South Africa’s iconicabalone, long a cornerstone of coastal ecosystems and livelihoods, is under severe threat. Decades of poaching and trafficking have pushed wild populations of the endemic marine mollusc,Haliotis midae, toward collapse, while fuelling organised crime and deepening poverty in coastal communities, arecent Traffic report,ShellShock: The State of South African Abalone Poaching and Trafficking in 2025, found. Since 2000, about 67% of abalone exports from South Africa are estimated to have originated from illegal harvests.
In 2024 alone, an estimated 4 000 tonnes were poached from South African waters, much of the value diverted from marginalised coastal communities tocriminal syndicates. Legal fisheries have seen quotas shrink to historic lows. “With hundreds of kilometers of coastline to police and well-resourced and organised poaching gangs to contend with, South African law enforcement has had limited success in preventing poaching,” the report noted.
Despite regular operations and confiscations, most poached abalone leaves the country undetected. midaeis ecologically and socio-economically important in South Africa. Its high value in east Asian markets drives illegal exploitation, pushing wild populations towards potential extinction.
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The species plays a key ecological role, both as a source of food for predators and through its role in supporting productive marine ecosystems by processing macroalgae and cycling nutrients. The illicit trade chain is long and complex, spanning poachers, middlemen, exporters, wholesalers and retailers. It has fostered sophisticated criminal networks across sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia, causing widespread socio-economic harm, particularly to vulnerable and impoverished coastal communities.
Weak governance, corruption and inequality have further undermined counter-poaching efforts, the report said. Countries such as Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique accounted for 93% of dried abalone exports from non-producing African states between 2017 and 2024, suggesting these nations are used to launder and re-export poached South African abalone. At last month’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites)CoP20 meetingin Samarkand, Uzbekistan, South Africa withdrew itsproposalto list only dried abalone under Cites Appendix II, which covers species that may become threatened unless trade is closely controlled.
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