CAPE TOWN CASE STUDY - ABALONE POACHING





What the abalone looks like



Hawston beach

Up until the early 1990’s abalone fishing was seen as completely commercial and occasionally used for recreation purposes. The sector at that time brought in R70 million in capital investments and had lasted successfully for 50 years. The case study started in 1995 and was completed in 1999; it was centered on the coastal community of Hawston, 130km east of Cape Town. It was done in a time where South African fishing management was going through a transformation process; the problem they wanted to focus on was the illegal exploitation of marine resources. This study revolves around a criminological look at abalone poaching, both legal and illegal as well as looking at the severity of the problems it will cause. While Abalone Fishery is one of the smallest in South Africa still today in 2011 it holds the most value, this makes it a prime target for illegal poachers. The underlying issue the study also hopes to bring up is that alternative methods of regulation need to be addressed and then inserted into the socio-political context of South Africa as well as looking at the international shift taking place in fisheries management. The case study then attempts to investigate how poaching activities are preventing South Africa from sustainable resources management (Hauck, M and Sweijd, N, 1999).



The case study methodology revolved around qualitative interviewing, observing and interacting with residents within the close community and two months of extensive residential fieldwork. The findings are represented in a complete analysis of poaching, impact on resources and socio-economic implications (Hauck, M and Sweijd, N, 1999).

Impacts of over-exploitation on the resource have led to its collapse in the area. Evidence from the confiscated samples indicated that the poachers were taking abalone that was undersized which means that the population cannot successfully reproduce (Hauck, M and Sweijd, N, 1999).



Police catch poachers



The implications socially were just as significant. Conflict and competition rose among commercial divers and poachers who were living in the same community, often leading to violence. The division in the community had an impact on the community decision-making and development. The youth in the area started to get involved in poaching to get more money for drugs and alcohol which led to increased gang involvement and related criminal activities. The general quality of life for locals had diminished as they feared for their lives, often when they felt they could pose a threat to the illegal operations. The poaching also posed an economic threat by putting illegal abalone on the international market, therefore increasing competition and demand for the resource. In addition, if the abalone resource continues to decline there will be severe consequences in the coastal communities (Hauck, M and Sweijd, N, 1999). Many coastal communities depend on abalone fishing for an income; if it were to be taken away they would have to find alternative jobs which often require skills they don’t have.

The complexity of the problem is more than what it seems. Firstly, it involves many role players; they include divers, bag carriers, look-outs, transporters, buyers, employed and unemployed people who are involved in the hierarchy of poaching. As we can see there are many involved in the poaching activity it’s difficult to define exactly who a poacher is. Secondly, the complexity is increased when you look at the reason people get involved in poaching, three reasons were uncovered in the Hawston case, and they were: need, greed and politics. Local residents saw poverty in the area as a major contributor to the issues related to poaching. If there is a quick and simply way for men to food their families they are going to take it. The large amounts of money they received for the abalone was also a factor leading more and more people to get involved. Thirdly, the political issue was that poachers felt that due to past oppression during the apartheid policies and access rights should be revisited. Thus trying to justify their actions. Lastly, a problem which continues to fuel the problem is organised crime. The poachers responsible for supplying the Far East demand live on this profitable and illegal market. In China it is believed that abalone helps with fertility, delaying senility and an aphrodisiac. The high demand for the resource therefore increases the price with Chinese Black Market. These syndicates use the small and poverty stricken communities to extract the abalone and sustain their profitable trade at the same time Overall this leads to higher organised crimes rates throughout South Africa. Another obstacle that seems to be filtering into the industry is the corruption of the authorities, both within the community (Hauck, M and Sweijd, N, 1999).



Here we can see that these poachers are using nature as an economic resource. Glanwell paraphrased a comment from Bacon which for me sums up what people in the fishing industry think like as well, ‘nature being known …may be mastered, managed and used to service the human life’ (Dickens, P. 1995: p.2). From the amount of exploitation the oceans have had to endure, humans clearly believe that fish are purely there for our consumption without thinking about the consequences. I do believe God has given us this resource to use freely, but as long as there is money and greed involved it was destined to fail from the beginning. Over the last 50 years the amount of seafood consumed has quadrupled from 16.7 million tons of fish to 77.9 tons of fish in 2006 (Greenberg, P. 2010: p. 81), this for me is a measurement of greed.