A summary of the South African sardine fishery

Sardine is an important target of the South African purse-seine fishery, the largest commercial fishery in South Africa (by landed mass). This fishery, initially established on the West Coast, but with some subsequent infrastructure development on the South Coast, has until recently during the past decade been under pressure because of low biomass levels, particularly off the West Coast, following a period of prolonged poor recruitment, reduced Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and frequent changes in the spatial distribution of the resource. The survey estimate of biomass has, however, increased from 250 000 t in 2020 to just over 1 million tonnes by early 2024. This most recent estimate is above the long-term (1984-2022) average of 820 000t for this species. Frequent distributional changes whereby the biomass is located primarily on the West Coast or primarily on the South Coast may be linked to processes related to differential recruitment and growth of components of the population. The population had been hypothesized to consist of three components (previously termed western, southern and eastern components), but is now considered to comprise two stocks, one cool temperate (Atlantic Ocean ancestry) and the other warm temperate (Indian Ocean ancestry). Given the predominantly west-coast-based location of sardine processing infrastructure, exploitation levels on the West Coast have been high relative to the South Coast, particularly during years when most of the biomass was located on the South Coast. This necessitated the implementation of spatial management to promote both a healthy ecosystem and a more soundly managed resource. Research is currently underway to model a revised population stock structure. This document summarises the history of the fishery, the historical and current abundance levels of the resource and data used in its assessment and management.