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PORT ELIZABETH -- The National Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has approved eight posts in the Eastern Cape to boost its manpower to combat perlemoen poaching.

The department says it views the plundering of marine resources in the Eastern Cape "with great concern" and is having discussions with the SAPS to persuade them to include perlemoen poaching on their top 10 crime priority list.

The regional director for the Eastern Cape responsible for monitoring, control and surveillance in the department, Vincent Maisela, said from Pretoria: "It (perlemoen poaching) deserves more attention. It's quite a worrying problem for the department."

"It has now become gang-related and drugs and money laundering are involved and surely it should be on the police priority list."

Maisela said they were also discussing with the criminal justice system to impose strict bail conditions and heavy penalties on offenders.

"We are doing our best to address the poaching problem. The department has approved posts in the Eastern Cape to boost the manpower. We are also establishing conservation offices at Port St Johns, Hamburg, Jeffreys Bay and other areas along the coastline,'' he said.

Maisela said they were now building capacity to combat perlemoen poaching in the Eastern Cape. -- DDC