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Lilian Ngoyi nets 9 poachers
07/02/2005 18:31 - (SA)
Cape Town - The use of environmental protection vessel Lilian Ngoyi has boosted efforts to curb poaching, with the latest success being a bust at the weekend netting goods worth R700 000, said the department of environmental affairs.
On Saturday, nine alleged poachers were nabbed, 1 500 perlemoen confiscated, together with a rubber-duck boat and a vehicle.
According to the department's Carol Moses, the arrest took place after the Lilian Ngoyi and a land-based West Coast anti-poaching team, observed a group of divers in the Saldanha area for two days.
The anti-poaching team swooped on the suspects and arrested the alleged poachers, from the coastal towns of Hawston and Arniston.
Three boats seized
Perlemoen worth R250 000, a vehicle valued at R200 000 and rubber-duck boat worth R250 000 were seized in the operation.
Moses said that in the two months that the Lilian Ngoyi had been in operation, three boats had been seized, spot fines to the value of more than R30 000 had been issued and the use of rubber ducks in an area notorious for poaching had decreased.
The department took delivery of the Lilian Ngoyi in November last year, the first of three state-of-the-art in-shore environmental protection vessels commissioned by to boost fishery compliance.
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