Quick thinking by an alert Community Crime Prevention Organisation (CCPO) committee member netted two poachers in Athlone Park on Monday, 29 August.
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George Snodey drove past two men carrying black bags on Kingsway.
Feeling unsettled about the sight, he called for assistance and CCPO officers, Rupert Smit and Michael Mkhize responded.
On questioning the two men, it was found they had been harvesting mussels from Twini ledges. They were in possession of over 500 mussels and neither had a licence.
“Licence holders are only permitted to harvest 30 mussels per day per person, so we called fisheries officers who were keen to assist,” said Snodey. Both poachers were also in possession of an undersize octupus and a tin of red bait. They told Snodey they sell the mussels for R20 a dozen in Isipingo.
On Thursday, 1 September the CCPO received notification from the fisheries officers that the pair of poachers had received a fine of R2,000 suspended for five years.
On Friday night, 2 September Snodey was also involved in chasing off illegal gill netters on the Umkomaas River.
He was informed of the netters arriving in a vehicle with two boats at about 10pm and raced to the river with Umkomaas residents Emil Pirzenthal and Jay Naidoo and fisheries officers from Durban.
The netters fled in the boats but the driver abandoned his vehicle and fled into the bush. When he returned, locals had alleviated his bakkie of its tyres and ransacked it.
He told Snodey the netters were from Richards Bay and they paid him R1,500 to transport them to Toti and back.
The Toti area is suffering under the illegal activities of netters and poachers. This year alone, 78 illegal gill nets have been recovered by various crime-fighting organisations from the Illovo River to Umkomaas River.
