Poaching out of control

[PH]

It is absolutely mind boggling how  poaching activities have grown in our area, ie Pringle Bay Kleinmond etc. When we moved here about 5 years ago, poaching was a rare  activity. Even "newsworthy." The  Marina Anti Poaching Unit (MAPU) "patrolled" the coats with drones and we even had road blocks from time to time. It seems that MAPU 's only function these days is to report on rare arrests. Don't see them in our area anymore.
It happens almost on a daily basis that poachers, openly, in broad daylight, on the main beach and other public spaces collect their "catches" of abelone from the divers. (those that are not loaded onto boats) Some as small as 50 mm. Even over weekends. These events are merely mentioned on the local Watsapp groups and facebook by frustrated residents.  No use reporting it to Mapu. Zero reaction from them. The police just seem to look the other way. Apparently we only have 3 cops available to service the whole area and they are NOT going to confront a group of 20 or more poachers.


Why is it that they NEVER catch the main "merchants"/ exporters?


I wonder if Greenpeace could assist?

[John F]

Pierre!! Great to see you around here again!!!

[Lenny]

We have seen a large increase of poaching activities , along Struis , to pearly beach , I would agree , it’s out of control .


I have also gotten told to  move off , by two , dodgy guys now suiderstrand , I was sitting in my cabby , with my camera ...


Also A know syndicate operating stealing semi rigids in southern suburbs , which mainly get found agian or parts of it either in hawston or gansbaai or the new hub , pearly beach .
A very good mate of mine , farms on the main route , between pearly beach and gansbaai. He has told me , that with in the poaching circles , things have changed and are very tense . And influx of guys from the eastern cape divers .


What I can add , or what we tend to forget .


The poachers , and the law enforcement  in these small coastal towns  are uncles , and cousins and brothers .
The law enforcement and DAFF , even Sanparks , knows who dives , just like the police knows who the drug dealers are ... gets turned a blind eye , in the sake of  putting bread on the table , which are a BS story ...


One tend to see , more and more of absolute bloody lawlessness ,

[BETTYS]

Well guys Bettys is also not different, as I am sitting in my house saw 6 divers went into the see, Not even worth reporting it,
PH you are right it is really out of control and it seems the law enforcement agents doing nothing, saw them in Spar and the one want to have a bigger stomach than the other.


Really useless around here.


But let you just go and walk with your dog on the beach without a leash then you see how quickly they respond.
Or having a beer on the beach

[PH]

Pierre!! Great to see you around here again!!!

Thanks JohnF.

[PH]

PH you are right it is really out of control and it seems the law enforcement agents doing nothing, saw them in Spar and the one want to have a bigger stomach than the other.

Yip, and they always park on the "disabled parking" at the Spar

[FishStyx]

When I was young, I made a pact with myself that if ever I contracted some dread/terminal disease, I'd become a sniper, specialising in taking out poachers. It's still on the cards. I don't have any terminal illness at this stage tho so not able to help right now.


Nice to see you again Pierre.

[2bar.boost]

It's disgusting. I've witnessed myself how the poachers are taking over Pringle bay and Hangklip.

[LeerieLegend]

Yes literally every time I fish Gansbaai/ Die Dam, Reitfotein, Brandfotein, Struisbaai, Betties, Hangklip I am almost guarateed to find poachers. They also don't mind diving right where you are trying to fish. Families with kids having a nice Sunday walk on the beach and the paochers come screaming up and down the beach at full speed looking for spots. Really love the area to fish but this spoils it totally.

[PH]

When I was young, I made a pact with myself that if ever I contracted some dread/terminal disease, I'd become a sniper, specialising in taking out poachers. It's still on the cards. I don't have any terminal illness at this stage tho so not able to help right now.


Nice to see you again Pierre.

Thanks, and deepest condolences

[skurwes]

Seems to me this is a huge problem, in Jeffreys Bay during low tides, full moon, the scavengers strip everything what ever they could lay there hands on...here are some places where you will not find any life at all.
The worst of all these people strip during daylight, here is no police visibility or any kind of law enforcement whatsoever.
Sometimes I wonder if they are not involved in this, and even worse they will patrol the beach for anglers without licences and don`t bother with the scavengers on the rocks.

[PH]

Reported poaching incidents. Note increase during May

[PH]

I had a short discussion with representatives of Greenpeace a few days ago.


"You guys are aware of the poaching of abelone on our coast. Is there any way Greenpeace can assist with this problem?" was my question.


"Yes, we are aware of the problem and the situation is being monitored and discussed"


"I have not seen any presence of Greenpeace, nor have I heard that you guys are monitoring the situation at all. Somebody counted 90 poachers in the Bettys Bay area last week. Can you even imagine the extent of the problem.?"


"It is a huge problem." was his response and he continued " We have a serious shortage of voluteers and staff  and we are currently busy with a massive marketing drive in a attempt attract attention, make the public aware of our goals and hopefully obtain more staff and volunteers"


"I think that a little positive action from your side  in addressing this problem will give you more support from the public than you ever hope to have. Help the authorities to catch a few of these criminals, man! " was my response with a smile.


The guy just shrugged his shoulders.


And I just walked  away.

[FishStyx]

This article came from a subscription journal so if I post a link few will get to see it. So I have copied and pasted just the text. Who know... I guess we can only hope that things get better.




Organised crime with links to the illegal harvesting, processing and  trading of fish and seafood globally, is so huge that it is in effect a  parallel economic system that is undermining sustainable economic growth.
[/color]“Countries are being deprived of taxes; citizens of jobs, food and  income; and fisheries and environments are being destroyed. Africa is  particularly vulnerable and loses more than $20bn per year. This is a battle we  have to win,” says Hennie van As, public law professor at Nelson Mandela  University, an admitted advocate and founder and head of FishFORCE, SA’s first  Fisheries Law Enforcement Academy.
[/color]The statistic is quoted from a 2018 guide called Rotten Fish,  produced by the UN office on drugs and crime, that addresses corruption in the  fisheries sector, to which Van As contributed.
[/color] [/i]
[/color]Van As explains that fisheries crime, or “multicrimes” affecting the  fisheries sector range from illegal capture of fish to human trafficking and  forced labour, fraud, forgery, corruption, money laundering and tax and customs  evasion. These crimes pose a challenge to fisheries law enforcement agencies in  developing countries across the world.
[/color]“We therefore established FishFORCE in 2016 with the aim of achieving  knowledge and intelligence led investigations and prosecutions of criminals  engaged in fisheries crime in Africa and globally,” says Van As.
[/color]FishFORCE is a partnership between the Nelson Mandela University, the  Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and SA's department of agriculture,  forestry and fisheries. It has the buy-in from Interpol, the AU and the UN  office on drugs and crime.
[/color]FishFORCE has been advocating that fisheries crimes be addressed as a  priority crime and as organised crime and racketeering under the Prevention of  Organised Crime Act, which carries penalties of 25 years to life.
[/color]“This is critical because fisheries crime cases that have thus far been  prosecuted as illegal, unreported unregulated fisheries have had very limited  success with penalties amounting to little more than a rap on the knuckles. It  is encouraging to see that three recent major abalone (perlemoen) racketeering  cases in SA — State v Blignaut; State v Miller and State v Brown — have been  prosecuted as priority crimes, with sentences of 18-20 years.”
[/color]Norway is contributing over R50m over five years to FishFORCE.
[/color]Norwegian ambassador Astrid Helle says: “The price to society of  organised fisheries crime needs to be clearly understood. This, together with  climate change and marine pollution goes directly against sustainable ocean  resources which is a high political priority for both Norway and SA.”
[/color]“The oceans represent a key source of income and food for many  countries. Oceans know no borders and combating organised fisheries crime and  the associated multicrimes is in everyone’s interest. We regard SA as a key  partner in taking a leadership role in this and in the global shift towards a  sustainable ocean economy.”
[/color]It is estimated that 60-million people in the Western Indian Ocean  region directly depend on the ocean for their food and livelihoods. The region  extends all the way up the eastern coast of Africa, including Somalia, Kenya,  Tanzania, Mozambique, and the island states of Comoros and Madagascar. It is  experiencing a chronic food security problem.
[/color] [/b]
[/color]“Together with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), we are getting  to the bottom of why prosecutions for fisheries-related crimes often fail,”  explains Van As.
[/color]“The regulating, policing and law enforcement of fisheries vessels in  the past has been too compartmentalised and full of loopholes because of the  large number of different players involved.
[/color]“Illegal fisheries vessels take advantage of this. They commit document  fraud to underreport catches, they fish illegally and change their flags  (because countries only have jurisdiction on the high seas over vessels that  fly their flags) or they transfer illegally caught fish from one boat to  another. We are now closely collaborating with the SA Police Service, defence  force, navy, National Prosecuting Authority and home affairs to develop a  combined offensive.”
[/color]FishFORCE is training fisheries control officers, police officers and  prosecutors in SA and Kenya, and along the East African coastline and Western  Indian Ocean where it is opening academies in Angola, Namibia, Mozambique,  Tanzania, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles. There is already one in Kenya.  FishFORCE is also assisting with training along the Indian Ocean Rim, including  countries like Indonesia.
[/color]“The reason is that organised crime in the fisheries environment does  not know borders and neither do marine living resources,” says Van As.
[/color]The training developed and delivered by FishFORCE is linked to formal  qualifications, such as a higher certificate in criminal justice and a diploma  in law enforcement, thus providing an articulation pathway for trainees. This  was specifically developed in order to promote fisheries law enforcement as a  career choice by professionalising this sector.
[/color]“In 2018 FishFORCE trained 276 delegates through its law enforcement by  peace officers short learning programme, at a success rate of 90%,” says Van  As.
[/color]“The training was inter-agency and cross-border in nature, and focused  on prevention of corruption, taking of statements as well as species  identification and fisheries technology.”
[/color]For post-training support, FishFORCE has established an electronic  helpdesk through which support is given to the SA Police Service, fisheries  control officers and the NPA.
[/color]WhatsApp groups have been established to assist law enforcement with  requests for assistance with regard to suspect vehicles and people. Quite a few  successes have been achieved through this in SA, especially on the West Coast  where a number of arrests were effected. The WhatsApp groups are also linked to  scientists who can assist with species identification.
[/color]Port security is critical to the combating of fisheries crime as they  are actively used in organised crime as key points of entry and exit for  commodities associated with fisheries crime, for example, the export of marine  living resources, the import of drugs and firearms, and other crimes such as  human trafficking.
[/color]Port security officers are tasked with the control of goods entering and  leaving harbours and they are on duty 24 hours a day. However, they are not  trained to differentiate between species and to identify whether fisheries  products that are leaving the country are illegal or not. They are also not  trained to detect smuggling or tampering with containers or to identify illicit  substances such as drugs that are often associated with the poaching of marine  living resources.
[/color]The FishFORCE Academy is training port security officers and their  supervisors and managers in SA ports. FishFORCE is investigating the use of  drone technology to assist agencies with monitoring and surveillance  operations.

[Lenny]

Guys , have a google at the Chinese money system or Chinese money monkey ....


It’s basicly a barter system , with no cash or paper trail , this is why the pouching is out of control ....

[2bar.boost]

Guys , have a google at the Chinese money system or Chinese money monkey ....


It’s basicly a barter system , with no cash or paper trail , this is why the pouching is out of control ....

This is how it work wrt perlemoen. This is what a 28 told me and the how the Chinese tie in with madrax.

China is the only producer in the world still making methaqualone aka madrax, and SA is the only consumer.
Poachers and gangster trade perly straight for mandrax..no money exchanged. If a poacher needs a quick madrax fix
he can even trade perly straight for drugs at some places. You will never find cash on someone with bulk perly or
bulk mandrax because they dont use it...only the small guys will have cash(dealers)

[Lenny]

Guys , have a google at the Chinese money system or Chinese money monkey ....


It’s basicly a barter system , with no cash or paper trail , this is why the pouching is out of control ....

This is how it work wrt perlemoen. This is what a 28 told me and the how the Chinese tie in with madrax.

China is the only producer in the world still making methaqualone aka madrax, and SA is the only consumer.
Poachers and gangster trade perly straight for mandrax..no money exchanged. If a poacher needs a quick madrax fix
he can even trade perly straight for drugs at some places. You will never find cash on someone with bulk perly or
bulk mandrax because they dont use it...only the small guys will have cash(dealers)

Pretty much , correct , Defoe’s the meth / Tik too . People gets paid in Tik , and they have to merch  it , to make their cash back , same goes for these cheap Chinese products we get , that’s compensation , for something they sent from here .  So they receive a container , with lets say , hacksaws in , they know , they have to make , 20 rand per hack saw , to make they monetary value back . But , market value are let’s saw 50 rand , hence , these cheap imports are Basicly or will never stop , so they put their price out at 35 rand ..... you see what I mean ... ivory , hardwood this is how they smuggle it ...

[SAfish]

It is a sad state of affairs because "locals" are always quick to defend their poaching brothers, cousins, uncles etc. because they are the bread winners and they need to poach to put food on the table. I can't believe they chow perlemoen or Elf every night or give it to their starving friends and family. They support their family through trading the perlemoen for drugs to be sold to buy booze and other drugs. They have no regard for conservation and it is a free for all solution to get money. The corrupt politicians are doing the same but on a much larger scale. 

[Lenny]

It is a sad state of affairs because "locals" are always quick to defend their poaching brothers, cousins, uncles etc. because they are the bread winners and they need to poach to put food on the table. I can't believe they chow perlemoen or Elf every night or give it to their starving friends and family. They support their family through trading the perlemoen for drugs to be sold to buy booze and other drugs. They have no regard for conservation and it is a free for all solution to get money. The corrupt politicians are doing the same but on a much larger scale. 

If the guys this side , gives me that , putting bread on the table , nonsense . They sell them , they don’t want food , they want cashhhh..sad state of affairs .

[Visenvryheid]

Shiploads of "scrap" copper also leave our shores in return for the same..Big scrap yards been bust with kilos of meth a few times...wonder where it came from? LOL yup all spot on the mark..Same as rouge English traders did in the kei and east coast for gold and timber in the way old days giving guns and hard liquor in return, until the queen stepped in and sent troops to be stationed permanently to keep law and order.. Port St Johns got established as garrison station etc..Or the English did to china with opium..History repeats itself..LOL