Despite increasing awareness of large-scale climate-driven distribution shifts in the marine environment, no study has linked rapid ocean warming to a shift in distribution and consequent hybridization of a marine fish species. This study describes rapid warming (0.8°C per decade) in the coastal waters of the Angola-Benguela Frontal Zone over the last three decades and a concomitant shift by a temperature sensitive coastal fish species (Argyrosomus coronus) southward from Angola into Namibia. In this context, rapid shifts in distribution across Economic Exclusive Zones will complicate the management of fishes, particularly when there is a lack of congruence in the fisheries policy between nations. Evidence for recent hybridization between A. coronus and a congener, A. inodorus, indicate that the rapid shift in distribution of A. coronus has placed adults of the two species in contact during their spawning events. Ocean warming may therefore revert established species isolation mechanisms and alter the evolutionary history of fishes. While the consequences of the hybridization on the production of the resource remain unclear, this will most likely introduce additional layers of complexity to their management.

No abstract

ABSTRACT. As a legacy of Namibia's colonial past, the country inherited severely depleted fish resources at the time of independence. Today, Namibia's fisheries are almost exclusively industrial. The hake fishery is the country's most important fishery, which was restructured from a pre-independence foreign fishery into one that is characterized by locally based, vertically integrated fishing and processing companies. It is widely believed that Namibia has successfully combined the neoliberal economics that have been characteristic of the development narratives since the 1980s with welfarist goals for poverty reduction. However, there are strong indications that the fish stocks are declining, while the high economic expectations for the fishery have not been fulfilled. Rather, it seems that the Namibian government's attempt to combine economic neoliberalism and social equity has, in fact, created a developmental dilemma. We track the environmental impact of the historic exploitation of Namibia's fish resources and examine this dilemma and its effects on Namibia's fisheries management.

No abstract

This study reviews the nature and outcomes of policies, incentives and management procedures in the Namibian hake industry from independence in 1990 to the present. It is argued that, although based on individual quotas, Namibia's post-independence management procedures have conflicted with the State's commitment to efficiency. Its 'Namibianization' policy and its attempt to increase domestic control of the hake industry both increased fishing effort and depressed hake stocks below economically optimal levels. Despite current over-capacity, government continues to reward new investments. Industry inefficiency has been further compounded by inconsistent rights allocation policies and the fragmentation of quota shares, which have reduced right-holders' sense of stewardship over the resource. If the resulting loss of rents is to be reversed, the present policies and the associated perverse incentives will need to be re-evaluated.