The shoaling behaviour of pelagic fish and the distribution of seals and gannets off Namibia as deduced from routine fishing reports, 1982–1985

The relative importance of lunar phase and environmental conditions on striped marlin (Tetrapturus audax) catches in sport fishing

“…These studies show that the CPUE is typically reduced during the full moon phase, possibly as a consequence of increased illumination altering fish behaviour (e.g. Luecke and Wurtsbaugh, 1993;Stoner, 2004) and their catchability (Kearney, 1977;Thomas and Schülein, 1988;Agenbag et al, 2003). Likewise, drift net catches of swordfish in the Mediterranean suggest that CPUE is lowest in the full moon phase, but no statistical tests were conducted (di Natale and Magano, 1995).…”

Pelagic fish species assemblages in the southern Benguela

“…Pelagic fish schools off South Africa and elsewhere tend to disperse at night (Barange and Hampton 1997;Fréon and Misund 1999), hence increasing the likelihood of mixed catches at night compared to the day. Furthermore, Agenbag et al (2003) found that adult anchovy form fewer but larger schools during the day, which results in larger daytime catches, whereas most sardine catches are made during the night (Thomas and Schülein 1988). Round herring are also caught more frequently caught during the night, given their diel vertical migration behaviour .…”

“…Together, upwelling systems (excluding the system off Japan) contribute 14 million tonnes (t), or 15% of the total landings of marine species ). In the southern Benguela ecosystem, there is a large and highly productive assemblage of shoaling epipelagic fish, including sardine Sardinops sagax, anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus ( E. capensis), juvenile horse mackerel Trachurus capensis and round herring Etrumeus whiteheadi (Crawford et al 1987; Barange et al 1999;van der Lingen et al 2006). These species are targeted mainly by purse-seine vessels and catches are landed at several harbours, mainly along the south-western coast of South Africa (Fairweather et al 2006a) and more recently also off the South Coast .…”

“…These species are targeted mainly by purse-seine vessels and catches are landed at several harbours, mainly along the south-western coast of South Africa (Fairweather et al 2006a) and more recently also off the South Coast . Vessels equipped with refrigerated seawater target mainly sardine and round herring for canning, whereas vessels without such facilities catch mainly anchovy and bycatch species, such as juvenile sardine, round herring, lightfish Maurolicus muelleri and lanternfish Lampanyctodes hectoris, for the production of fishmeal and fish oil (Attwood 2001(Attwood , 2002van der Lingen et al 2011;DAFF 2012). Wide fluctuations in the catches ( Figure 1) have been observed in response to varying levels of fishing pressure and to recruitment variability (Beckley and van der Lingen 1999;Barange et al 2009;Hutchings et al 2012).…”

“…Worldwide, several small pelagic fish species are often caught together during a single set or haul of a purse-seine or pelagic trawl (Massé et al 1996;Fréon and Misund 1999;Fréon et al 2005;Fairweather et al 2006a;van der Lingen et al 2006). Such occurrences could impact on the effectiveness of fisheries management in that (a) the Introduction allocated TAC for each species is not fully utilised and (b) there is the potential for undesirable practices such as high-grading, dumping and discarding (Barnes 1999;Fairweather et al 2006b;DAFF 2012).…”