The number of abalone poachers arrested on the Eastern Cape coast had risen from 129 in 2003 to 168 in 2004, according to Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk.
Although the total abalone stock lost could not be determined, he said in reply to Democratic Alliance MP Marius Swart that between January this year and October 31, 93 poachers had been arrested. Altogether 190 poachers had been successfully convicted in the last three years.
Asked what measures were in place to discourage abalone poaching in the province, he said the department had deployed a operational teams at localities where ”a high impact on marine resources is expected”.
The operational teams were drawn from the department’s chief directorate of monitoring, control and surveillance, the protection vessel unit, the South African Police Service, South African National Parks and other government agencies.
Departmental personnel included 39 fishery control officers along the Eastern Cape coast. The environmental protection vessel (EPV) Eagle Star was utilised in the 2003/04 financial year and the EPVs Sarah Baartman, Lillian Ngoyi, Ruth First, Victoria Mxenge as well as the Eagle Star were used in 2004/05.
There had been 17 trips conducted by departmental vessels to monitor illegal activities in 2004/05 with their duration varying between 14 and 30 days per trip. There were two trips only in 2003/04 — one of 10 days and the second of 30 days. – I-Net Bridge