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Sunday, June 22, 2008

New regulations to control trade in rhino horn


June 10, 2008;

MERCURY (Durban) 10 Jun 2008 Page 4


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New clampdown will control trade in rhino horns

EMERGENCY regulations to control illegal trade in rhino horns are due to be published later this week, to plug gaping holes in South Africa`s wildlife trade and export laws.
The measures will include a national moratorium on the sale or export of rhino horns, unless the owners can prove that the horns were acquired legally.
A senior official said the interim measures were expected to be published in the Government Gazette this Friday, but stressed that it was not expected to affect authorised professional trophy hunts.
Last week, Environmental Affairs and Tourism minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk announced that there had been a "dramatic increase" in the illegal trade of rhino horn and the hunting of white rhinos, which was directly linked to organised crime.
As a first step to control the problem, he had decided to impose a national freeze on the trade in individual rhino horns to enable SA National Parks and provinces to apply consistent permit and control procedures.
Van Schalkwyk said at least 27 white rhino had been poached in the Kruger National Park over the past two years and there had also been an increase in rhino horn poaching in other parts of the country. During the course of investigating rhino horn deals, it has been established that prospective hunters applied for permits to hunt rhino in various provinces, and that permits were subsequently issued. But on closer examination it was discovered that some of these hunts never took place and the relevant authorities were never informed.
This allowed the permit holder to legally export illegally obtained individual horns as hunting trophies.? It also emerged that some provincial nature conservation departments were not supervising the hunts they authorised and that some provinces still issued "exemption permits", which did not require hunters to notify the provincial authorities about details of a rhino hunt.
Exporting. A senior official in Van Schalkwyk`s department said yesterday that the moratorium on exporting individual rhino horns could last for at least one year. The officials said one of the problems was that until the recent enactment of the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act, the control of rhino hunting was governed by different nature conservation regulations in the provinces.
This meant hunters could apply for permits in different provinces simultaneously, leading to "multiple hunts", ostensibly for a single animal.
The new measures, however, would only permit hunting one white rhino per hunter per year. All hunts would also have to be personally supervised by a provincial nature conservation official and all horns marked with a microchip.
No permits would be issued for horn exports unless they were shipped as part a certified rhino trophy by taxidermists.
The new restrictions would also apply to people who emigrated and no exports would be allowed unless the owners could provide satisfactory proof that they were not hunted illegally. Other sources have also expressed concern that several nationals from the Far East, including Koreans, have been visiting South Africa posing as trophy hunters, yet their sole interest appeared to be acquiring rhino horns for traditional medicine.
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife spokesman Jeff Gaisford said the provincial nature conservation agency was seeking clarity about the implications of the new measures.
Gaisford said Ezemvelo was concerned that a moratorium could drive down the price of live rhinos, which were sold legally every year during the KZN Wildlife game auction.
During the most recent auction, the average price of white rhinos exceeded R250 000 each, with one trophy-quality rhino bull selling for R470 000.
However, a spokesman for the national Environmental Affairs Department said, "The new interim measures and moratorium do not affect the trophy hunting trade, nor is it a moratorium on hunting".
"The intention is to protect legal hunters and make sure that every legal hunt is conducted properly and that any horn exports are legal".

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Re: Elephant Coast.Co.Za

Hi All,
 
We have upgraded www.elephantcoast.co.za to a self contained web site. This mean that every Resort, Lodge or Activity owner with a Registered Bussiness with in The Elephant Coast Region can promote their bussines via the Internet.
 
For Africa has all rights reserved.... This domain is the property of For Africa Internet Services (P.J. Viviers).
 
This domain will not host advertising, other than comments from Inbond Service providers.
 
To obtain a user name and password please visit http://elephantcoast.co.za/html/wp-admin/ and register yourself. After we have confirmed your loco standing we will upgrade you to a Contributor. As a Contributor you will have the ability to write and edit your own posts. This includes web based photos.
 
Please feel free to Forward this email to relevant establishments on your mailiing lists...
 
The anual hosting will be paid by For Africa Internet Services. This is currently a free service. The condition may change in the future, but will be with a six months grace period. No invoices will be issued with out an official order. This will not be an automated transfomation. It is all based on Internet Costs, Hosting fees and domain ownership.
 
Please contact
 
Petrus Viviers
083 584 7473
 
 

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Tourism Stats Big Fat Lie

By Jeremy Gordin and Mike Cadman

The statistics used by the government to boast about South Africa's ability to attract tourism are, at best, "a sleight of hand" because the numbers are not a reflection of real tourism.

This was the response of Professor Loren Landau, the head of the University of the Witwatersrand's forced migration studies programme, to an analysis (by country of origin) of the statistics used by the government to claim the fastest growing tourism in the world.

In 2007, a total of 9,07-million foreigners visited South Africa - an 8,3 percent increase over 2006 - as the country broke its record for annual tourist arrivals for the third year running.

But 2-million (just over 22 percent) of the 9 million official, annual visitors come from Zimbabwe and Mozambique, while another 3-million tourists come from Lesotho and Swaziland.

This means that 5,2-million of South Africa's visitors emanate from four of the poorest countries in the world.
 

Hi Guys,
 
sorry to say ... I told you so ... back in 2004 already. so we organise biker weekends, but the local residents complain.
 
we want beach driving, but the guest houses complain.
 
So what are we going to do know. The bulk of our tourist are street vendours selling cheap knock offs competing with tax paying bussiness..
 
Please note that they are extremly axposed to Xenophobia, thus not a very stable customer base...
 
So St. Lucia has experienced a Bed & Breakfast Explosion .... may be the 2010 soccer world cup will fill the beds!
 
I know I am going to wach the game on my new Z8 cellphone with video streaming. Got two from Vodacom for R135.00/month including free minutes.
 
I see Cell C have them for R100.00/month including 100 free minutes.... So maybe the tourist will come to South Africa and watch the soccer with our cheap
band width while they enjoying lesuire time next to your pool or on a game drive....
 
I ask again, why can't we drive on the beaches...? to be continued.....!!!