South Africa’s Recreational Shark Fishery
South Africa
Key Objective:
To provide an up-to-date quantification of organised recreational elasmobranch fishing in South Africa. Through scientific quantification the effects of stressors species-specific post-release survival rates there is the potential of altering rules and regulations in the club angling fishery. The results of the project will be submitted to the Department of Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) towards better co-management of recreational and commercial fisheries in South Africa.
Why this is important:
As recreational angler permit holders far exceed commercial fishing rights holders, the quantification of species overlaps and species-specific post-release survival rate of caught and released elasmobranchs is invaluable toward co-management strategies.
Background
In 2010 the South African Shark Conservancy (SASC) was invited by SASAA to attend the World Angling Championship in Langebaan. SASAA president, Pierre du Plessis expressed SASAA’s desire to become involved with SASC in order to minimise impacts and gather valuable data towards better understanding and better management of elasmobranch populations in South Africa. To date SASC has attended six competitions and tagged 226 elasmobranchs.
Aims and Objectives
This project therefore aims to quantify:
- The socio-economic value of the fishery
- The knowledge, behaviour and attitude of recreational elasmobranch fishers in SA through targeted surveys
- Species overlap between recreational and commercial fisheries for improving co-management strategies
- Catch per unit effort fluctuations and changes in species composition over time
- Species-specific metabolic and physiological responses to angling stressors
The outcomes will include:
- A training programme to amend angler behaviour and mitigate impacts on elasmobranchs
- An online database to promote angler involvement in science, conservation and management
- Improved scientific understanding of fishery-specific impacts
Project leader:
Tamzyn Zweig
Partners:
South African Shark Conservancy
Related threat:
Years funded:
2012
RecFishSA 2012 Highlights
— .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 05 April, 2013
Sadly along with the South African summer the RecFishSA 2012 tagging season has come to an end. By way of a little background for any new RecFishSA blog readers: In 2010 the South African Shark Conservancy (SASC) formed an affiliation…
RecFishSA Scientists and Sport anglers:working together at the Two Oceans Big Catch Bronzie Festival
— .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 21 January, 2013
In December 2012 SASC’s RecFishSA team attended the Two Oceans Angling Club Big Catch Bronzie Festival. Organized by the Two Oceans Angling Club and sponsored by Big Catch Tackle Suppliers, the Bronzie Festival is open to any angler who has…
RecFishSA angling data collection to better understand catch and release shark angling
— .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 13 December, 2012
The SASC RecFishSA team have been pretty busy over the past few months. This is prime angling time in the Western Province, and we have had a great time tagging and gathering angling data to contribute to the post-release mortality…
RecFishSA’s West Coast field trip
— .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 31 October, 2012
In October the South African Shark Conservancy’s (SASC) RecFishSA team attended a Western Province Angling competition on the West Coast, South Africa. Approximately 200 rock and surf club anglers fished to accumulate points for their personal and club scorecards. SASC…
EDUCATING ANGLERS TO SAVE SHARKS
— .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 25 September, 2012
A survey conducted in 2007 estimated that recreational shore fishing in South Africa (SA) contributes approximately R2.5 billion annually to the economy (SADSAA 2007). This figure is an ballpark figure of ALL shore angling activity but the contribution of the…