Poaching levels in the Table Mountain National Park have rocketed, with 8 665 poached marine species confiscated by rangers last year, nearly double the 2006 figure of 4 578 and almost triple the 3 378 in 2005.
The Kruger National Park, South Africa's flagship conservation area, has also been heavily targetted by poachers, with at least 44 white rhinos and 31 buffaloes among the 249 animals found killed over the past four years.
Fears have been expressed that poaching levels are substantially higher in the country's network of 22 national parks, as these figures only reflect species found in known or reported poaching incidents.
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For example, it is known that illegal fishing in the Tsitsikamma National Park has been an issue for many years, but this park has reported zero poaching since 2004.
The numbers were revealed by Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk in response to a parliamentary question by DA environmental spokesperson Gareth Morgan, who asked for a breakdown of species poached in each national park over the past four years.
The Table Mountain National Park did not report which individual species had been poached, but the close to 9 000 are understood to be mostly perlemoen and West Coast rock lobster.
Animals, mostly mammals, poached in Kruger also include elephant (two), lion (four), kudu, warthog, impala, waterbuck, hyena, reedbuck, crocodile, nyala, bushbuck, zebra and steenbok.
The Greater Addo Elephant National Park near Port Elizabeth confirmed poaching of kudu, bushbuck, bush pig, warthog, common duiker, porcupine and perlemoen, but did not give figures.
The Knysna National Park reported perlemoen and tree ferns as poached items, while the Wilderness National Park also didn't give numbers but recorded poaching of octopus and four genera of oyster species.
The Mountain Zebra National Park near Cradock reported one mountain reedbuck and one aardwolf poached in 2004, while there were 22 unspecified losses to poachers in the newly established Camdeboo National Park near Graaff Reinet last year.
The 15 other parks reported zero losses, something Morgan described as "hard to believe".
He confirmed that the figures showed a "meaningful drop" in poached species in the Kruger National Park last year, 55, compared with 91 in 2006, but said that numbers remained "disturbingly high", especially for white rhino.
Morgan said it was difficult to analyse the poaching statistics "meaningfully".
"On the one hand, the Kruger figures might be much higher, as rangers can only determine these figures when there is some evidence of an animal having been illegally killed.
"On the other hand, Kruger's figures may be high compared with other parks, which almost all report no poaching at all, (just) because Kruger has the ability to monitor poaching while the majority of the parks do not."
Referring to the Table Mountain National Park figures, Morgan said these were "extraordinarily high".
"The figure increased over each of the past three years to 8 665 in 2007. Once again, this figure is probably only reflective of poached species that have been recovered by rangers, and so the actual figure is certainly higher."
Morgan said he intended submitting follow-up questions.
"It will be important to determine whether the parks have sufficient anti-poaching personnel and whether there are vacant posts," he said.
"The species protected by SA National Parks belong to all the citizens of South Africa and form part of important ecosystems, and it is incumbent on them to work to reduce these levels of poaching."
- This article was originally published on page 8 of Cape Argus on May 13, 2008
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