Contributions of the Benguela ecology programme to pelagic fisheries management in South Africa

Plankton productivity of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME)

“…A pilot retrospective analysis of a subset of the historical west coast zooplankton sample archive that had accumulated since 1951 was initiated under the umbrella of the Benguela Ecology Programme (BEP) during 1982-2006 (Moloney et al, 2004). Zooplankton samples collected in St Helena Bay between 1951 and 1996, specifically during austral autumn (AprilJune), when peak recruitment of anchovy and sardine occurs, were analysed in terms of abundance, species and size composition of the copepod community following a standard, quantitative protocol (see .…”

Application of the sequential t-test algorithm for analysing regime shifts to the southern Benguela ecosystem

“…However, they concluded that the long-term changes observed in pelagic species in the southern Benguela were species dominance shifts. Shannon et al (2004), Moloney et al (2004) and Jarre et al (2006) have described such dominance shifts as being reversible, e.g. the resurgence of large sardine stocks recently after their collapse in the 1960s.…”

Jellyfication of Marine Ecosystems as a Likely Consequence of Overfishing Small Pelagic Fishes: Lessons from the Benguela

“…Since the 1960s collapse, before which no catch limits were set, management measures for small pelagic fishes have been progressively introduced, first with a global pelagic quota in 1971, followed by species-specific quotas in 1984 and management procedures in the early 1990s (De Oliveira and Butterworth 2004, Moloney et al 2004). In particular, a conservative management strategy was applied to the sardine in an attempt to rebuild the stock (Cochrane et al 1998).…”