A preliminary investigation of abaloneHaliotis midaeresources along the Transkei coast, South Africa

Abstract

Abalone Haliotis midae populations have been exploited commercially off South Africa's Western Cape since 1949. More recently, fisheries for H. midae have developed along the east coast of South Africa, but there is very little information on the extent of the abalone stocks there. No H. midae are found north of the Mbashe River, but mean density between Wavecrest and the Mbashe River was 0,17 abalone·m−2 of reef and the highest density was 0,84 abalone·m−2 of reef. These densities are probably optimum habitat densities rather than average densities. Densities were generally lower at the northern end of the abalone range, but differences between the north and the south were not significant. At the northern limit, the population consisted mainly of small abalone. There was no significant difference in the numbers of abalone caught per diver per diving hour at the different stations, but catch rate (cpue) by mass of abalone was higher in the south. Highest cpue was 55 abalone (25 kg whole mass) per diver pe...