Wildlife protection: Arrests welcomed

Environmentalists are celebrating a couple of wins in wildlife protection.

CapeTalk's John Maytham speaks to Andrew de Blocq MP, DA Spokesperson on Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.

"There were four Chinese vessels that were escorted into Cape Town Harbour in the last two days and were fined for turning their automatic identification systems, basically their GPS systems on-and-off. And also coming into our waters without the right permissions and documentation.

"They weren't able to establish that they were fishing illegally but of course turning off your GPS is highly suspicious. What are you trying to hide? So it was great, we got them in. We fined them R400,000. They are now on their way and out of our waters again."

In a second victory, this one relating to rhinos, De Blocq said: "The war against the wildlife crime in this country is so often focused on the people doing the poaching on the ground.

But there's an almost endless supply of desperate people who will take on that kind of work so it's really important we go after the big fish. The guys who are pulling the strings and moving this product in and out of the country.

"And in the last three weeks we've arrested two very high profile members of poaching syndicates. Vietnamese nationals who have been traced back until 2011 being involved in different wildlife trafficking. Particularly rhino horn but also including lion and tiger bone which is used in eastern medicine and cuisine."

He said one of the men who was arrested was fined R40,000 in 2011 for five rhino horns that he was found with and he was deported. "It was clearly not enough to deter these kinds of criminals."

Maytham said there's a need for heavier sentences.

De Blocq agreed with him. "It's encouraging that in the last 18-months to two years, there has been a step-up in the sentencing given to criminals who've committed crimes against the environment. We had a few examples last year where people were put away for multi-decadal sentences."

To listen to the full discussion, click the media player below: