The Big Boat Bust and Rhino Outrage!
iSimangaliso Wetland Park-based Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife staff together with members of the SAPS ORS Border Policing: RichardsBay and SAPS KZN Airwing led a highly successful bust on illegal poacher boats in the uMfolozi floodplain area of the world heritage site.
The combined operation comprised a ground team, supported by a quad-bike and scrambler supplied by the SAPS, who rounded up the boats, while the helicopter from the SAPS KZN Airwing circled overhead, pointing out hidden boats in the dense vegetation and co-ordinating the operation.
Within twenty minutes, a total of 28 vessels – most of which were makeshift and did not meet minimum safety requirements – had been seized and loaded onto vehicles. The helicopter also kept the ground team informed of possible aggressive reaction from the poachers, but on this occasion none was forthcoming. The team withdrew without incident” says Johan Gerber who heads up Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s Anti-Poaching Unit.
The floodplain area lies a short distance from St Lucia and adjacent Dukuduku and is a known place where poachers hide their illegal boats in dense vegetation and reeds beds. From here they infiltrate the Lake St Lucia Estuary to set gill-nets for catching fish and prawns. Gill-nets are not permitted in any estuarine system in South Africa due to the negative impacts on the delicate ecology. In the last month over two kilometres of gill-nets and four boats were seized by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s Anti-Poaching Unit in the Lake St Lucia Estuary, and two arrests were made.
“The large-scale killing of fish and prawns from gillnetting has a direct negative effect on the food supply within the estuarine system. It is not sustainable and is literally taking the food out the mouths of legitimate subsistence fishers’ families. It can also impact negatively on tourism and jobs” says iSimangaliso CEO Andrew Zaloumis.
The fish stocks and prawns are particularly vulnerable at the moment as the estuary functions begin to re-establish following the recently opening of the estuary to the sea after ten years of a closed mouth. Many of the fish and prawn species are known as ‘estuarine-dependant’ which means they are completely dependent on the LakeSt Lucia estuarine system to complete their life cycle. The juveniles enter the system and grow up in the sheltered food-rich waters of the estuary and then migrate out to breed in the open ocean.
For these reasons Park management remains vigilant and will continue combating illegal activities. If members of the public have any information, or see something suspicious please report these to the iSimangaliso’s emergency no. 082-7977944 or Siboniso Duma (Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Conservation Manager St Lucia Marine) on 082-5592871.
On a more sombre note, iSimangaliso recently suffered the loss of a black rhino to poaching, the second rhino poached in iSimangaliso in the last 24 months. This brings the KZN and RSA totals of rhino’s poached so far this year to 35 and 374 respectively.
Picture from Forbes & Forbes in press
The carcass of an adult black rhino male was detected within 24 hours of it being poached in the 66 000ha Ozabeni section of iSimangaliso on the 3rd September 2012. Its horns had been removed and stolen. iSimangaliso and Ezemvelo are deeply concerned about this particular incident, which will impact negatively on the rhino recently introduced into Ozabeni and the restoration of game populations as they would have been in the days of King Shaka and before.
The Ozabeni section of iSimangaliso is a vital link between the uMkhuze section of the Park and the coastal planes stretching all the way down to the EasternShores, CapeVidal and St Lucia sections in the south. The game introductions will enable this section of the Park to increase its contribution to the regional economy, local jobs and community-based economic empowerment. The medium-term goal is to develop low impact environmentally-friendly accommodation and activities such as horseback safaris. The region is marked by poverty and tourism is the biggest employer.
“We are outraged” says Andrew Zaloumis the iSimangaliso CEO “and will leave no stone unturned to find the perpetrators of this shameful killing. Destroying endangered species is an ecological and economic crime. Not only are rhino part of our collective national heritage, the presence of wildlife is a vital resource for the country and region. In a region marked by poverty, tourism and conservation are the biggest employers on which families survival and paying school fees depend.”
A reward of a R100 000 is offered to any person who provides information that results in the arrest and successful conviction of the culprits. If members of the public have any information, or see something suspicious please report these to Dave Robertson (Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Conservation Cluster Manager) on 0716833693 or iSimangaliso’s emergency no. 0827977944.
For further information contact Siyabonga Mhlongo Media Officer on 0843820884; email siyabonga@iSimangaliso.com.
* Forbes A.T. & Forbes N.T. Penaeid prawns In: Perissinotto R., Stretch D. & Taylor R. (Eds). The ecology and conservation of estuarine systems: Lake St Lucia as a global model (In press) Cambridge University Press.
iSimangaliso Wetland Park Newsflash No.: 2012.09.13
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