'The poaching is never going to stop." Several poachers sit in a simple house in Hangberg above Hout Bay, chatting as they pass around a bottleneck pipe filled with tobacco and dagga.
"We are poor, we have no work, the fishing industry is busy dying. It's a bleak future for our children, because most of the factories are already closed in Hangberg," says one of the poachers.
RICH HARVEST: A poacher shows off a stash of perlemoen shells in his Hangberg garden that he claims were all from a single dive
Poaching for perlemoen plays a major part in Hangberg's informal economy, putting bread on the table and paying school fees for many families living there.
TOP GEAR: A diver's assistant cleans off dive gear outside a Hangberg home. Dive gear is costly and is well looked after, although many divers use woefully and dangerously inadequate gear
Hangberg has also been the base for large-scale and syndicated operators, who send inflatable boats up and down the coast, and as far away as Robben Island, to illegally dive for the endangered perlemoen to supply to dealers who export the delicacy.
HIGH TIMES: Divers and dealers smoke a bottleneck pipe of dagga in a Hangberg home
Perlemoen fetches up to R30000 per kilogram in Asian markets. In a crippled economy the lure of quick money has seen an upsurge in this illegal activity. It is estimated that poachers take out more than 7million perlemoen every year, putting enormous pressure on the threatened species.
A DOG'S LIFE: A perlemoen poacher's dog sits in front of a Hangberg home on a gloomy weather day
However, poachers say there is no shortage of stocks of the shellfish.
JUST DUNE IT: Children play on sand dunes above the Hout Bay community of Hangberg. Under the Group Areas Act of 1950 Hangberg was designated a 'coloured area' and people living in Hout Bay village were moved into apartments and council houses on the slopes of Hangberg mountain
Below Hangberg, a diver leaves the sea along the rocky shoreline after poaching for perlemoen. His minders have carefully followed his progress during his hour-long search and move down from their lookout spots to meet him and quickly take his dive bag away.
ILLEGAL HAUL: Perlemoen and crayfish in the dive bag of a poacher after being caught off Hangberg
The small group makes its way up the hill away from the shoreline and back into Hangberg.
GROUP EFFORT: After a successful perlemoen poaching dive, assistants carry the dive gear and the catch back up the steep paths into Hangberg
The path is littered with perlemoen shells, cleaned and discarded by poachers.
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