Tag Archives: DEA

Weekly Press Review – 22 July 2016

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The dire situation facing the South African great white shark has made headlines this week. According to researcher Sara Andreotti from the department of botany and zoology at Stellenbosch University, if the government doesn’t soon address import and export regulations, the great white shark is heading for extinction.

According to Andreotti there are only between 353 and 522 great white sharks left in South African waters. The primary cause of the decline? Poaching for shark jaws which can sell for up to $1 million, as well as fins for fin soup, a delicacy in parts of Asia.

“The numbers in South African are extremely low. If the situation stays the same, South Africa’s great white sharks are heading for possible extinction,” says Andreotti, adding that it is illegal to catch great white sharks as they are a protected species.

Andreotti said that the Environmental Affairs Ministry must improve the regulations protecting and managing fish species.

“The survival of South Africa’s white shark population and the ecological interactions of the coastline will be seriously compromised if urgent management measures to prevent the decline are not put in place,” says Andreotti

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Weekly Press Review – 13 May 2016

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The big maritime news this week was the announcement that after several years of being based in Copenhagen, Safmarine will be moving its head-office back to Cape Town.

Safmarine was founded in South Africa in 1946, taken over by Maersk Line in 1999 and in 2012 the head-offices were moved to Copenhagen.

Vincent Clerc of Safmarine was quoted in the press as saying that as Africa is at the core of the Safmarine strategy, it made sense to move the head-office back to Cape Town.

This week the press also made mention of the shockingly high number of perlemoen already lost to poaching since the beginning of the year. Since the start of 2016, and in the Western Cape alone, a total of 465,351 perlemoen have been poached with an estimated value of R166 million.

Measures are in place to try to stop the ongoing surge of perlemeon poaching with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) working with several other players, including the South African police force, as well as the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), but so far the tide of poaching has not been stemmed.

According to DAFF Minister Zenzeni Zokwana, most of the poached perlemoen is exported to eastern countries.

In a bizarre story also making headlines this week, a resident of Glencairn in the Cape has been arrested for having penguin eggs in his possession.

Apparently the suspect stole the eggs from the Boulders colony, which is part of the Table Mountain National Park and falls under SANParks.

Francois Louw, of the South African National Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, said, “The African Penguin is an endangered species. The population in South Africa is 25,000 breeding pairs, which is critical to the survival of the species. We don’t condone actions that jeopardise the survival of eggs or penguins.”

The 30-year old suspect was arrested on Wednesday and has already appeared in the Simon’s Town Magistrate’s Court on charges of the illegal possession of penguin eggs.