Overview of the South African west coast rock lobster, hake and pelagic resources and fisheries

The commercial fishery for Jasus lalandii, the South African West Coast rock lobster, began in the late 1800s and at its peak in the early 1950s yielded an annual catch of 17 000t. Although this annual catch has dropped to only some 2000t over recent years, the fishery remains South Africa’s third most valuable in terms of landed value. Figure 1 illustrates the historic catch trend