Two reasons why it is easy to harvest perlemoen

Perlemoen is reasonably easy to take available of the ocean and do not really required huge and expensive equipment. The poachers take out millions of rands worth of Perlemoen with relatively simple and cheap equipment such as wet suites, googles and flippers. The most expensive equipment they use are their boats and vehicles. In comparison with the lucrative industry the costs of poaching are low. Perlemoen are often the smaller, younger abalone of the species that are taken because they are quite simply and easier to harvest.

1. The younger perlemoen are found closer to the shoreline and often bunched together and they can get a whole whack of them at one spot.

2. The strandlopers harvested the perlemoen from the rocks during low tide without the need for diving.