Cape Town - Nearly 100 000 units of illegal abalone worth more than R15.7 million have been confiscated since the start of the year following an intensified operation by a multi-disciplinary team led by the Hawks to clamp down on abalone poaching and smuggling.
The team, including the police and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has made arrests and seized assets including cash.
Since January, authorities have bagged 57 244 units of dried abalone worth more than R10.7m, 26 269 units of wet abalone to the value of R4.1m and 11 201 units of cooked abalone worth R935 500.
Hawks spokesman Lloyd Ramovha said: “Small holding farms seem to be where most of this illegal abalone processing facilities are prevalent.
“We have adopted a zero tolerance stance in protecting our precious marine resources and constant arrests in this regard are indicative of our positive inroads in winning the war.
“We would also like to urge members of the public to continue being our eyes and ears as we could achieve more with their involvement.”
Illegal abalone poaching has had a devastating effect on local coastal communities, said DA standing committee chairwoman on economic opportunities, tourism and agriculture in the Western Cape legislature, Beverley Schäfer.
Schäfer said the committee held a briefing last week which afforded the DAFF a second chance to present on what was described as a “transnational crime and threat to national security”.
“The department holds the responsibility as they are the main custodians and implementing department to combat illegal abalone poaching,” Schäfer said.
“For the second time the department gave notice at the very last minute that they would not present themselves to the standing committee, and we have been left with no other option but to issue a summons for the department to appear at a special committee meeting on October 25.”
Schäfer said abalone poaching meant the province’s coastal communities were being held hostage by gangsters and crime syndicates, and the affected communities “are crying for help”.
In the latest incident, two foreign nationals were arrested and charged with contravening sections of the Living Marine Resources Act after more than R4.5m worth of abalone was found in their possession.
The Hawks, the police’s K9 unit and the DAFF made the arrest on Tuesday in Gordon’s Bay.
The two men, a Chinese national, 23, and a Zimbabwean, 28, were found in a house the Hawks believed was used as an illegal abalone processing facility.
Authorities seized equipment and more than 26 000 units of abalone worth millions of rands.
“We shall continue to dismantle laboratories in intensified endeavours to rid our coastlines of this scourge,” Ramovha said.
Last month, the police arrested two men transporting more than R800 000 worth of abalone.
Also last month, harsh sentences were handed down to two Chinese nationals who were sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and fined R500 000 at the Khayelitsha Priority Crimes court for smuggling abalone and cultivating dagga.
They were arrested this year for operating an abalone farm on a small holding on the outskirts of Langebaan.
They were also accused of running a processing facility.
Cape Argus