The theme of the symposium is “An assessment of the line-fishery a decade after the Emergency”. You will recall that the Emergency declared in 2000 allowed the then Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism to reduce the effort in the line-fishery drastically, in the face of evidence of stock collapse and unsustainable rates of exploitation. We now intend to examine the effect of this and accompanying changes. Other topics that fall under line-fish research will also be considered, as we aim to accommodate all scientists working in the field.
Call for presentations and papers
The Marine Line-fish Research Group (MLRG) will host the next Line-fish Symposium from the 16th to 20th April 2012 at Geelbek, in Langebaan.
Thirteen years would have elapsed since the last Line-fish Symposium, which was held near Arniston in April 1999 (see MANN, B.Q. (ed.) 1999 – Proceedings of the Third Southern African Marine Linefish Symposium. 28 April – 1 May 1999, Arniston, Western Cape. SANCOR Occ. Rep. 5: 159pp).
All scientists and students with an interest in the line-fishery, including the biological, social and economic aspects, are invited to submit titles for oral or poster presentations. These will be considered by a specially appointed scientific committee.
The theme of the symposium is “An assessment of the line-fishery a decade after the Emergency”. You will recall that the Emergency declared in 2000 allowed the then Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism to reduce the effort in the line-fishery drastically, in the face of evidence of stock collapse and unsustainable rates of exploitation. We now intend to examine the effect of this and accompanying changes.
Other topics that fall under line-fish research will also be considered, as we aim to accommodate all scientists working in the field.
All contributors will be requested to submit a written draft of their presentations for inclusion in the workshop proceedings, in keeping with past tradition. Deadlines and manuscript formats will be communicated to you in good time.
We also intend to have contributors submit full scientific papers on line-fish for peer-review and publication in a special issue or suite of papers in the African Journal of Marine Science. These papers will need to be submitted at the time of the symposium.
Line-fish researchers are therefore asked to think about contributions. Intentions (with titles) to present at the symposium and in the African Journal of Marine Science will need to be made to Colin Attwood by email by the 30th November 2011.
