10 Year Review: Science – What Can The Industry Expect?

Over the past few years, the fishing industry’s has become increasingly concerned about the capacity both within and outside government to conduct the research that is necessary to ensure the sustainability of South Africa’s most economically important fisheries.

As scientists and technicians have retired or resigned from government, and universities have changed to accommodate more students and in some cases new fields of study, so this capacity has shrunk considerably. Adding to the seriousness of this situation is the fact that the South African fisheries research vessel (FRS) Africana – once a cutting edge research platform –  might well have reached the end of its working life. A solution must be found to ensure that biomass and other scientific surveys can continue.

This is particularly important for the small pelagic fishery because recommendations for the annual total allowable catch (TAC) are directly based on the results of the hydro-acoustic surveys that are conducted twice per year. However, research surveys are also an important component of, for example, demersal fisheries management. A combination of scientific surveys and catch per unit effort data are used in the models that form part of the operational management procedure used to set TACs for the hake fisheries.