What Anglers Catch

Perhaps the most commonly cited 'global recreational catch' figures in the academic world, SA's included, are those by Steven J. Cooke and Ian G. Cowx from a 2004 paper titled "The Role of Recreational Fishing in Global Fish Crises". Marine and freshwater combined, per Annum: 47 Billion fish. The 36 % kept amounts to 11 Million metric Tons. Allegedly 12 % of the total global catch… Having already questioned the total global catch in my post "Fake News Fisheries" I decided to download the "Cooke and Cowx 2004" document and I quote:

"Assuming a global human population of 6.33 billion, similar extrapolations of Canadian recreational capture rates would suggest that 47.10 billion fish are landed on a global basis annually, of which 36.3 percent (17.09 billion fish) are harvested, weighing 10.86 million metric tons (assuming a mass of 0.635 kilograms per fish; US Department of Commerce 2003)."

A nonsensical extrapolation made by two respected scientists who acknowledged that "Furthermore, anglers exhibit complex behavior…" With 200 000 Km of coastline and 10 % of the world's freshwater reserves for its 35 Million population Canada has an exceptionally low density of conservation conscious anglers. Therefore it has the grade of fishing now that some countries never had and others had decades ago. Even with a  lower release ratio I would assume the global recreational take to be no more than half. Perhaps 5 Million Tons. Against an inclusive (of IUU and Anchovy) commercial haul of 120!

Sunset fishing at Lovers Lane, Gordons Bay. (Photo credits Gillian GB)

Here in South Africa the last national survey of the marine recreational fishery (by S. L. Brouwer, B. Q. Mann et al.) titled "A survey of the South African shore-angling fishery" was published 1997 in the South African Journal of Marine Science. Its findings led to the introduction of our national marine recreational permit system in 1998. All relevant studies since appear to have been confined to regions and/or competition angling records. According to the document: "The total effort for the South African shore fishery (excluding Transkei and Ciskei) was estimated at 3.2 million angler days'year". Cpue (catch per unit effort) ranged from 0,45 Kg (KZN) to 1,55 Kg (S.Cape) per angler day - see table below. "Total catch for the South African shore-angling fishery was estimated at 4.519.914 fish'year, or nearly 3 million kg·year". Further findings were  that "A large percentage of anglers admitted to disobeying linefish regulations (32%), except with regard to marine reserves (9%)" and that "Released fish were not included, because of the unreliability of angler reports, which can vary between 56 and 152% of the true catch".

Screen-shot, 'A survey of the SA shore-angling fishery', 'cpue'

In 2009/2010 a very thorough KZN survey was conducted by Stuart Dunlop of the ORI with cpue figures of 0,32 Kg or 0,82 fish per angler day (calculated to be 4,6 hours) - a 30 % decline in relation to the ('94 - '96) stats published in 1997. Total shore based catch was estimated to be 250 - 275 Tons p/a. The Dunlop survey also included boat angling data which showed - compared with the shore based results - a 15 fold increase in Kg per angler effort for recreational boat anglers and a 75 fold increase for commercial crews. Total boat based catch was estimated at 450 T for the recreationals, 250 T for charter boats plus approx. 800 Tons p/a for the commercial (ski) boats. There is little boat based - the 2015 Dickens study being limited to SADSAA records - or more recent shore based catch data available on the Cape coast which has likely seen a greater drop in catch per shore angler effort than Natal. And there you have it folks, while our catch statistics are patchy to say the least we don't have to rely on extrapolations of Canadian results.