South Africa | Abalone poaching surges off coast, driven by poverty and organized crime

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Poverty and crime in South Africa are driving a surge in the illegal harvesting off its shores of the abalone, a large sea snail coveted as a delicacy in some parts of Asia, a report said on Tuesday.

The report, by TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network, found that the region’s abalone population is on the verge of collapse, with an estimated 96 million abalone illegally harvested between 2000 and 2016.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-poaching-abalone/south-african-sea-snails-under-threat-from-surge-in-poaching-report-idUSKCN1LY34F