Parliament's portfolio committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has welcomed a US court ruling ordering Cape Town businessman, Arnold Bengis, to pay the government 37 million dollars for illegally harvesting West Coast rock lobster which was exported to the US.
US district court judge, Lewis Kaplan, issued the order this week in the long running battle by the government to get Bengis to pay for harvesting 2200 tons of West Coast rock lobster between 1987 and 2000.
"The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is commended for not giving up as this case has been going on for a number of years. The restitution amount replaces a $21 million payment which Arnold Bengis agreed to pay South Africa in 2004 but only paid $1.25 million," said Portfolio Committee chairperson, Rosina Semenya.
"Over fishing causes damage to the coastal ecosystem and more importantly it deprives subsistence fishing communities of food and the means of a livelihood," she said.
"We are also happy with the foreign agreements which we have in place as South Africa will be the first country to be benefit under the United States law, the Lacey Act which regulates the imports of protected species," she added.
