Benguela (Southern) - Exploitation
The Benguela is productive and supports important pelagic and demersal fisheries. Purse seine nets are used to catch small shoaling fish such as anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus and sardine Sardinpos sagax, midwater trawls target larger fish like adult horse mackerel Trachurus trachurus capensis, and demersal trawls catch bottom-dwelling fish, in particular the Shallow-water and deep-water Cape hake, Merluccius capensis and Merluccius paradoxus, respectively.
Total catches in the South-East Atlantic increased during the 1950s and 1960s, peaking at 3 million tons in 1968, and fluctuating at around 2 million tons thereafter. The rapid increase in catches is attributed to the expansion of the purse seine fishery targeting pelagic fish. When these catches declined, there was an expansion of the demersal trawl fishery targeting hakes, and when hake catches decreased, horse mackerel were more heavily fished. Before man’s intervention, the South African (southern) and Namibian (northern) ecosystems may have been relatively similar in structure and functioning. However, the two ecosystems have undergone very different fishing and fisheries management histories, and different environmental perturbations have had different yet large effects in the two areas. Thus, northern and southern ecosystems now contrast in their species compositions, community structures and abundance trends.
Currently in the southern Benguela, the most valuable commercial species are shallow- and deep-water hake. Hakes are caught in demersal trawls and by the line and the longline fisheries. Catches of hake increased from the 1950s, had peaked by 1977, when a 200-mile Fishing Zone was proclaimed by South Africa, and have since remained fairly stable. There is little room for expansion of the demersal fishery above present levels, particularly the hake fishery. Most linefish stocks are currently overexploited and cause for recent concern. Owing to large fluctuations in anchovy and sardine stock sizes, the pelagic fishery is the most dynamic of all.