8 January 2001
"Totally allowable catch increases by 207% for 2001 season"
The Total Allowable Catch for Anchovy has been increased from the 123000 tons initially awarded for the 2000 fishing season to a starting amount of 378000 tons for the 2001 season, the department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism announced today (Monday).
The deputy director general of marine and coastal management in the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Horst Kleinschmidt said the 207% increase in the TAC was good news when the 2001 anchovy fishing season opens later this week (15 January 2001).
Anchovy is one of the plentiful, small, shoaling, pelagic fishes that live in the productive upwelled waters of the Benguela ecosystem, feeding on the abundant plankton in the region. It has been the main contributor to South Africa’s purse-seine fishery in most years since 1964, during which period more than 8˝ million tons of Anchovy has been caught. Most of the catch is processed to fish oil and fishmeal. One of the more important uses of fishmeal is to supplement the protein diet of domestic animals, especially poultry but also cattle. Limited amounts of Anchovy are used directly for human consumption, but much greater quantities find their way onto human menus via the domestic animals that feed upon it.
Since 1984, the Anchovy fishery has been managed on the basis of ship-based acoustic surveys that estimate the biomass of the adult component of the population in November and December. Anchovy has a high natural mortality rate, which results in it being short-lived. The adult component of the population comprises only the few most recent cohorts. As cohorts vary widely in abundance from one year to the next, so does the biomass of the adult component of the Anchovy population.
Each mature Anchovy female has the potential to spawn several times in a spawning season, and she may produce thousands of eggs in her short life. To sustain the population, only a few of these eggs need survive to adulthood. Most will perish in the harsh marine environment, perhaps contributing to the diet of the many small predators in the ocean or being swept offshore by currents, away from necessary plantonic food, to starve. It only requires a small change in the survival rate of the many eggs and larvae produced to create large changes in the sizes of annual cohorts, and ultimately in the parent stock biomass.
In 2000, results from the ship-based biomass survey indicated that the spawner stock had attained a level of four million tons, more than double the highest previously recorded (1.75 million tons in 1986) since the surveys were initiated in 1984. This is excellent news for both fishermen and predators. The Total Allowable Catch for Anchovy has been increased from the 123000 tons initially awarded for the 2000 fishing season to a starting amount of 378000 tons for the 2001 season. The allocation will be re-evaluated during the season and may increase further.
It is necessary to ensure that boats taking advantage of this bounty will not jeopardise the health of other fish populations, especially Sardine, by taking unwanted by-catches of these other species. Accordingly observers will be placed on the purse-seine boats to monitor the by catch.
Amongst the many predators that feed on Anchovy are several threatened, endemic seabirds, whose populations have undergone severe declines in recent years as a result of several factors. These include the African Penguin, several thousand of which perished following the Treasure oil spill in June 2000, in spite of the massive rescue operation that saved tens of thousands of penguins. It is to be hoped that the abundant food supply in 2001 will result in successful breeding by African Penguins and other seabirds that prey on Anchovy, and resultant good recruitment to the breeding populations of these seabirds in future years.
In 2000, South Africa imported approximately 500 000 tons of Soya cake as a supplementary protein feed for domestic animals, including poultry. The increased availability of Anchovy in 2001 can be expected to decrease this demand, with favourable consequences for South Africa’s foreign exchange balance.
For more information on the Anchovy fishery, contact:
Rob Crawford at (021) 402 3140
Or visit our website:
www.environment.gov.za
Issued by the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
For more information please contact:
The Media Liaison Director:
Onkgopotse JJ Tabane
Media Liaison Director
Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
082 465 6166 / 012 310 3611
tabane@iafrica.com