Abalone is a general name for a small to very large edible sea snail. In South Africa, the largest of these sea snails is called Perlemoen (Wikipedia. 2007). The biggest myth about Perlemoen is that it is an aphrodisiac and the people in the eastern countries such as China believe that by eating Perlemoen it will give them virility and sex drive and makes them hugely potent. It is also believed that it will bring luck to the person that eats Perlemoen. As a result of this the consumers are willing to pay astronomic amounts for small quantities of Perlemoen. This Perlemoen is sold on markets all over the eastern countries. The effect of this phenomena on the local Perlemoen industry is that as much as possible Perlemoen is taken from the Cape Shores at a disregard of any environmental consideration or laws. This has created a poaching community who are willing to kill in order to get their hands on as much Perlemoen as possible. A whole culture of lawlessness and drug abuse and other criminalities has manifested around the Perlemoen poaching and smuggling industry. The media focuses on the sensation around these criminal acts. Therefore the reporting of the media is not so much about the environmental issues, rather than the sensational criminal acts. “Environmental claims in the news media will often depend on the extent to which such claims engage or resonate with deeper cultural images, beliefs and perceptions.” (Hansen 2010: pg 104-105). The Perlemoen poaching issue effects almost all spheres of the human existence, such as emotional, economical, social, and political as well as environmental issues.
The emotional issue is manifested in the fact that Perlemoen was for thousands of years one of the basic food resources for the people indigenous to the Cape Shores, known as the Strandlopers. They inhabited the coastal regions of the Cape long before the settlement by colonialists. Ironically, because of poaching, these communities or the descendants of the original inhabitants of the coastal areas are now also prohibited from using Perlemoen as a basic source of protein. Perlemoen poaching has raised a lot of strong emotions. The activities of the Perlemoen poachers leaves one with a helpless dismay-even anger. This is the reason why the public is so upset and it is necessary to question it. One should be concerned about the possible extinction of perlemoen at on the Cape Coast by over-harvesting it. There are many other fish species that are also threatened by the continued exploitation of our fish stocks. This fact is well known, but does not have the same emotional connection as the Perlemoen poaching. The economists are concerned that the country will loose out on foreign income if they stop exporting Perlemoen. Locally we are concerned that the Perlemoen will be extinct for personal consumption for the next generation. The following emotional factors do play a role. The fact that the abalone poaching happens within sight from the coastal shores of the Cape. They do this in broad daylight, even in nature reserves. Also the way in which the poor or unemployed people are exploited by the wealthy syndicates to do their dirty work. Aswell as the inability of the local authorities to do anything about the problem.
The prehistoric people that inhabited the coastal region of the Cape dating back to 18000 years ago, used Perlemoen as their main food resource (Schweitzer 1979:140). A visual remembrance of this fact can be seen in the numerous shell middens along the coast. Our family owns a coastal farm near the Southern most tip of Africa and many of these shell middens are found on our property. 80% of the shells in the middens are Perlemoen shells. According to the late archaeologist, professor H Deacon, the biggest known concentration of these shell middens in South Africa are on our farm. It is obvious that Perlemoen poaching is a huge concern for our family and therefore I can relate to this issue personally. On the farm in front of the house there is a shell midden, which mainly consists of Perlemoen shells dating back to +-2000 years, and it is currently covered with Fynbos. Perlemoen is relatively easy to take out of the ocean and you don’t really need huge and expensive equipment. In the past the Strandlopers harvested the Perlemoen from the rocks during low tide without the need for diving. Today the poachers take out millions of Rands worth of Perlemoen, with relatively simple and cheap equipment, such as wet suites, goggles and flippers. The most expensive equipment they use are their boats and vehicles. In comparison with the lucrative industry the costs of poaching are low. Therefore the syndicates can pay the divers big amounts of cash, which these jobless youths cannot earn in the normal field of unskilled labour.
Our family has owned the farm since 1921 and I have been coming here ever since I was born. I have a big emotional connection to the farm. During the holidays my parents would go diving in the rock pools to find Perlemoen and Allekrik. It was a common dish on our table for many years. Since they banned the taking out of Perlemoen we are not allowed to use this natural resource on our farm. The Department of Environmental Affairs unveiled a tough new Perlemoen policy from Cape Columbine in the West to Algulhas in the East. The fines for Perlemoen poaching increased from a maximum of R40 000 to R800 000. The policy provided for the allocation of commercial rights to three different categories. These were divers; legal entities owned and managed by historically disadvantaged persons who previously held a medium-term commercial abalone right; and Perlemoen processing factories. (iol news, Apr 2012) Unfortunately the situation at the moment is that the vigilante groups and gangs have joined up with organised crime syndicates and they are poaching Perlemoen on a huge scale. They are disregarding all the above rules and regulations and even resort to violence and murder in order to achieve their financial goals. On our farm we experience this lawlessness on a regular basis. They are highly organised and have a support system in the community. The people who poach on our farm are mainly from Struisbaai and Bredasdorp. We have regular encounters with these poachers. Three years ago we were having a picnic on the beach and two poachers appeared out of the dark carrying bags of poached illegal abalone. They were hostile and shouted at our dogs. When I was young I always felt safe walking alone on the beach, but now I feel threatened. I will never forget how recently about 30 poachers arrived on the beach, equipped with diving gear and wet suites. They had one big boat that they launched in the bay, having driven over some of the Black Oyster Catcher nests. All of them could hardly fit on the overloaded boat. They rushed off to the diving area and they scuba dived, which is also totally illegal. After they filled up their bags with Perlemoen, they came onto our property and hid the bags amongst our family graves in our private graveyard. These bags were hidden for the pick up vehicle to collect. This all happened within a few hours right in front of our farmhouse.
The economical issue is manifested in the examples of the fishing villages such as Gansbaai, Stuisbaai and Arniston. They were previously thriving fishing communities. Fishing was their main source of income. Line Fish has now become very scarce and therefore these communities are looking for alternative sources of income. Perlemoen poaching is an easy way of getting a huge income on their doorstep, and therfore they now partake in this lucrative criminal activity on a huge scale. On 31 March 2011, the Marine and Coastal Management caught Perlemoen poachers outside Gansbaai. The police chased the poachers between Gansbaai and Standford, and the poachers threw their entire bag full of abalone across the R43 highway. They were arrested in the end and most of the Perlemoen was collected. (Youtube video, Abalone Poachers BUST in Gansbaai). The Chinese Mafia became very involved with the Perlemoen industry in South Africa. Perlemoen is very high in protein and is one of the most popular seafoods in China. The Chinese people also dry the Perlemoen and use its powder in soups and as an added aphrodisiac boost. (Aphrodisiac history of abalone, 2011).
The social issues is that most of the divers are in their late teens and early 20’s and are all without work and spend most of their earnings on gambling and drugs. They have no concern for the environment or the sustainability of Perlemoen as a future resource. They threaten people’s lives and properties and in some instances houses have been burnt down or destroyed. Another social implication of poaching is that the banning of all diving for Perlemoen has stopped the sports fishermen who use to harvest limited quantities of Perlemoen. This in the end has a negative impact on tourism. Quotas for Perlemoen harvesting were only issued to certain people that were normally politically well connected and the normal public and communities that needed it as a food resource couldn’t use it anymore. After regulations limited the quotas in the 1990’s, commercial farmers started to farm abalone. In 1993 the industry was removing 600t, the sport diver an estimated further 150-200t and poachers an estimate of 200t. The resource was only just keeping up with the harvesters. Today over 1000t of Perlemoen is being poached per year. This indicates the negative effect of the banning of controlled diving by the public (www.abagold.co.za, 2012). The political issue is that there are certain permits that have been issued to commercial divers but it all depends which political party you are connected to. A lot of corruption has been manifested in the granting of these permits. The Perlemoen issue has been abused in order to obtain votes and to put people into powerful political positions. There are different tiers of involvement in the poaching industry. The bottom income range is the divers and the runners. Then the next level are the transporters who move the loot to central drying premises, usually situated in bigger cities such as Cape Town. These drying fasicilities are normally run by Chinese or other eastern operatives. These operatives are normally connected to the Chinese Mafia who in turn have connections at the airport, harbour and custom officials in order to export the dried Perlemoen to the lucrative markets in the East. Another issue is that it is not always illegal to sell the dried Perlemoen on the markets in the Far East. Another political issue is that all the Perlemoen that is confiscated by the police is legally sold to this Far Eastern markets. These funds are supposed to be used for the fight against poaching. However the funds go into the coffers of the state and never reach the source of which it was intended for. Social disruption is a result of conflict and competition between commercial divers and poachers living in the same community in addition to generating animosity and violence, the polarization had a direct impact on community decision-making and development. Many of the poachers from communities argue that they have been denied legal access to Perlemoen diving rights. This forced them to continue poaching rather than to become legitimate members of the industry (ICES Journal of Marine science, 1024-1032. 1999).
The environmental issues is that Perlemoen is being depleted because the poachers take out all sizes and there is no time for the Perlemoen to mature and come to an age where they can reproduce. It usually takes about 8 years for the Perlemoen to reach reproducing age (www.fishtech.com). Therefore Perlemoen will soon become extinct if poaching is not stopped.
The media normally portrays environmental issues in a sensational way. For instance in The Cove documentary about dolphin exploitation they zoom in on the blood in the water and play emotional music in the background to shock the viewer in order to make more money. Reporting on rhino and elephant poaching would also concentrate on the gruesome scenes, which seem to sell more papers and draw more viewers. Studies of nature and the environment is supposed to be constructive and make the world a better place. But the media tends to concentrate on the negative issues. On the other hand reporting by the media on police activities to stop Perlemoen poaching is helpful in the combat against poaching by making the public aware in order for them to get involved and start reporting and not support the people in their communities who poach.
“The Constructionist perspective provides a framework for analysing and understanding why some environmental issues come to be recognised as issues for public and political concern, while others (potentially equally important issues) never make it into the public eye, and thus fail to command the political attention and resources required for their resolution” (Hansen 2010: pg 36). Perlemoen poaching is such a huge political and economical issue and it normally goes hand in hand with a lot of violence and activities which cause sensational media publicity. Furthermore, a lot of cash is involved. The reporting in the media of the Perlemoen poaching issue can be seen as a constructionist approach, because the reporting is mostly about the social and economical issues rather than the environmental issue. In this case the emphasis of media reporting should rather be on the environmental issue as this is much more important in the sustainability and long term survival of the Perlemoen population.
Claims Making is any individual, group, agency or institution involved in making claims about or promoting issues, problems definitions or debate in public arenas such as the media. Their tasks are to command attention and invoking action (Hansen 2010: pg186). A typical example of a claim-making task is that of the incident where police raided three houses of suspected Perlemoen poachers in Hangberg on 21 march 2012. The police stormed in with rifles while kids were asleep. Without knowing the truth, the media published incorrect information in order to evoke action and seek attention. The residents reacted by commenting that they are only really interested in catching fish from the ocean to feed their families and were in fact not poachers. The media should rather focus on the issues that really concern the environment and not concentrate on emotional or sensational issues based on incorrect facts.
I have found a lot of newspaper articles on Perelemoen poaching in the Western Cape. The first article is called: “Man (19) vasgetrek oor perlemoen van R1m.” This title sums up how the media is emphasising the social and economic aspects of the Perlemoen poaching issue. They are stressing the fact that a lot of money is involved and that the poachers are normally of a young age and even teenagers. In this article, however, the media is trying to make people aware of the poaching problem and the social and economical problems that is created by poaching. They distributed 3000 pamphlets over two days. But they did not confiscate any natural resources like Perlemoen (Die Burger, 13 April 2012). On 20 April 2012, the Burger reported that the police monitored the Hawston area after a shooting incident. The local Perlemoen poachers shot at the police to protect their prey. The police arrested a man aged 42 years, an inhabitant of Hawston, because he had 2939 Perlemoen in his possession. In the same newspaper there was another article called ‘Moenie lig straf vir smokkel.’ The article shows that the community and the authorities of the courts are getting annoyed by the poaching problem that is not efficiently dealt with. Advocate Helen Booysen said that in general there are large amounts of Perlemoen involved that leaves the country illegally. This once again shows that the media and everybody focus on the financial implications of the poaching. However the communities that should benefit from the Perlemoen resource are not considered appropriately. I found another article on the online Cape Times website. This article illustrates the politics about the Perlemoen industry. A group of fishermen are taking the minister of agriculture to court over the quota system. They said that the department secretly sold more than R10m worth of poached Perlemoen. There are also allocated areas where some people are fishing and they want to try and stop these people from fishing in their zones. Another example of how politics influences the poaching is that the minister just willingly and unwillingly changed the rules for Perlemoen harvesting.
The following incident tells the story about the Puget Sound, which is in the area around Seattle and Vancouver. It can help to illustrate how we can get closer to the perlemoen poaching issue. By the end of the 1990s the authorities began to realise a fact that conservationists and the general public had long been suspecting. The salmon in that area was found to be on the brink of extinction. The governor of Washington's words were: "Life without salmon is unthinkable, but today, the unthinkable is in danger of becoming true." (Santmire: 2000 pg105) The public had responded to this by starting a campaign to save the salmon. Many organisations, businesses, governments and religious groups also became involved. But it soon became clear that dramatic changes to the lifestyle of the 3 million people who lived in the area would be required. Farmers (63% of the land in the area are privately owned), timber producers, homeowners, golf clubs, road construction companies, power plants and many other companies would have a role to play to ensure that the seawater, (the natural habitat of the salmon) has to be clean enough and cool enough to enable the salmon to survive. The salmon would only be saved if there was a drastic change in the economic activities of the area. Natural resources could no longer be abused for personal use. The problem however lied deeper. It effected the consumer mentality of the 3 million people in the area that created demand for numerous products who were not necessarily interested in the salmon. This brought the mayor of Seattle to the following insights : "Ironically, as we work to save the salmon, it may turn out that the salmon may save us." From this story the fishing communities of Hermanus, Hawston and Gansbaai could ask the folllowing question: What could they do to save the Perlemoen? Or could the perlemoen posibly save them? This is only possible if the root of the problem is addressed. They, as in the case of the people of Seattle, will have to realise that perlemoen poaching is a symptom of the wide spread exploitation of the natural environment of which we are all a part of. (The Seattle Times, 7 June 1999)
In many social analyses the dominant culture is described as one of consumerisim. We are all trapped in a consumer culture. We long for money, power, status, fun and pleasure. We seek immediate gratification, because tomorrow might be too late. We proceed through life like sponges, sucking up exciting experiences, sexual adventures, fast cars, luxury homes, exotic vacations, powerful computers, clothes with the right labels, mobile phones and rich foods (Perlemoen!) . The sadness of the matter is that the poor are also trapped in the web of consumer culture. The famous Richard Foster writes about man kinds desire for money: "Those who have it the least, love it the most." People place their hope and expectation of life on the competitions that they might win. Whether it is the lottery or in the casino. The tragedy is that they are hoping on something of which they have the least chance to reach. This all shows how people are so attracted by money and long for a better life style that they would ruin the basic resources that are supposed to sustain them.
The point is clear that the media and therfore society will not be able to save the perlemoen by just getting upset with poachers, as if they are the only ones that are guilty, while society sees itself as innocent. In this case Perlemoen poaching is part of a larger poaching process which we can call the “orgy of consumerism”, which everyone is involved in.
In a global context, I have found an online newspaper article on Perlemoen poaching in Australia. It is important to know how illegal abalone poaching is controlled in other countries. The article is called “Australia clamps down on Abalone poachers” In the article they comment that two high-profile incidents of Perlemoen poaching have hit the news recently. In Victoria, a 70 year old man was caught with 1,25 tonnes of perlemoen. He was given a two and half year jail sentence for operating three illegal Perlemoen processing plants. In Australia there rules and regulations are very strict. The trial went on for over two years. They found cans, canning equipment and labels on Truong’s premises. It was evident that Truong was preparing, processing,taking for sale,selling and receiving the Perlemoen for the purpose of exploitation. The investigators have uncovered the dive locations, abolone theft, surveillance techniques, storage locations and transport operations. (www.bairdmaritime.com)
I found another article on perlemoen poaching in California. The articles title is “11 suspected Abalone poachers arrested in California may be facing $40 000 fine” Eleven Abalone poachers were arrested in California. The divers collected perlemoen from the rock pools and put the filled bags in tall grass near the shore. In the USA, Abalone can be sold for up $100 dollars per kg. If you have a California fishing license and a perlemoen stamp, then you are allowed to fetch 24 specimen per year and no more than three a day. You may not collect them if they are for sale and if you are caught with more than 12 then they will immediately think that you are selling it. The police found 166 Abalones with the group. The suspects were booked on charges of felony conspiracy to harvest abalone for commercial purposes. The fine is up to $40 000. The black market for Abalone is large in California. In california the the Abalone stamp card has 24 tags and the perlemoen that is captured must be tagged. The legal size is seven inches. You may only pick them from the shore and may not scuba dive for Abalone. Only the Abalones that are still attached to the shell can be legally transported. (Fish and Aquatic News, Abalone poaching in California, 2009)
Through my research I have found that financial gain and not the concern for the environment or the threatening of the existence of the Perlemoen species is the key driver for Perlemoen smuggling. Most of the media reports focus on money, power and politics and not the environment. Therefore the only way the poaching and the total depletion of the Perlemoen resources is going to stop, will be to put a total ban on the export of all Perlemoen from South Africa. These measures sound drastic but unfortunately it is the only way. Perlemoen has to be given back to the people of South Africa. Consuming of Perlemoen as a basic food should be de-criminalised and de-capitalised. It should only be for private use and personal consumption and should not be commercially available or sold in restaurants. It should only be available for sport fishermen. These fishermen should only be allowed to take out a limited amount per person per day for personal use. That means that Perlemoen will once again be available on the dinner tables of the ordinary people of South Africa, as well as the fishing communities who once used Perlemoen as a staple protein diet. The power of the media in this case is very important. It should be the function of the media to help de-criminalise and de-politicise and de-capitalise the fishing as well as the consumption of Perlemoen. Let there be Perlemoen for the people!
