No holiday break from fish poachers

GILL net fish poachers show no signs of letting up over the holiday period; if anything, they have stepped up their illegal activities in the Richards Bay harbour area.

A patrol by North Coast Anti Poaching (NCAP) volunteers shortly after midnight on Thursday intercepted a poaching gang deploying gill nets in a regular target area of the port.

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After sending for reinforcements, NCAP members launched their one working boat – the other having recently suffered engine problems.

Working hand-in-hand with the ground crew, various poaching implements were retrieved and booked into the Saps 13 property store.

Among these were 3 600m of gill nets and a one-of-a-kind ‘tug boat’, totally different from the rudimentary, plastic-covered wooden boats usually hand-built by poachers.

While more than 400 live fish were removed from the nets and released back into the water before they would have died, the ‘wall of death’ did kill others.

These included 22 razor bellies, one maasbanker, five juvenile grunters and two snotties.

NCAP volunteers always value the support they receive from businesses and the general public, and again appeal, with ongoing fuel and other costs and now a boat to be repaired, for any donations.

Account details:
Bank: Standard Bank Richards Bay
Acc name: North Coast Anti Poaching NPC
Account number: 034731024
Type: Market link/Savings
Branch Code: 058030 EFT: 051001
Swift address: SBZA ZA JJ

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