Court ban on perlemoen hailed

2008-03-20 19:00

Cape Town - Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk welcomed Thursday's court dismissal of a group of perlemoen (abalone) fishermen's bid to overturn his suspension of commercial perlemoen fishing.

He said: "We remain of the view that the abalone resource is in a crisis due to ecological changes and poaching. As stated previously, the closure of the abalone fishery is the right thing to do."

While he appreciated the impact it had on people in the industry, perlemoen could no longer be harvested as it faced extinction.

Commercial perlemoen fishing was closed on January 31 this year.

"The closure of the fishery is considered as the only viable option at this stage to provide an opportunity to prevent a total commercial collapse of this highly-valued resource," said Van Schalkwyk..

The Cape High Court did not accept the fishermen's claims that there was no emergency in the industry and that the suspension was based on flawed information.

The court said the department's statistics, which showed a decline to 125 tons caught during the 2006/'07 season, from 615 tons in 1995, had not been disputed.

Nor were the reasons for decline - poaching and the migration of West Coast Rock Lobster into perlemoen areas.

- SAPA