ARNISTON, South Africa (10 Mar 2003) -- While the authorities were launching the country's first environmental court in Hermanus last week in a bid to stamp out poaching, Marine and Coastal Management inspectors were investigating a commercial perlemoen outfit for allegedly operating illegally near Betty's Bay in broad daylight. Further down the coast at Arniston, police clashed with 400 residents on Thursday in a battle that involved rubber bullets, buckshot and stone-throwing after more than 1 000 illegal perlemoen worth R80 000 had been confiscated at a house. Last week residents watched 10 divers pull a boat up on the slipway at Maasbaai near Hangklip at 4am. It is believed the divers hid their catch of perlemoen. The race to take out as many perlemoen as possible has intensified as the government may carry out the threat it made last year to ban the removal of all perlemoen from the coast. At Betty's Bay, residents alerted Marine and Coastal Management inspectors when they saw a boat with divers and compressors taking out perlemoen close to the shore. "The inspector came to investigate and said it was a commercial boat," one of the residents said. "Commercial operators are allowed to dive for perlemoen using compressors, but are not allowed to operate closer than 150m from the shore because the inshore area is where the juvenile perlemoen are found. This guy was right here, about 40m from the coast. "Commercial perlemoen boats also have to have their global positioning system (GPS) equipment on all the time so that Marine and Coastal Management staff can monitor where they are operating to make sure they don't take out perlemoen where they are not permitted. "The head office said the boat's GPS was switched off. With the GPS off, they can sneak into areas where they are not allowed to operate. What we want to know is why isn't anyone at head office monitoring these GPS signals? They should have seen that it was off and alerted one of the inspectors on the coast." A German film company filmed the boat working close inshore. Marine and Coastal Management confirmed that it was investigating the incident. | | A resident who saw divers emerge at 4am at Maasbaai said it was imperative that the government ban all diving at night. "Who goes diving at 4am with scuba gear and wetsuits in a perlemoen area, unless they're poachers? But they hide their catch and there is nothing anyone can do about it," the resident said. On Thursday, police searched a house at Kassiesbaai in Arniston and found eight bags containing 1 016 perlemoen. Operation Neptune spokesperson Eben Groenewald said about 400 residents gathered and began throwing stones and bricks at the policemen and their vehicles. "The crowd also blocked the surrounding streets with rocks to prevent the officials from leaving," Groenewald said. "Officials were left with no other choice but to use rubber bullets and buckshot to disperse the crowd and protect themselves and their vehicles." Groenewald said none of the officials was injured, but two vehicles were damaged. One man was arrested for preventing police from executing their duties, he said. A Kassiesbaai resident, who did not want to be named, said police had fired rubber bullets and buckshot before there was any stone-throwing. She said two people had been shot in the legs. "When the people saw the police kicking the door open they all ran to look because they are inquisitive," the woman said. "There was one man, Michael, a builder who was on lunch break and he was in front and then the police hit him on the head with a gun and threw him into the police van. "The people were screaming at the police because it was not Michael's house. Then the police started shooting rubber bullets and other bullets and the people started throwing stones." Asked to comment, Groenewald said: "I know the officers feared for their lives. It was 17 against 400." SOURCE - SABC |
