Sardine Run (what is it?) in the past is that this wildlife spectacle is, above all, hugely unpredictable. And as with any other natural event, a film crew’s best efforts and most careful planning are no match for tricky weather conditions and fickle piscine subjects.Which is precisely what happened in 2011. In this HD video, our (rather disappointed) cameraman Barry Skinstad tells us what went wrong:

So why did the sardines let us down? To put it rather simply, they’re pretty fussy. Their epic journey along the South African coastline depends on some very subtle environmental changes: optimal sea temperatures and just the right sort of currents. If conditions are not right, what promises to be the “greatest shoal on earth” will quickly turn into a no-show. And there’s growing concern that the delicate climatic shifts required to trigger the sardine migration are being disrupted by global warming. Over the past decade, the Sardine Run has become increasingly unpredictable and bumper years of mega sardine activity are starting to seem like a thing of the past. Could climate change put an end to this spectacular wildlife phenomenon? We hope not.

Are South Africa's great sardine shoals becoming a thing of the past?