Rhabdosargus globiceps is an important recreational and commercial linefish off the west and south coasts of South Africa (Bennett 1991, Sauer
et al. 1997) and is also taken as a bycatch by inshore trawlers (Japp
et al.1994) and beach-seine fishers (Lamberth
et al. 1994, 1995). In South Africa, the stock of
Rhabdosargus globiceps is considered to have collapsed with spawning biomass per recruit below 25% but the results of the analysis were speculative without a reliable measure of natural mortality (Arendse 2011). However, there is additional evidence that suggests that the stocks on the Southern Cape coast and on the west of Cape Peninsula, and Table Bay have collapsed (Attwood and Kerwath 2012). There are four separate stocks of
R. globiceps between Port Nolloth and the Kei River: Western Cape (Saldanah Bay), Southwestern Cape, Southern Cape and Southeastern Cape (Griffiths
et al. 2002). A comprehensive stock assessment has not been conducted on
R. globiceps; however, catch rates of commercial linefishers declined over the past 100 years by as much as 68% off the West Coast, 52% off the Southwestern Cape and 99.8% off the Southern Cape (Griffiths 2000). The severe decline in the Southern Cape is probably because the stock is also trawled in this area (Griffiths
et al. 2002). Recorded commercial catches have declined considerably since the late 1980s (NMLS unpublished data). Catch data from Angola and Namibia are limited for this species.
Commercial data show that since 2000 commercial fishing effort has declined dramatically in the South African line fishery from approximately 3,000 to 450 vessels in line with the long-term rights allocation in 2006 (Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 2012).
