The application of a management procedure to regulate the directed and bycatch fishery of South African sardine sardinops sagax

The South African sardine Sardinops sagax resource is subjected to both directed fishing that targets adult fish, and bycatch of both juvenile and adult fish taken in the directed fisheries for anchovy Engraulis capensis and round herring Etrumeus whiteheadi. Two separate TACs (Total Allowable Catch) for sardine are calculated in the management procedures considered. The first is a directed TAC linked to sardine abundance, and the second is a bycatch TAC with an "anchovy" component coupled to the anchovy population dynamics as a proportion of the anchovy TAC, plus a "round herring" component reflecting a fixed tonnage independent of round herring abundance. Requirements from the pelagic industry, such as a minimum economically viable annual directed catch and a maximum percentage decrease in the directed TAC that could be tolerated from year to year are also incorporated. The selection of a single management procedure for implementation is based on the comparison of performance statistics such as risk of ...