Demand for South Africa's abalone is so high it underpins an international smuggling trade estimated to be worth nearly £100m each year. The poachers who gather on the windswept beaches of South Africa's rocky Cape coast are immediately recognisable by the tools of their trade. Pick-up trucks drop them off clad in wetsuits and carrying diving cylinders, then they head out into the waves on fast rubber boats. Their work is not for the faint-hearted. The waters can be treacherous and divers must also avoid becoming prey for the area's plentiful great white sharks. Yet the poachers consider their quarry to be worth the risk. There are few other ways to feed a family along the coast, and they are seeking a type of sea snail that Chinese diners consider a delicacy and will pay handsomely for. Demand for the hand-sized abalone found among the underwater kelp forests is so high it underpins an international smuggling trade estimated to be worth as much as nearly £100 million each year.