The process of reviewing the Operational Management Procedure (OMP) used to manage the South African hake fishery is underway and a panel of international experts has contributed a number of recommendations that will strengthen and improve the review.
The experts – Sean Cox of Canada, Malcolm Haddon of Australia, Daniel Howell of Norway and Andre Punt of the United States – are acknowledged experts in the fields of quantitative fishery science, stock assessment, ecosystem modelling and statistical analysis of data. They led discussion at the International Fisheries Stock Assessment Review Workshop at the University of Cape Town (UCT) late last year. The annual workshop, which is convened by Emeritus Professor Doug Butterworth, head of the Marine Resource Assessment and Management (MARAM) Group at UCT’s Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF). It performs a peer review function by providing local fisheries scientists with an opportunity to subject their stock assessment techniques and findings to the scrutiny of international experts in the field.
This year’s workshop focused on the assessment and management of hake, sardine and rock lobster, which are among South Africa’s most valuable fisheries. When considering the management of the hake fishery, the experts made a number of suggestions pertinent to the review of the OMP that is used to manage the fishery.
OMPs are used to manage most of South Africa’s major commercial fisheries. They utilise pre-determined sets of information – such as industry catch records and the results of annual research surveys – and apply a set of pre-determined harvest control rules to recommend an annual total allowable catch (TAC). They are generally revised every three to five years so that they may accommodate changing fishing practices and new knowledge about the behaviour or composition of fish stocks.
The OMP currently used for the South African hake fishery is known as OMP-14 because it was adopted by the Demersal Scientific Working Group of the DAFF in 2014 and has been used to set TACs for all the hake fisheries, including hake deep-sea trawl and hake inshore trawl fisheries. It is currently under review and will be implemented in time to recommend the TACs for the 2019 fishing season.
“The South African trawl fishery for hake is acknowledged as one of the best managed hake fisheries in the world,” said SADSTIA Secretary, Dr Johann Augustyn.
“We welcome the technical expertise and input of the international panel of experts and we are confident that the process of updating the OMP and adopting OMP-18 will further refine the management of the hake fishery.”
The South African hake fishery has been certified as sustainable and well-managed by the Marine Stewardship Council since 2004. It is the only fishery in Africa to have achieved such recognition. The MSC conducts annual surveillance audits of the fishery and is expected to embark on re-assessment of the fishery for a further five years in 2019.
- The International Review Panel Report for the 2017 International Fisheries Stock Assessment Workshop is available here (technical document).
- A non-technical summary (PowerPoint presentation) is available here.
