What is "poaching"

Poach \Poach\ (p[=o]ch), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Poached (p[=o]cht); p. pr. & vb. n. Poaching.] [F. pocher to place in a pocket, to poach eggs (the yolk of the egg being as it were pouched in the white), from poche pocket, pouch. See Pouch, v. & n.]

1. To cook, as eggs, by breaking them into boiling water; also, to cook with butter after breaking in a vessel.
   --Bacon.

2. To rob of game; to pocket and convey away by stealth, as game; hence, to plunder.
   --Garth.

n. Illegal procurement of protected wildlife such as fish, game, logging, or plant collecting. vb. (present participle of poach English)

n. cooking in simmering liquid

Poaching is a type of moist-heat cooking technique that involves cooking by submerging food in a liquid, such as water, milk, stock or wine. Poaching is differentiated from the other "moist heat" cooking methods, such as simmering and boiling, in that it uses a relatively low temperature (about ). This temperature range makes it particularly suitable for delicate food, such as eggs, poultry, fish and fruit, which might easily fall apart or dry out using other cooking methods. Poaching is often considered as a healthy method of cooking because it does not use fat to cook or flavor the food.

Poaching has traditionally been defined as the illegal hunting, killing, or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights.

Until the 20th century, most poaching was performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes, supplementing meager diets. By contrast, stealing domestic animals (as in cattle raiding, for example) classifies as theft, not as poaching.

Since the 1980s, the term "poaching" has also referred to the illegal harvesting of wild plant species. In agricultural terms, the term 'poaching' is also applied to the loss of soils or grass sward by the damaging action of feet of livestock which can affect availability of productive land, water pollution through increased runoff and welfare issues for cattle.

In 1998 environmental scientists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst proposed the concept of poaching as an environmental crime, defining any activity as illegal that contravenes the laws and regulations established to protect renewable natural resources including the illegal harvest of wildlife with the intention of possessing, transporting, consuming or selling it and using its body parts. They considered poaching as one of the most serious threats to the survival of plant and animal populations. Wildlife biologists and conservationists consider poaching to have a detrimental effect on biodiversity both within and outside protected areas as wildlife populations decline, species are depleted locally, and the functionality of ecosystems is disturbed.

Poaching is illegal hunting or fishing.

Poaching or poacher may also refer to:

• Poaching (cooking)
• Poaching (snowboarding)
• In business, attracting workers from a rival company with better pay and conditions; see Executive search
• Poacher (fish)
• Goal poacher, in association football

Poaching originally refers to the act of illegally snowboarding at a resort where snowboards are explicitly prohibited. Poaching is intended as a form of protest against what snowboarders view as segregation and can be seen as a form of civil disobedience.

Very few resorts continue to ban snowboarders. By definition, poaching is the practice of snowboarding where it is disallowed, usage of this term as a mean of protest is falling out of use as most resorts now allow snowboarding. In the United States only three resorts: Deer Valley, Alta Ski Area (Both in Utah) and Mad River Glen in Vermont, continue to ban snowboarding. In contemporary usage, the term sometimes refers to skiing and snowboarding in out of bounds areas.