Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has closed in on a suspected illegal poaching ring that was operating in the mangroves at the Port of Durban’s Bayhead Natural Heritage Site.
TNPA said in a statement that the operation, conducted in collaboration with the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF), had included a helicopter inspection of the site where gillnetting and bait harvesting equipment had been confiscated. The Bayhead Natural Heritage Site, with its intertidal mudflats and mangrove forest, forms part of a critically important estuarine habitat within the Port of Durban and is a TNPA-controlled zone where fishing and bait collection is prohibited.
The operational team, consisting of environmental officials from port security and the DEFF, conducted lengthy inspections of the mangrove’s swamps during the low tide, removed sets of gillnets, 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.
Durban port manager Mpumi Dweba-Kwetana commended the team for its work.
“The work that TNPA, DEFF and the South African Police Service (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,” Dweba-Kwetana said.
Illegal poaching is leading to the near extinction of certain species of fish and is causing an imbalanced coastal ecosystem in the region, as poachers are catching young fish in the estuarine before they can mature and swim into the ocean.
