South African National Parks’ marine rangers from the Addo Elephant National Park arrested five illegal divers on Wednesday for diving and fishing illegally in the Bird Island Marine Protected Area.
Six more divers, who escaped from the rubber duck and took refuge on Stag Island, were arrested yesterday morning for trespassing in the national park.
The South African Police Service took the divers to the Kinkelbos Police Station to be charged. SANParks confiscated the rubber duck vessel and all diving equipment used by the suspects during the illegal operation.
The Bird Island group in Algoa Bay is part of the Addo Elephant National Park and home to the largest breeding population of Cape gannets in the world, an African penguin colony and a breeding colony of Cape fur seals.