An innocent photo shoot trip to the Saldanha Bay harbour to capture some unique images for weskusonTheline, yesterday turned out to be a huge eye-opener for photographer Thelma Nel when she accidentally stumbled upon the core of the crisis that the West Coast’s marine life is currently facing.
Thelma innocently engaged in friendly conversation with a Kenyan fisherman who greeted her from aboard a fishing trawler . . . and then nonchalantly assured her they are illegally fishing long-line tuna from their vessel and selling it in the Saldanha Bay harbour.
This casual confirmation of illegal long-line fishing and trading in Saldanha Bay waters comes in the wake of a national outcry to save the Western Cape’s marine life from poachers and international syndicates who relentlessly and systematically plunder the ocean and kill the livelihood of local fishermen.
The enormity of the problem is evident from recent media and social media reports. According to a post on the SA Police Service’s Facebook Page, four suspects were arrested yesterday in connection with the confiscation of abalone to the value of a whopping R9 Million. (Article underneath).
Local West Coast fishermen are also up in arms about the possibility of a total ban on Rock Lobster trading after the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) has warned that the West Coast Rock Lobster (Jasus lalandii), commonly known as kreef, could disappear altogether within the next five years unless radical action is taken to save the fishery. (Article underneath).
Thelma came all the way from the Lowveld town of Nelspruit on Wednesday to join weskusonTheline as photographer/marketer in Langebaan. She was excitedly exploring and capturing the West Coast beauty when she accidentally stumbled upon one of the most critical and alarming issues threatening the marine life along the entire Western Cape coastline – the illegal stripping of the ocean by poachers and international syndicates.
” My Western Cape experience brought me to Saldanha Bay yesterday, where rusty fish trawlers found a final resting place at the bottom of the harbour bed. The three trawlers provide a lucrative habitat to the seabirds in the area. From the end of the quay, a polite greeting from the Viola fish trawler caught my attention. Eddie is a friendly native from Kenya and works on the giant fish trawler. He is eager to share his story. He says that they fish for tuna on a long line and sell their catch on the Saldanha Bay harbour.
“They anchor in the bay for two months or longer at a time. Asked about the legality of their fishing expeditions in Saldanha Bay waters, Eddie repeatedly and casually assured me that their lucrative business in South African waters is indeed illegal.
“On the photo’s you can see how seabirds are nesting on the masts of the trawlers and feeding on the sea plants that grow on the rusty metal below the water.”
Western Cape: Four suspects arrested and abalone valued at R 9 million confiscated.
Our endeavors to root out the illegal and lucrative abalone trade in this province were rewarded when abalone with a combined value to the tune of R 9 million were confiscated yesterday afternoon. Our investigation into abalone smuggling led us to a warehouse in Senna Park Killarney Gardens where two Chinese nationals, aged 31 and 48, were arrested for being in possession of 27182 dry and 1551 wet shucked abalone with a street value of about R 6 million. Various scales, crates and containers, cardboard boxes and also a forklift were also found on the premises.
From there our members proceeded to a warehouse in Esso Street, Montague Gardens where they uncovered another illegal abalone facility. Numerous crates and 12266 units of abalone with a value of R 3 million were found in a refrigeration room. Two Malawian men, aged 26 and 33, were arrested.
The suspects are due to make a court appearance in Cape Town Magistrates Court on Monday on charges relating to the Living Marine Resources Act, including the illegal possession of abalone.
Read the original post here and some of the interesting FB comments about what happens to the confiscated abalone and the poachers: (Copy and paste into your url)
South African Police Service : Abalone and crayfish must, when seized, be recorded in the SAPS 13 of the relevant police station and handed over as soon as possible to a representative of the Department of Fisheries for secure storage. The SAPS is not allowed to store these exhibits. After the case is finalised, the exhibit must be destroyed in the presence of a commissioned officer. The commissioned officer must check the items and verify them against the Property Register during destruction.
Wel done!
Christo Bester To my knowledge it is NOT destroyed. “Schafer (Beverley Schafer, Western Cape Standing Committee chairman for Economic Opportunities, tourism and Agriculture), told The Times that DAFF (Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) auctioned the seized abalone, something that …was ‘morally inappropriate’ since it made the Department a beneficiary of poaching”.What makes this even more absurd, is that the conmen who export the perlemoen to China, and who are the big drivers behind the poaching, are the ones buying the auctioned perlemoen legally
?.If my facts are incorrect and if the laws and regulations have changed since September, I would appreciate it if you could provide me of proof or a source of this change.
Christo Bester I have since been sent the following (but everyone is still in the dark about what happens to the confiscated perlemoen):
“The Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries has also come under fire after it emerged that they auction confiscated abalone for millions of rand.They have since suspended this practice after it emerged that SARS was left in the dark about the proceeds of these auctions.”An extract from: http://www.timeslive.co.za/…/Authorities-want-to-know…
Authorities want to know how abalone poaching is destroying…
TIMESLIVE.CO.ZA|BY ARON HYMAN
Also Read:
The World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) has warned that the West Coast Rock Lobster (Jasus lalandii), commonly known as kreef, could disappear altogether within the next five years unless radical action is taken to save the fishery.
Pavitray Pillay, manager of the WWF SASSI program says after a rigorous assessment, the Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI) traffic-light system that helps consumers make sustainable seafood choices has placed the Rock Lobster on Red.
Our most recent assessment has put the Rock Lobster in a very red category. What that means is please don’t buy it, don’t eat it and don’t catch it because it is in some serious trouble.
— Pavitray Pillay, Manager of the WWF SASSI program
We are really worried that it might not be here in the next five years.
— Pavitray Pillay, Manager of the WWF SASSI program
A campaign has been launched by the WWF South Africa, calling on consumers to “skip the kreef this summer”.
Inwoners van die Weskus het Vrydag 3 Februarie in Saldanha hul kans gekry om te sê hoe perlemoenstropery hul raak. Dit was tydens die eerste van drie openbare verhore gehou deur die Wes-Kaapse staande parlementêre komitee vir ekonomiese geleenthede, toerisme en landbou.
“Die lewe wat ek as ’n visser ly is donker. Dit lyk vir my dit sal my meer baat om ’n krimineel te wees – ek sal ’n beter lewe hê. Ek wat net probeer om ’n (wettige) bestaan te maak, het niks!” het lyn-visserman Gerald Zacharias van Saldanha gesê.
Hoewel die verhore spesifiek op perlemoenstropery gerig is, het Weskus-vissers ook die impak van kreef- en visstropery uitgelig.
’n Emosionele Zacharias het verduidelik baie bestaansvissers draai na stropery uit desperaatheid om vir hul gesinne te sorg, nie gulsigheid nie.
Volgens Beverley Schäfer, voorsitter van die komitee, kom die openbare verhore ná klagtes vanuit vissergemeenskappe.
“Waar ma’s eens vis in hul vrieskaste gebêre het, word onwettige perlemoen nou gestoor. Die vissers wat stroop word nie eers met geld betaal nie, maar dwelms,” sê sy.
Schäfer meen dit is “hartverskeurend” om te sien hoe vissersgemeenskappe steeds deur die regering gefaal word.
Die stroop van kreef was veral ’n teer punt by die vergadering. Dit kom na ’n beroep deur omgewingsbewaringsgroepe wat vra dat ’n verbod op kommersiële kreefvangste so gou moontlik ingestel word.
Volgens plaaslike vissers is perlemoen ook volop in Saldanhabaai se waters. “Vissers kom met hul skibote en haal die perlemoen uit. Sommige kom van Gansbaai met hul permitte en andere doen dit onwettig, maar hulle almal doen dit om te oorleef,” sê Basil Constant, ook ’n lynvisser van Saldanha.
Daar is voorgestel die regering help om alternatiewe werksgeleenthede vir die vissers te skep.
Gerrit Matthyse, munisipale bestuurder van die Cederberg-munisipaliteit, meen akwakultuur is ’n moontlike “volhoubare alternatief” vir die vissers van Elandsbaai en Lambertsbaai.
“Stropery is ’n euwel, ons is dit almal eens. Die staat kan egter nie die vissers net verbied van die visbron en niks in die plek daarvan sit nie. Akwakultuur is ’n manier vir die staat en vissersgemeenskappe om saam te werk. Om stropery te stop is nie iets op sy eie nie – dit is ’n taak wat holisties genader moet word,” sê Matthyse.
Die volgende verhore word Woensdag 8 Februarie in Gansbaai en Vrydag 10 Februarie in Kaapstad gehou.
