|
Marine life
Fisheries Guide by the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity
Marine and coastal resources are under increasing pressure from commercial,
subsistence and recreational fishers. Growing demands have brought new
challenges with respect to management and sustainable utilization of these
resources. This booklet serves to provide some biological and ecological
background to the commonly caught or harvested species along the South African
coast.
Fishing and collecting permits are required by law. These permits and further
information on size limits, daily limits (how many per day) and bag limits (how
many per person) are available at Post Offices, local Nature Conservation
authorities and Marine and Coastal Management. Note: Recreational fishing
permits do not allow you to sell your catch.
An estuary is formed where a river meets the sea. Some estuaries are
permanently open to the sea, while others seldom open. The salinity (saltiness)
of estuaries can vary greatly and depends on the mixing of the sea with
freshwater from the river. Estuaries are constantly changing and are influenced
by the tide, waves and rainfall. The big changes in temperature, salinity and
oxygen concentration make estuaries a very harsh environment to live in.
Despite this, many types of plants and animals have adapted to live in
estuaries. Plants such as algae, eelgrass, saltmarsh plants, mangroves and
reeds thrive in this environment. Estuaries are important nursery areas for
many fish and almost 100 species of fish are partially or completely dependent
on estuaries at some stage of their lives. Common estuarine fish species
include the spotted grunter, dusky kob, Cape stumpnose and several species of
mullet. Many birds depend on estuaries for food. These include fish-eaters such
as the fish eagle, herons and cormorants, invertebrate-eaters such as flamingos
and weed-eaters such as red-knobbed coots. Estuarine environments are
threatened by the construction of dams, agriculture, property development and
pollution.
Click
here to download the Fisheries Guide
The guide is in Adobe PDF format.
|