Seabirds as consumers in the southern Benguela region

Abstract

Estimates of consumption of fish by breeding seabirds in the southern Benguela region converge on 50–60 × 103 tons of food per year. Total annual avian consumption of food is approximately 15,5 × 104 tons, 74 per cent being taken by species which feed on pelagic prey and most of the rest by species which frequently feed on offal at demersal trawlers. Avian consumption is similar in magnitude to that of Cape fur seals and to the catch of the commercial fishery in the southern Benguela region, but far less than consumption by snoek, squid, and, probably, sharks and jellyfish.