Perlemoen poachers are escalating their operations along the Eastern Cape coastline, with syndicates now extending their reach from Tsitsikamma through Nelson Mandela and Buffalo City and up along the Wild Coast. The scale of the plunder is staggering, stripping the region of billions of dollars worth of abalone, devastating marine ecosystems, and fuelling the operations of broader criminal networks.
The full extent of these operations is often underestimated. Poaching syndicates are not isolated groups of opportunistic divers. They are highly organised and well-resourced criminal enterprises, using sophisticated technology such as thermal drones to track patrol movements and monitor their illegal activities.
Reports have surfaced of poachers even firing shots at civilians to force them off beaches when divers are in the water. These are not desperate individuals trying to make ends meet. These are hardened criminals who will stop at nothing to protect their illicit trade.
A recent oversight with Dark Water Ops, a registered security service protecting the EC1 Phakisa Abalone Ranching Project, revealed that wet abalone worth over R41.1 million was recovered in 2024 from just an 18km stretch of coastline in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Given that recovered stock typically accounts for only five to ten percent of what is taken, the poaching operation in that short stretch alone is valued at between R411 million and R823 million. When extended across the province, the losses climb into the billions.
This is industrial-scale plundering of our marine resources. More than R57 million in poaching equipment has been seized, and at least 1,537 possible poachers have been identified. Despite this, law enforcement remains critically under-resourced, outgunned by syndicates that operate with military-like precision and the backing of international smuggling networks.
The destruction goes beyond just perlemoen. Poaching decimates the marine ecosystem, causing a chain reaction that affects the entire coastal environment, leading to the disappearance of shoreline fish populations.
This has devastating consequences for subsistence fishermen, who rely on these waters to feed their families. Communities that have lived off the ocean for generations are now struggling to survive, robbed of their ability to provide for themselves due to the unchecked greed of poaching syndicates.
Instead of confronting the crisis, the government continues to turn a blind eye. Private anti-poaching units such as Dark Water Ops do what they can, but they are limited by legislative constraints. Corruption within law enforcement allows poachers to operate with near impunity, ensuring that arrests rarely translate into meaningful convictions.
Following engagements with the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, DA MP Dion George, I have secured a commitment from the minister that he will be coming to the Eastern Cape to get a first-hand understanding of the extent of this problem.
I have requested his assistance with the re-establishment of dedicated environmental courts, which would strengthen legal action against these syndicates and ensure that poaching cases are treated with the severity they deserve.
I have also requested a comprehensive anti-poaching strategy that includes increased funding for enforcement, greater use of advanced technology to combat syndicates, and the expansion of operational mandates for security firms like Dark Water Ops to allow them to play a more direct role in dismantling these networks.
We need to establish a joint provincial task team with all relevant role-players for a coordinated, intelligence-driven operation that will clamp down on these syndicates.
Confiscated poaching equipment, currently gathering dust in warehouses while cases drag on, must be redirected towards crime-fighting initiatives once cases are concluded. These tools should be used to strengthen enforcement efforts rather than left to deteriorate in storage.
This is not just about poaching. It is about communities terrorised by criminals who fire weapons to enforce their control. It is about livelihoods stolen, ecosystems collapsing, and the continued failure of government to take meaningful action.
The DA will not stand by while our province is ransacked. We will continue to fight for the protection of our natural resources and the restoration of law and order along our coastline.