Day of Reckoning. Abalone, Gangs and Triads (Part 2)

More fascinating insight of the poaching problem of abalone and lobster that continues to exist. The Day of Reckoning has been and gone. Writing as it was then, this is Part 2.

The timing of our marginalisation coincided with a new market manifesting itself by the debut of a local buyer “Reggie”*  and the arrival of the foreign Taiwan, Korean and Chinese fishing vessels in Cape Town along with the establishment of ship chandlers.

Removing abalone was not regarded as a serious threat by the officials. They tended to focus more on protecting the lobster resource. Therefore it was not a high risk for illegal divers and the fines were minimal, more in relation to a traffic fine.

When the government of the day latched onto the fact that abalone was a wealthy resource, greed set in. They took control of the market by instituting a monopoly through giving quotas to five factories.