Review. A 20-year History of South Africa’s Commercial Abalone Industry (Part 7 of 7)

The big abalone bust up inside and outside, changing guards, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry, and the way forward.

In February 2017, after the news broke that several DAFF officials had been arrested for alleged links to criminal syndicates, abalone expert, Professor Peter Britz, spoke out. He said, “destroy poached abalone – don’t profit from it.”

“This proves yet again the folly of the current auction system for poached product. The case illustrates that Government is not to be trusted in its disposal of poached abalone, despite an Auditor General report in 2009 requiring that proper disposal protocols be put in place,” he said.