Durban — The Port of Durban and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) have collaborated to close in on poaching activities at the Bayhead Natural Heritage Site.
The Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) said it recently closed in on a suspected illegal poaching ring and gill netting of mangroves at the Port of Durban’s Bayhead Natural Heritage Site. The operation was conducted in collaboration with DFFE.
The authority said that the operation included a helicopter flight over the site where evidence of gill netting and bait harvesting was obtained. This illegal and harmful process has been resulting in the near extinction of certain species of fish and an imbalanced coastal ecosystem on the Durban coast as poachers catch young fish in the estuary before they mature and make it to the ocean.
It said that the Bayhead Natural Heritage Site, with its intertidal mudflats and mangrove forest, form part of a critically important estuarine habitat within the Port of Durban – a TNPA-controlled zone where fishing and bait collection is prohibited.
The authority added that the team consisting of TNPA’s security and environmental departments, as well as DFFE conducted lengthy inspections of the mangrove swamps during the low tide, removed sets of gill nets and dismantled the remains of three informal camps. Several mud prawn pumps, fishing tackle, fishing rods, damaged rowing boats and fishing kayaks were also found and removed.
Port of Durban port manager Mpumi Dweba-Kwetana said: “The work that TNPA, DFFE and the South African Police Services (SAPS) have done over the past week is commendable. The team has worked tirelessly to put a stop to these poaching activities to safeguard the marine life within the port. The confiscated materials have been handed over to the SAPS for further processing.”
Meanwhile, poaching is a concern on the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal.
Last month, the North Coast Anti Poaching (NCAP) conducted operations in the Richards Bay harbour.
It said that with the high tide and good weather in their favour, NCAP members retrieved a record-breaking 16 bags consisting of 6 400 metres of gill nets, known as the wall of death, five boats, of which two were destroyed due to their location, and 30 poles used for deploying gill nets (all destroyed). NCAP had to cut the operations short as there were just too many gill nets and boats to take back to headquarters.
The NCAP said that all boats and gill nets that were retrieved were handed over to SAPS Water Wing.
“The saddest part of all is that a gill net catches anything and everything and many fish just get thrown away as they are just too small even for food. Making use of gill nets does not just harm the fish today, but also for the future generation to come,” the NCAP said.
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