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Efforts to halt perlemoen poaching in the Eastern Cape have been "completely ineffectual" and poachers are harvesting at least 1-million kilogrammes of the shellfish worth some R196-million a year. But authorities could rectify the situation with the right measures, incorporating re-sources, co-ordination and political will, says Rhodes University fisheries‘ scientist Professor Peter Britz.
In a hard-hitting letter sent on Monday to Environment and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Britz said one of the worst affected spots in the province was around Bird Island on the eastern edge of Algoa Bay.
The waters are a declared marine protected area (MPA) and the island itself is part of the Addo Elephant National Park.
Despite this, up to 10 poacher vessels at a time crowd into the channel off the island‘s northwest shore, and poachers frequently wade ashore.
"Poaching has got so bad in the Bird Island MPA, we refer to it as a ‘marine pillaging area‘. The poachers are operating with impunity."
Rhodes University‘s Ichthyology department is conducting a research project commissioned by SANParks, which owns the Addo Park.
SANParks‘s long-term aim is to incorporate the existing Bird Island MPA into a 120 000 hectare marine zone under the expanded park.
Responding to the minister‘s contention that the introduction of patrol vessels and other measures by Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) had reduced perlemoen poaching in the Eastern Cape over the past year, Britz said this was "completely erroneous".
"Our research team continues to monitor the illegal abalone fishery, and poaching has not decreased in any way over the last year.
"MCM‘s interventions have been undermined by a seeming inability or lack of will by MCM to work effectively with other agencies.
"Compliance staff in PE are demoralised by a lack of support for their initiatives and resource needs from MCM management in Cape Town."
When a poachers‘ vessel broke down in the Bird Island MPA in March, a gang arrived back at the island that night, confronted the research team and demanded the propellers back from their vessel, he said.
"The propellers had in fact been removed by MCM. But there was no guiltiness whatsoever, that they were not supposed to be there in the first place. It has come to that."
Britz said the effect of deploying patrol vessels from Port Elizabeth harbour had been completely nullified by spies in the harbour who alert poachers as soon as they leave the quay.
Furthermore, the semi-rigid chase craft carried by these vessels are not fast enough to catch the poachers‘ "superducks".
And the high-speed Florence Mkhize, deployed by MCM six months ago, has only spent a total of 30 days in Algoa Bay, Britz said.
"Our research reveals that some 30 superducks are active and that the illegal take in the Eastern Cape is at least 1 000 tons (1 000 000kg) per annum worth a minimum of R196-million" he told the minister.
MCM national spokesperson Carol Moses said the directorate "acknowledges that perlemoen poaching is a problem in the Eastern Cape".
"Bird Island is a known hot-spot. I do not agree that what we are doing against poaching in the province is failing.
"Compliance has been stepped up and syndicates are being broken down - the latest being in KwaZulu-Natal last week." Source:
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