Africa-Press – Liberia. Conservationists are warning that the government’s decision to reintroduce pilchard quotas threatens the fragile stock and could destabilise the Benguela marine ecosystem.
They say the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform’s recent decision is not supported by any scientific evidence, and warn that an impacted pilchard stock could crash the entire ecosystem.
This comes after the allocation of a 10 000-tonne ‘governmental objective’ pilchard quota.
Conservationist John Paterson says the consequences of opening up targeted fishing again could be dire.
“It will probably lead to the extinction of penguins and possibly some other species as well,” he says.
Paterson says pilchards play a vital role in the Benguela current ecosystem, which includes the four endangered species of seabird that occur nowhere else.
He says the perilous state of the pilchard population has contributed to the drastic decline of seabirds such as the African penguin and the Cape cormorant.
“Sardines (also known as pilchards) are probably the most important food source for everything in the ecosystem – from penguins to cormorants, gannets, seals, and other fish. Once they are removed from the system, there’s a severe food shortage. It’s upturned the ecosystem completely,” he says.
Paterson says Cape gannets have abandoned many of their breeding islands in Namibia. The productivity of the ecosystem as a whole is affected and biodiversity is decreasing, he says.
Fisheries minister Inge Zaamwani-Kamwi informed the parliament in June that the pilchard stock was estimated at 850 000 tonnes, a far cry from the 12 million present before the crash of the stock in the 1960s.
In the 2024 small pelagic fish species survey, a category that includes sardines, the ministry noted that the stock should be protected to continue recovering.
“Although there is a positive sign of a juvenile component of the recruitment observed in 2023 feeding into the 2024 biomass stock, the large fish need to be protected to breed and secure the survival of the species,” the report explains.
Jean-Paul Roux, a researcher who has contributed to a number studies on the topic, says sardines play a vital role in the functioning of the marine ecosystem, as well as in human food security and employment.
“There is a wealth of scientific studies around the world showing that small pelagic fish species (mainly sardines and anchovies) are key-stone species in the functioning of marine ecosystems like ours… and that if depleted, the entire ecosystem’s productivity declines, including commercial fish stocks, and endangered species, not only seabirds, go extinct.”
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