Dassen Island (33 26 S; 18 05 E) was last surveyed for waders in summer in December 1971 (Summers et al. 1976). It was not visited during the Western Cape Wader Study Group's coastal surveys in either 1975/76 or 1980/81, and the count for Dassen Island in Ryan et al.(1988) was made on 5 September 1979, before the arrival of most Palearctic migrant waders.