I think of men with high powered rifles, and knives to hack off rhino horn, creeping and dodging through the bush in a game park, evading capture. Some, luckily, are shot, and those that are captured deserve to be stripped naked and sent to play with the lions for a while.
But, I digress (those words again!)
I seldom think of poaching taking place under our noses, literally! So, when Rob and I stood on our upstairs veranda a couple of days ago, looking at the sea and idly watching a little boat bobbing up and down in the mouth of the bay, the last thing we thought of was illegal fishing, or poaching!
Especially in broad daylight in full view of everybody!
No, we thought that the men on board, dressed in black wet-suits and wearing flippers, were doing some fishing and because the water is very cold, they were being sensible! We watched them through the binoculars but we just could not make out the name of the boat, Rob thought it was 'Miss' something. And then we went inside thinking that they were perhaps a little daft to be out on a cold day!
And then the next day Rob received a text on his phone. We belong to a Crime Alert Service that uses text messaging to let us know of burglaries, break-ins and other incidents that take place in our village. The message said to be on the lookout for men who are known poachers of Abalone and are believed to be in the area. It went on to say that they wore black wet suits and flippers!!!!!! Rob sent a message back to say that we had seen them in the bay the previous day.
We haven't seen them since.
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| Confiscated Abalone (Pic thanks to Reuters) |
Abalone, or 'Haliotis Midae' is a large flat snail (that is why I have no interest in even trying it!) and the common name is Perlemoen. This refers to the beautiful mother-of-pearl lining of the shell which is often used to make jewellery. (I wonder, who was Pearl?)
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| The beautiful colours of the shell. |
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| A necklace made from the shell. |
Sadly, abalone are classified as 'highly vulnerable' and on the brink of collapse. And one of the major causes of this is......poaching. Just like rhino horn, the abalone is supposed to have aphrodisiac properties and this has resulted in an insatiable demand in the Far East. (Where else?) Our South African abalone fetch high prices on the black market and can be sold for between US$30 to US$40 a kilogram!
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| Confiscated Abalone (Pic thanks to Reuters) |
Approximately 370 tons of abalone is harvested yearly by commercial fisheries, and a further approximately 62 tons is harvested by licensed recreational fishermen. But goodness knows how much is taken illegally every year.
We have an Abalone 'farm' here in Jacobsbaai but it is all exported! It takes approximately five years for them to reach 'cocktail size', I suppose that is the size that fits easily on a salted biscuit and can be eaten in one bite!
The one good thing about having the farm just down the road is this.
When we hear their huge generators starting up, we know that it's not just our house that has lost power.
And that is a reassuring thought!
2 comments:
Words fail me! I wouldn't eat abalone unless I ws tied down and force-fed. what is it with these eastern people, they will kill anything that runs flies or swims what will they do when the supplies dry up, some other hapless creature will suddenly have magic properties.
I agree, I would like to spread a few rumours of things that make a good aphrodisiac.......but I may just get arrested!!
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