Measuring the contribution of ecological composition and functional services of ecosystems to the dynamics of KwaZulu-Natal coast fisheries

摘要

This study extended a bio-economic fishery model to establish an explicit link between coastal and estuarineecosystems ecological composition (biodiversity) and functional (nutrient supply) attributes and the dynamicsand productivity of KZN coastal fisheries. Results confirmed the importance and strong contribution of the testedecological attributes. In-sample simulation indicates that current fishing efforts and harvest rates are sustainable,but are sensitive to changes in nutrient influx and rainfall. This confirms the need to modify conventionalfisheriesmodels to include environmental variables as additional predictors of fish stocks in addition to historicalcatch records and catch effort for management and control of fishing efforts and permits. This study providedconfirmation of the strong linkage between nutrient levels and productivity of coastal fisheries thus enablinginvestigation of runoff and rainfall related climate change effects on the KZN fisheries.