PHOTO: Mia Moorcroft
RETURNING to their offices with a bakkie bin filled with pilfered mussels was Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife’s (EKZNW) latest feat in their fight to save Northern KZN’s marine life.
Four rangers of the EKZNW Richards Bay branch caught three poachers red-handed as they plundered the Nhlabane shoreline, situated 40km north of Richards Bay, on Thursday morning.
The suspects escaped after dashing into the dunes, leaving over 300kgs of the stolen shellfish behind.
‘We will throw all the mussels back into the water with hopes that some of them could still survive,’ said EKZNW District Conservation Officer Frans Mthembu.
‘The Nhlabane community members have permits to fish in moderation, but unfortunately they stand to lose their permits with poaching currently exhausting the marine resources in the area.
‘Locals must report any poaching activities to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife or the police.’
On 18 January, the EKZNW team also confiscated 150 spotted grunters, 50 mullet fish and one tripletail from a flea market in eSikhaleni.
‘We raided the market in a combined operation with the Richards Bay SAPS ORS (Operational Response Services) team.
‘No arrests were made as all the vendors fled when they saw us coming in,’ Mthembu said.
