Drift routes of Cape hake eggs and larvae in the southern Benguela Current system

Remarkably low mtDNA control region diversity in an abundant demersal fish

“…Such philopatry may well account for some of the population genetic structure recovered. So far, maturity studies (Kunene -Port Alfred/Port Elizabeth) and plankton sampling between Cape Agulhas and Hondeklip Bay have identified only one M. paradoxus spawning ground between Cape Agulhas and St. Helena Bay (Kainge et al, 2007;Stenevik et al, 2008;von der Heyden et al, 2007b). However, mature fish are scarce in the bottom trawls during surveys, commercial data are scant and largely anecdotal and plankton sampling is limited in area covered and time sampled.…”

Achievements and lessons learned from the Benguela Environment, Fisheries, Interaction and Training (BENEFIT) research programme

“…Advances in genetic techniques for distinguishing between M. capensis and M. paradoxus ichthyoplankton, developed from material collected during these surveys through a BCLME project (von der Heyden et al 2007), have enabled species-specific distributions in hake ichthyoplankton to be distinguished for the first time. From this it has been concluded that differences in the crossshelf distribution of M. capensis and M. paradoxus ichthyoplankton probably lead to differences in their drift routes, and thereby to different nursery areas for the two species (Stenevik et al 2008).…”

“…Work on relating distributions of hake adults, juveniles and ichthyoplankton in the surveys to environmental influences is still in progress, and is yielding important new information on, for example, environmental influences on the dispersal of the ichthyoplankton and the separation of M. capensis and M. paradoxus nursery areas (Stenevik et al 2008). Advances are also expected in attempts to relate the distribution of large jellyfish, gobies and mesopelagic fish (including their ichthyoplankton) to the hydrobiological environment using the extensive environmental datasets collected during the surveys on these species.…”

Estimating local settler–recruit relationship parameters for complex spatially explicit models

“…Hake reproduction occurs throughout the year, essentially on the shelf edge of South Africa (Botha, 1986;Hutchings et al, 2002), primarily from June to October (Crawford et al, 1987;Grote et al, 2007). Hake larvae are then carried by currents to nearshore recruitment areas (Hutchings et al, 2002;Grote et al, 2007;Stenevik et al, 2008). Juvenile hakes stay in recruitment areas for around 9 months (Payne, 1989).…”