Poaching continues despite crackdown, deputy minister admits

Narend Singh says illegal sales of marine resources persist despite a quarter of joint enforcement action that produced arrests and confiscations worth hundreds of thousands of rand

SOUTH AFRICA: Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Narend Singh, has admitted that illegal sales of marine resources such as crayfish near Hibberdene remain a persistent problem, despite joint enforcement operations between April and June 2026 that led to nine arrests and the seizure of poached stock worth more than R228,000.

Speaking at the opening of a two-day Coastal Marine Task Force training programme for prosecutors, detectives and compliance officials in Scottburgh, Singh said recent public reports had “once again highlighted” the illegal trade, describing roadside sales as merely “the visible end of a longer criminal chain” involving unlawful harvesting, storage, transport and sale.

He warned this chain “places unsustainable pressure on our marine resources, undermines lawful fishers, endangers enforcement officers and the public, and erodes respect for the law.”

The numbers behind the crackdown

Singh revealed that joint operations between April and June 2026 opened six case dockets under the Marine Living Resources Act, led to nine arrests and issued twenty-two admission-of-guilt fines totalling R42,000.

Enforcement teams also confiscated 352 linefish worth R176,000, East Coast Rock lobster valued at R31,500, and 47 illegal gillnets worth R21,150, confiscations worth more than five times the value of the fines handed down.

Singh acknowledged the gap between enforcement activity and outcomes in court, telling delegates that “while progress has been made, challenges remain.” He said gillnetting continues to “devastate estuaries,” while cases involving undocumented foreign nationals add further complexity. Illegal development in sensitive coastal areas such as Umgababa and ongoing forestry transgressions also require attention, he said.

Weak links in the chain

Central to Singh's address was a warning that arrests and confiscations count for little without successful prosecutions. Effective enforcement, he said, “is not measured only by arrests and confiscations, but ultimately by successful prosecutions, appropriate sentencing, and our ability to protect resources for present and future generations.”

The training programme, he said, was designed to close gaps between investigators, compliance officials and prosecutors by clarifying legal frameworks, roles and responsibilities, and by identifying “recurring weaknesses in permits, notices, exhibits, statements, and chain of custody.”

Delegates were urged to interrogate what prosecutors need from investigators and to test how the law applies in practice, covering the Marine Living Resources Act, illegal unreported and unregulated fishing, the Integrated Coastal Management Act, off-road vehicle controls, forestry legislation, mining and water-use compliance, and Marine Protected Areas.

Enforcement and livelihoods

Singh linked enforcement directly to the department's small-scale fisheries programme, through which long-term fishing rights have been allocated to 172 cooperatives representing roughly 10,000 fishers. He said the department is now focused on markets, infrastructure, cold storage, processing facilities, governance and business development to help lawful fishers thrive.

“When we fail to prosecute transgressors robustly, we undermine the very opportunities we are creating for coastal communities and future generations,” Singh said.

He also placed responsibility on consumers, noting that “demand sustains illegal trade” and that every purchase of unlawfully harvested marine resources “contributes to the depletion of a national asset.”

Singh closed by telling delegates that certificates issued at the end of the training “should not merely record attendance,” but should represent a personal commitment to strengthening cooperation across the enforcement chain, in line with the constitutional right to a protected environment under Section 24.

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