Army targets abalone gangs

22 Nov 2016

The army and navy are being deployed along the south Cape coast to stop thousands of poachers from raiding dwindling abalone stocks.

A task force that includes the SANDF, the SA Revenue Service, the Department of Home Affairs, the police, and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will be deployed in areas such as Gansbaai and Pearly Beach.

Local authorities will also be involved.

A source close to the operation said its focus was on visible policing and "keeping poachers out of the water".

This is the second time in three years that troops have been used in campaigns against poaching.

Beverley Schafer, chairman of the standing committee for economic opportunities, tourism and agriculture in the Western Cape legislature, said abalone smuggling was a "national security threat".

She said the authorities were losing the war on abalone poaching, resulting in the need for "extraordinary measures".

"A WWF report published in August said that illegal harvesting of abalone in South Africa accounts for more than 90% of total abalone production, with a value of more than R1bn.

"South Africa loses 7-million abalone to poachers every year," she said.

A series of high-level busts by the Hawks, the police, and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries culminated three weeks ago in the arrest, in Boksburg, on the East Rand, of the alleged ringleaders of a transnational abalone smuggling syndicate.

Hawks spokesman Captain Lloyd Ramovha said two men, a South African and a Chinese, were arrested for smuggling R13m of abalone.

They are due to appear in the Boksburg Magistrate's Court next week.

Ramovha said tackling abalone smuggling was a priority because it involved "high-level criminal enterprises".

"We believe our multi-disciplinary approach is bearing fruit, as shown by [frequent] busts," said Ramovha.

He said it was necessary to educate communities about the importance of protecting endangered species.

Abalone fishermen say they are terrorised by poaching gangs.

Abalone diver Michael Würbach said that traditional fishing communities have "lost a generation of young people" because of the trading of cheap drugs from Asia for abalone.

Source: The Times

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