Review. A 20-year History of South Africa’s Commercial Abalone Industry (Part 3 of 7)

Read about the closure of the abalone fishery for the first time, what happened and what opinions were expressed.

In a shock move, the DEAT said it was going to close the legal abalone fishery from 1 November  2007 because communities were not helping to identify poachers.

This raised the ire of both legal permit holders and poachers who issued an ultimatum: if there was a ban, they would keep poaching so they could continue making a living for themselves.