Question NW4002 to the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and FisheriesQUESTION
14 December 2017 - NW4002
Hadebe, Mr TZ to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and FisheriesQUESTION
(1)What amounts of abalone were confiscated from alleged poachers during the period 1 January 2012 up to the latest specified date for which information is available; (2) for each specified year, (a) what number of alleged poachers were (i) arrested and (ii) successfully prosecuted and (b) in what jurisdiction did each prosecution occur; (3) (a) what number of court cases against alleged abalone poachers are currently pending and (b) what is the estimated amount of abalone involved in each specified case; (4) what amount of the confiscated abalone was (a) destroyed, (b) sold and (c) sold at auction in each specified year?
Reply:
- Amount of confiscated Abalone is 463 796.04 Kg
- (a) (i) Arrests are as follows:
- In year 2012 the number of poachers arrested were 251. In that, 210 were arrested within the Western Cape jurisdiction and 41 were arrested within the Eastern Cape Jurisdiction.
- In year 2013 the number of poachers arrested were 325. In that, 289 were arrested within the Western Cape jurisdiction and 36 were arrested within the Eastern Cape Jurisdiction.
- In year 2014 the number of poachers arrested were 80. In that, 56 were arrested within the Western Cape jurisdiction and 24 were in the Eastern Cape Jurisdiction.
- In year 2015 the number of poachers arrested were 198. In that, 151 were arrested in the Western Cape jurisdiction, 45 were arrested within the Eastern Cape Jurisdiction and 2 arrested within Northern Cape.
- In year 2016 the number of poachers arrested were 318. In that, 288 were arrested in the Western Cape jurisdiction and 30 were arrested within the Eastern Cape Jurisdiction
- In year 2017 the number of poachers arrested were 125. In that, 113 were arrested in the Western Cape jurisdiction and 12 were arrested within the Eastern Cape Jurisdiction
(ii) The Department of Justice (through the National Prosecuting Authority) is the mandated Department for prosecution of criminal Offences. Therefore the Department of Justice is the competent Authority in terms of reporting on criminal prosecutions. However we are aware that more than 133 Abalone Cases had been completed since year 2012.
(b) In terms of prosecutorial Jurisdiction, Prosecutions occurred predominantly in Eastern Cape and Western Cape. However, the Department of Justice, as we mentioned above, is the mandated authority to prosecute criminal cases and to report on prosecutions.
3(a) Approximately 452 cases are still pending and
(b) The total confiscated abalone for the pending cases is estimated to be approximately 38 631.00 Kilograms.
4(a) Confiscated Abalone destroyed
2012 – 1981.07kg (Unfit dried)
2013 – 4488.48kg (Unfit dried)
2014 – 10 748.97kg (Unfit dried)
2015 – 7 687.27kg (Unfit dried)
2016 – 9 299.02kg (Unfit dried)
2017 – 2 987.80kg (Unfit dried)
(b) It was only sold at auctions.
(c) Confiscated Abalone sold at auctions.
2012 – 5 821.07kg (dried)
2013 – 7 675.95kg (dried)
2014 – 18 230.17kg (dried)
2015 – 21 043.04kg (dried)
2016 – 16 664.28kg (dried)
2017 – 10 016.20kg (dried)