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Date: April 19, 2024 Fri
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Results for abalone
6 results foundAuthor: Goga, Khalil Title: The illegal abalone trade in the Western Cape Summary: This case study provides the context in which the abalone trade in South Africa occurs, describes the various stages of the trade and analyses the impact of the illegal trade on governance. The community of Hout Bay was chosen as it appears to typify the trade across the Western Cape. The report concludes that criminal governance in the abalone trade takes various forms. These include the marginalised turning to the informal economy; both abalone wholesalers and gangsters developing a level of power over a region that renders them parallel sources of authority; the corruption and co-opting of state officials; and, arguably, the state's reliance on the seizure of poached abalone. Details: Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2014. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: ISS Paper 261: Accessed August 14, 2014 at: http://www.issafrica.org/uploads/Paper261.pdf Year: 2014 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.issafrica.org/uploads/Paper261.pdf Shelf Number: 133051 Keywords: AbaloneAnimal PoachingIllegal Wildlife TradeOrganized CrimeWildlife Crime (South Africa)Wildlife Trafficking |
Author: De Greef, Kimon Title: South Africa's illicit abalone trade: An updated overview and knowledge gap analysis Summary: More than two decades of unsustainable harvesting has had damaging, and potentially irreversible, consequences for South Africa's formerly abundant stocks of the endemic abalone, Haliotis midae. Efforts to combat the illegal trade, including listing the species in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix III in 2007, conducting government-led enforcement operations, establishing designated environmental courts to deal with abalone poachers, and developing more inclusive fisheries policies have been largely unsuccessful. This has been due to a lack of adequate resources and long standing socio-political grievances between small-scale-fishermen and the post-apartheid government. In 2010, H. midae was delisted from CITES Appendix III, despite increased levels of illegal poaching, due to difficulties in implementation according to the South African government. Organized criminal syndicates have taken advantage of this socio-political dynamic mentioned above to recruit poachers from local communities who feel disenfranchised by government policy and entitled to extract the easily harvested resource. Furthermore, evidence suggests that poachers are sometimes paid for service in illegal drugs, adding another complex layer of social challenges and addiction along the coast of South Africa. Trade data analysis on abalone reveals a complex network that links poaching to syndicated trade through various countries, some of them landlocked, across southern Africa before eventually reaching Asian markets. Calls for radical governance reform have been made, but change is slow. Nevertheless, there is value in profiling the illegal trade as fully as possible, to draw lessons for dealing with poaching and other forms of wildlife crime more effectively in the future. This briefing paper is a synthesis of current knowledge about South Africa's illegal abalone fishery, drawing on both available literature and unpublished research. The briefing paper is not exhaustive, but offers a comprehensive and up to date overview of the history, drivers, impacts and modus operandi of this country's illicit abalone trade. By profiling the current situation holistically, this briefing paper aims to inform stakeholders and stimulate discussion on recommended solutions and further areas of study as described in Section 4. Details: Cambridge, UK: TRAFFIC International, 2014. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 17, 2014 at: http://www.traffic.org/storage/USAID%20W-TRAPS%20Abalone%20Briefing%20Paper_Final.pdf Year: 2014 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.traffic.org/storage/USAID%20W-TRAPS%20Abalone%20Briefing%20Paper_Final.pdf Shelf Number: 133738 Keywords: AbaloneAnimal PoachingEndangered SpeciesFishing Illegal TradeOrganized CrimeWildlife Crimes (South Africa) |
Author: De Greef, Kimon Title: The booming illegal abalone fishery in Hangberg: Tough lessons for small-scale fisheries governance in South Africa Summary: Marine capture fisheries around the world are widely perceived to be in a state of crisis, with growing recognition that conventional resource-centred management strategies are insufficient to counter ongoing problems of over-exploitation. This is considered particularly true in the small‐scale sector, which employs the overwhelming majority of the world's fishers but has historically been overlooked. To manage marine resources more sustainably, new approaches to fisheries governance have been sought that recognise the complex nature of fisheries systems, paying attention to the social dimensions of fisheries management in addition to important ecological processes. In South Africa, many of these new approaches have been embraced in a recently adopted policy for the small-scale sector. Attempts to reform marine fisheries have been ongoing in the country since the end of apartheid (a system of legalised racial segregation and white supremacy that ruled for almost 50 years) but have largely failed to bring meaningful change to impoverished fishing communities. Frustration at ineffective reform has contributed to widespread non-compliance - most notably in the abalone fishery, which has collapsed in the face of rampant poaching, driven by a lucrative, illegal export market to the Far East. Although the new small-scale fisheries (SSF) policy has been hailed as a progressive shift in thinking, questions remain about how it is to be implemented. One major challenge will be dealing with illegal fishing. The purpose of this study, was to profile the human dimensions of abalone poaching in the Cape Town fishing community of Hangberg and to draw lessons for implementing the new SSF policy. A qualitative multi-method research approach, based mainly on unstructured interviews and participant observation, was used to access the clandestine fishery and investigate its historical development, current structure, scale and methods of operation and main socio-economic drivers and impacts. It was found that abalone poaching has become deeply embedded in Hangberg, having evolved into a highly organized boat-based fishery in a period of less than 15 years. At least five local poaching groups - representing some 250 individuals in total - currently used dedicated high-powered vessels to access reefs around the Cape Peninsula. Profits earned from poaching are substantial but vary, with poachers operating according to a loose hierarchy and performing a range of different tasks in the fishery. This variation notwithstanding, the illegal fishery appears to have become a mainstay of the impoverished local economy, funding poachers' expensive lifestyles, in addition to contributing more meaningfully to the livelihoods of an estimated 1000 residents. Details: Cape Town: University of Cape Town, 2013. 117p Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 6, 2017 at: https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/9187 Year: 2013 Country: South Africa URL: https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/9187 Shelf Number: 145344 Keywords: AbaloneAnimal PoachingEndangered SpeciesIllegal Fishing Illegal TradeOrganized CrimeOverfishingWildlife Crimes (South Africa) |
Author: Muchapondwa, Edwin Title: Abalone Conservation in the Presence of Drug Use and Corruption: Implications for Its Management in South Africa Summary: The illegal exploitation of wild abalone in South Africa has been escalating since 1994, despite increased enforcement, leading to collapse in some sections of its range. South Africa banned all wild abalone fishing in 2008 but controversially reopened it in 2010. This paper formulates a poacher's model, taking into account the realities of the abalone terrain in South Africa-the prevalence of bribery, corruption, use of recreational drugs, and the high value of abalone-to explore why poaching has not subsided. The paper suggests two additional measures that might help ameliorate the situation: eliminating the demand side through enforcement targeted on organized crime, and ceding the resource to the local coastal communities. However, local communities need to be empowered to deal with organised crime groups. Complementary measures to bring back community patriotism will also be needed given the tattered social fabric of the local coastal communities. Details: s.l.: Environment for Development, 2012. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Discussion Paper Series 12-15: Accessed May 19, 2017 at: http://www.rff.org/files/sharepoint/WorkImages/Download/EfD-DP-12-15.pdf Year: 2012 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.rff.org/files/sharepoint/WorkImages/Download/EfD-DP-12-15.pdf Shelf Number: 145632 Keywords: AbaloneBriberyOrganized CrimePoachingWildlife ConservationWildlife Crime |
Author: Lau, Wilson Title: An assessment of South African dried abalone Haliotis midae consumption and trade in Hong Kong Summary: The report, "An assessment of South African dried abalone Haliotis midae consumption and trade in Hong Kong," produced by TRAFFIC as part of the USAID-funded Wildlife TRAPS Project, shows that South African abalone imports to Hong Kong have increased in recent years, despite severe restrictions on wild harvest. It estimates that of South African abalone imports to Hong Kong in 2015, 65% was illegally sourced and trafficked compared to the 35% that was legally wild-caught or produced through aquaculture operations. In the past decade, efforts to protect the legal abalone fishery have been undermined by international underground criminal networks. After South Africa took a number of regulatory measures in 2007 and 2008 to protect crashing abalone populations, the new report reveals that illicit trade routes shifted. Instead of mainly exporting poached abalone directly to Hong Kong, traffickers increasingly smuggled abalone to nearby African countries, such as Mozambique and Zimbabwe, before re-exporting the product. Between 2008-2015, 61% of South African abalone exports to Hong Kong came from African countries outside South Africa, a significant increase from the 36% that was exported from outside South Africa between 2000-2007. Aside from one small farm in Namibia, no other African country legally exports the marine mollusk. This highly profitable trade is managed by organised criminal syndicates that reach sellers and buyers in Hong Kong who may or may not realise their involvement is bankrolling illegal activities. Once poached abalone arrives in Hong Kong, under the current legislation, it can be openly traded and sold in markets alongside legally sourced abalone. The report shows that the majority of abalone traders, about 80%, are aware of some form of illegal activity surrounding South African abalone, but less than half of consumers had any knowledge of abalone poaching in South Africa. Current levels of abalone poaching have serious implications for the sustainability of the South African fishery, which in turn, could have rippling impacts on the market. One-third of all abalone imported by Hong Kong is of South African origin, and the report's findings indicate that the availability of this abalone, along with its quality and reasonable price (compared to other more expensive abalone varieties), helps boost South African abalone's popularity among consumers. Any reduction in South African abalone's availability could affect Hong Kong buyers' strong preference for the product-creating a strong incentive for legal producers to support measures that ensure the sustainability of supplies. To reduce the threat of poaching and trafficking, the report offers nine recommendations for governments, legal producers, conservation groups and the donor community to take action. They include listing and enforcing regulations for dried Haliotis midae trade under CITES, working with industry to support the trade in legally sourced South African abalone, and implementing methods for strengthening law enforcement, improving traceability, and raising public awareness about the species and illegal trade. Details: Cambridge, UK: TRAFFIC International, 2018. 114p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 13, 2018 at: http://www.traffic.org/home/2018/2/8/poached-abalone-from-south-africa-is-flowing-into-hong-kong.html Year: 2018 Country: Hong Kong URL: http://www.traffic.org/home/2018/2/8/poached-abalone-from-south-africa-is-flowing-into-hong-kong.html Shelf Number: 149119 Keywords: AbaloneAnimal PoachingEnvironmental CrimeFishing IndustryIllegal FishingIllegal TradeOrganized CrimeTrafficking in WildlifeWildlife CrimeWildlife Trafficking |
Author: Steinberg, Jonny Title: The illicit abalone trade in South Africa Summary: In the first 20 years following the introduction of a quota on abalone harvesting in 1970, poaching existed but was contained. This changed dramatically in the early 1990s. Within a couple of years, the illicit perlemoen trade had become a highly organised, multimillion-dollar industry, controlled by street gangs on the shoreline and by transnational enterprises on the trade routes to East Asia. As a result of this binge of illegal harvesting, South Africa's stock of wild perlemoen today stands on the brink of extinction. This paper explores why the illicit abalone trade took off so dramatically in the 1990s and chronicles the attempts of various enforcement agencies to contain it. We evaluate which measures may have worked, which may still work, and which were doomed from the start. Details: Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2005. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: ISS Paper 105: Accessed April 4, 2018 at: https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/105.PDF Year: 2005 Country: South Africa URL: https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/105.PDF Shelf Number: 106991 Keywords: AbaloneAnimal PoachingEnvironmental CrimesGangsIllicit TradeWildlife Crime |