A cautious fisheries management policy in South Africa: the fisheries for rock lobster

In South Africa, political emancipation has resulted in a new fisheries pol icy which is embodied in the Marine Living Resources Act of 1998. The pilla rs of the new policy are sustainability, equity and stability within the in dustry. We look particularly at a suite of mainly accessible species, the r ock lobsters (truly spiny lobsters), at their management, at control measur es, at realities of resource status and harvesting, at naturally occurring ecosystem stimuli, and investigate whether the policy can achieve what it a ims to do, to provide more for more South Africans at levels at least equal to what they do today. Put simply, are the political aims and the sustaina bility aims of the new policy mutually achievable? (C) 1999 Elsevier Scienc e Ltd. All rights reserved.