title: Fish, fishers and fisheries of the Western Indian Ocean: their diversity and status. A preliminary assessment.
abstract: The Western Indian Ocean represents ca. 8% of the world's oceans but generates only 4% of the global industrial catch. This region is also home to a great proportion of the world's population, living in developing countries with a high dependence on marine resources. Trends in the declared landings of marine resources from the Western Indian Ocean suggest that this ocean may be approaching its maximum harvest potential of ca. 4 Mt per annum, but underreported artisanal catches complicate more-detailed analyses. There is a growing demand for 'new resources' to make up for declining stocks, while several large fluctuations are linked to changes in market demand and over exploitation. Artisanal fisheries in the region are highly diversified. Preliminary results are presented of a project that evaluates the conservation status and sustainable management practices in 168 different fishery types. It is concluded that the majority of the region's artisanal fisheries are not adequately supported by scientific information and that management strategies need to be improved if the enormous development challenges of East African countries are to be met.
authors.affiliation: Oceanographic Research Institute, PO Box 10712, Marine Parade 4056, Durban, South Africa. rudy@ori.org.za
authors.forename: Rudy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van der Elst
authors.forename: Bernadine
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Everett
authors.forename: Narriman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jiddawi
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mwatha
authors.forename: Paula Santana
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Afonso
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Boulle
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D005398:Fisheries / Q000379:methods*; D005399:Fishes / Q000254:growth & development*; D006801:Humans; D019156:Indian Ocean