The State of Fishing West Coast Rock Lobster

Of course, South Africa is blessed with some of the richest fishing grounds in the world from the north of the West Coast all around to the north of its East Coast. These include several resources of one of the insects of the sea, the Spiny Rock Lobster, known colloquially as Crayfish or Kreef. As more people become aware that the species is part of the insect family, it is also becoming known as the Red Spider. The West Coast Inshore specie of Jasus lalandii always was our biggest fishing resource of all. Until serious mismanagement for probably the last 60 years has seen it deteriorate to a fraction of what its pristine mass may have been.

I, personally, have a serious problem with the so-called perceived pristine levels of all marine resources. I believe the methods of calculating them are, to say the least, unreliable. Seeing that no records were kept of their annual exploitation levels for many years, before Industry and the scientists woke up to the need to measure the differing landings year on year for comparative purposes, pristine base levels are nothing more than guesstimates!