The influence of selected environmental factors on lobster(Jasus Lalandii) catches of southern Namibia

Abstract

De Beers Marine (Pty) Ltd is a diamond exploration and mining company operating predominantly in the waters of southern Africa. De Beers marine currently has six sampling/ mining vessels operating off Southern Namibia. Each vessel collects meteorological / Oceanographic data on a four-hourly basis( pressure, wind direction and force, swell height, temperature, air and sea surface and visibility). The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources of Namibia's catch and effort data for the lobster fishery were analysed using the meteorological/ oceanographic data for the November / December period. The aim of this study was to correlate the environmental data from one or more vessel against lobster catch and effort data for a number of years. Multiple regression analysis showed that Swell height explained 9.5% of the Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) variability. Temperature and Wind force were responsible for 3% of CPUE variability.