Several strategies used by the gobiid fish Caffrogobius caffer enabling it to colonise the harsh intertidal environment in the eastern Cape were studied. Q. caffer is opportunistic in its use of available food resources and feeds throughout the day with a slight tendency towards crepuscular peaks of feeding activity. The system of space utilisation used by C. caffer is so organised that all individuals of the population have access to patchily distributed food resources. Current velocities occurring over high tide limit the movements of Qo caffer and interpool movements occur only during the initial stages of a rising tide and in the final stages of an ebbing tide when the current velocities are below the tolerance limit of Q. caffer. The epifauna associated with the alga Ulva rigida, which forms an important constituent of the diet of the intermediate size classes of Q. caffer, was examined and it appears that this epifauna is an important source of food to Q. caffer. This report presents the results of the first detailed study of the biology of an intertidal fish in southern Africa.

Global trends in commercially valuable teleost fisheries point to substantial deterioration in population size, offering limited potential for increased harvests. Consequently a shift in focus towards alternative fisheries has increased fishing effort towards targeting chondrichthyans as a possible solution to meet global demands. The life-history traits of chondrichthyans make them poor candidates for resolving economic and nutritional security as these make them particularly vulnerable to anthromorphic influences. Current fisheries management approaches based on centralized government intervention have proved inadequate. This failure of current management approaches is often linked with poor co-operation by industry with government when collecting fishery-dependent data. As management decisions are based on quantitative estimates from fishery assessment modes data collected are often of poor quality. Co-management with its implied power-sharing arrangement between government and fishing communities has been proposed as a more realistic alternative. The motivation within industry to collect high quality data can only be created with a feeling of ownership. The decline in linefish species in South Africa has led to increased exploitation of demersal sharks such as Mustelus mustelus. Their status as one of the target and by-catch species of South Africa's shark fisheries necessitated resource assessment. Age, growth, maturity and mortality calculations for M mustelus were made from data collected from 1983-2006. The maximum observed age for M mustelus was 25 years. Estimated von Bertalanffy growth parameters from observed length-at-age for combined sexes, females and males were L∞ = 1946.16 mm TL, K = 0.08 year⁻' , to = -3.63 year⁻'; L∞ = 2202.21mm, K = 0.05 year⁻', to = 4.67 years; and L∞ = 1713.19 mm TL, K = 0.08 year⁻' and to = -4.36 years, respectively. Instantaneous total mortality (Z) was estimated at 0.16 y⁻', whilst natural mortality (M) for M mustelus was estimated at 0.05 y⁻'. The age and length at 50% maturity was determined for combined sexes, females and males at 1216 mm TL corresponding to an age of 9.93 years, 1234 mm (TL) and 10.75 years, and 1106 mm TL and 9.1 years respectively. The smoothhound shark resource off the south-eastern and south-western Cape coast was assessed by three dynamic pool models; yield per recruit, spawner biomass per recruit and an extended yield and spawner biomass per recruit. Due to the longevity of elasmobranches the per-recruit model was extended over a 20 year time-frame to simulate resource responses to management options. Fo.1 was estimated as 0.034 year⁻' and F MAX was estimated as 0.045 year⁻'. FsB50 was estimated as 0.031. The extended per-recruit model tested the outcome of different management scenarios, Size and effort control showed the least probability of pristine biomass falling below 20% of current levels in 20 years (where selectivity was set at 3 years). The replacement yield model showed that the average catches over the past decade are 2.5 times higher than the replacement yield is on the South Coast and 1.30 on the West Coast. A more realistic level optimising yield would be at 0.05 with a selection pattern at 3 years, where the probability of the biomass falling to below 20% of pristine pre-exploited levels in twenty years becomes negligible. A comparison of the models showed that current catches need to be halved for exploitation of smoothhound sharks to be sustainable. The results of this study indicate a need for a management intervention for M mustelus in South Africa with regards to potential overexploitation and collection of quality data for further assessments. A demersal identification key was developed as part of this study, which should aid monitoring officials in accurately identifying shark logs for collecting data. This study showed how adopting a management plan with the inclusion of comanagement concepts would improve the quality of data collected and increase monitoring of fishing activities. The inclusion of co-management is possible due to the unique bottle neck created by few demersal shark processing facilities actively exporting shark. A fishery management plan was compiled proposing several management options including size and effort controls.