Hake Fisheries
South African hake stocks are targeted by four separate commercial fisheries, a hake deep sea trawl fishery, a hake inshore trawl fishery, hake long line fishery and a hake handline fishery.
South Africa manages each of the four hake fisheries as part of a "hake collective". In terms of the MLRA a "global" TAC for hakes is set annually by the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. Of the global hake TAC a reserve to cover by-catch in the horse mackerel fishery is set aside prior to distribution among the hake fishing sectors. Currently the global hake TAC (after deduction of the horse mackerel by-catch reserve) is distributed among the deep-sea trawl, inshore trawl, hake lone line and hake handline fishery sectors without regard to the hake species split in the respective fishery sectors. In terms of that arrangement, 83% is allocated to deep-sea trawl, 6% to inshore trawl and 10% is shared between hake long line and hake handline. However, a sectoral allocation procedure that takes cognisance of the species taken by that sector and the contribution of that species to the global TAC may have to be developed in order to match hake exploitation to the productivity of the two hake species.
The hake fisheries are currently managed in terms of a conservative management strategy as current biological information indicates that South African hake stocks may be overexploited. In addition, South Africa's fisheries department, Marine and Coastal Management failed in 2005 to carry out a hake trawl survey for the first time since TAC's were set. This failure has resulted in a crucial break in the trawl time series data and would require significant reductions in the TAC over the coming years in compliance with NEMA's section 2 principle on precautionary management.
South African hake stocks are targeted by four separate commercial fisheries, a hake deep sea trawl fishery, a hake inshore trawl fishery, hake long line fishery and a hake handline fishery.
South Africa manages each of the four hake fisheries as part of a "hake collective". In terms of the MLRA a "global" TAC for hakes is set annually by the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. Of the global hake TAC a reserve to cover by-catch in the horse mackerel fishery is set aside prior to distribution among the hake fishing sectors. Currently the global hake TAC (after deduction of the horse mackerel by-catch reserve) is distributed among the deep-sea trawl, inshore trawl, hake lone line and hake handline fishery sectors without regard to the hake species split in the respective fishery sectors. In terms of that arrangement, 83% is allocated to deep-sea trawl, 6% to inshore trawl and 10% is shared between hake long line and hake handline. However, a sectoral allocation procedure that takes cognisance of the species taken by that sector and the contribution of that species to the global TAC may have to be developed in order to match hake exploitation to the productivity of the two hake species.
The hake fisheries are currently managed in terms of a conservative management strategy as current biological information indicates that South African hake stocks may be overexploited. In addition, South Africa's fisheries department, Marine and Coastal Management failed in 2005 to carry out a hake trawl survey for the first time since TAC's were set. This failure has resulted in a crucial break in the trawl time series data and would require significant reductions in the TAC over the coming years in compliance with NEMA's section 2 principle on precautionary management.
view Hake TAC 08 F.pdf