Since the study on the Port Alfred/Kenton-on-Sea/Boknes linefishery by Hecht and Tilney (1989) there have been substantive changes to the linefish management environment in South Africa. Using the Port Alfred linefishery as a model, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the linefish management regulations that were implemented by Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) since 1992, and to assess the behaviour and 'status' of the fishery in response to these changes. Changes to both the licensing structure and catch regulations have had a significant effect on the functioning of many aspects of the Port Alfred linefishery (fishing effort, catch composition, cpue) as well as on the structure of the fishery and its socio-economic profile. Overall commercial cpue decreased from 1985 to 1998. Since 1998 there has been a significant increase in cpue (from 2.3 Kg.fisher⁻¹ hour⁻¹ to a peak of 4.8 Kg.fisher⁻¹.hour⁻¹ in 2005. This was attributed to good catches of geelbek, particularly in 2005, 2007 and 2008 (during these years geelbek contributed an average of 35% to the total landings in comparison to a mean contribution of II % between 1985 and 2004). However, size spectra analysis suggests that the increase in overall cpue since 1998 misrepresents the actual status of the fishery. If geelbek is excluded from the analysis on the grounds that it is the only species in the fishery that is highly migratory, susceptible to recruitment fluctuations and it does not contribute to the catches on a year round basis, then the results suggest that the fishery is still in a declining phase despite the 80% reduction in commercial effort and numerous stricter catch regulations (e.g. size/bag limits). Furthermore, the cpue of silver kob, which has been the "mainstay" species of the fishery, has consistently declined over the last 23 year period (from 1.69 Kg.fisher⁻1 .hour1 in 1986 to 0.86 Kg.fisher⁻1.hour⁻1in 2007). The substantial reduction in commercial effort in the fishery from 33 vessels in 2001 to 13 in 2002 resulted in a shift from commercial to recreational fishing. The number of active commercial vessels in Port Alfred alone decreased from 29 in 1989 (Hecht 1993) to four in 2008. During the same timeframe, the number of regularly active recreational vessels had almost doubled (16 in 1989 to 26 in 2008). Despite the greater number of recreational boats in the fishery they only landed approximately half the average yearly tonnage of the commercial vessels (21,5 and 44,7 tonnes,annum-I , respectively) between 2006 and 2008, This was ascribed to the differences in catch regulations for the two sectors, Furthermore, it was speculated that increasing operating costs and narrowing profit margins have contributed to lower levels of compliance in both the commercial and recreational sectors since 2006, For example, 16% of silver kob landed during 2006-08 were under the minimum size, Despite the changes made to the regulations since 1998 and the 60,6% reduction In legislated commercial effort in the fishery between 2001 and 2002 it was concluded that the fishery has continued to decline, Except for the good recruitment of geelbek (which may be due to regulatory changes made in 1992) the changes in the management environment have had no measurable positive effect on this fishery, It is recommended that commercial effort should not be allowed to increase beyond the current number of active boats, that there should be an area restriction on all commerciallinefish vessels, that the current recreational bag limit for silver kob should be re-assessed, there should also be a concerted and nationally funded effort to educate recreational anglers about the merits of catch and release, and the frequency of catch inspections of both sectors should be increased, / KMBT_363 / Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in