Fish
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A Hottentot seabream seeks shelter amid kelp fronds. Hottentot seabream are among dozens of species found only on the Southern African coastline and nowhere else in the world.
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A blue shark caught on a traditional linefishing boat in False Bay near Cape Town, South Africa.
A hottentot seabream gets up close with the camera.
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A red roman and a pyjama shark swim side by side in Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area. False Bay is a real biodiversity hotspot owing to its position at the intersection of two major ocean currents.
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A pinnacle swarming with life near Gura Ici, Indonesia.
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Hottentot seabream are one of the few reef fishes that are still encountered in large numbers in False Bay. Most species are slow growing and highly resident, making them extremely susceptible to overfishing.
In December 1968, Geoff Fridgeon posed for a picture holding a white musselcracker he had speared off Dalebrook beach. A fish this size would have been close to thirty years old. Forty-six years later he stands in the same spot posing with an enlargement of the picture. Today, reef fishes of this size and age have all but disappeared from the bay, and the white musselcracker is near threatened with extinction.
White steenbras in Ocean Basket Kelp Forest Exhibit, Two Oceans Aquarium, Cape Town.
Roman and hottentot seabream are abundant in the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area. Although South Africa’s fishing regulations are far from trouble-free, marine protected areas are proving to be the light at the end of the tunnel for the future of the country’s iconic reef fishes and its growing group of fishermen.
Hundreds of hottentot seabream aggregate in a cavern on one of False Bay’s colorful rocky reefs, locally known as Atlantis. Hottentot seabream are found only on the coastline of Southern Africa and nowhere else in the world.
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Colorful reef fish called roman swim in a kelp forest in False Bay, South Africa. Two major ocean currents meet here, spawning some of the most diverse and unique marine life on the planet.
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Ternate, Indonesia
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A large roman swims in one of False Bay’s no-take zones. Marine protected areas are proving to be the light at the end of the tunnel for the future of the country’s iconic reef fishes and the people that depend on them.
Red stumpnose in Ocean Basket Kelp Forest Exhibit, Two Oceans Aquarium, Cape Town.
Roman and Hottentot seabream gather around a baited underwater video system. Stereo cameras allow scientists to estimate the size and age of the fish drawn to the bait.
A hundred years ago, this is what a dive into False Bay could have looked like: dozens of species of reef fishes, some of them growing over thirty years old and up to two meters long. Today the only place where one can get a similar view is in the kelp forest exhibit of Cape Town's Two Oceans Aquarium. Decades of hook-and-line fishing and spearfishing have caused a shocking decline in the resident reef fishes of False Bay.
A red roman and hottentot seabream in Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area. Populations of this seabream have been in decline from overfishing, but show a strong recovery in no-take marine protected areas.
A Red Roman in Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area. Populations of this seabream have been in decline from overfishing, but show a strong recovery in no-take marine protected areas.
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A roman caught near Cape Point. Because roman are born female and change sex later in life, intensive fishing skews their sex ratio, hurting a population’s ability to bounce back.
A large hottentot seabream swims by fronds of sea bamboo in Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area.
Speared Hottentot seabream (Pachymetopon blochii), Smitswinkelbaai.
Hottentot seabream, pyjama shark, and pufadder shyshark gather around a baited underwater video system in operation. Stereo cameras allow scientists to estimate the size and age of the fish drawn to the bait.
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Cape Town chef Stefan Marais prepares a yellowtail. An ambassador for the South African Sustainable Seafood Initiative, he runs two restaurants that serve only sustainably caught fish.
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Ternate, Indonesia
Catch of the day, smooth-hound sharks are landed without heads in Kalk Bay Harbor in False Bay near Cape Town, South Africa.
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A Hottentot seabream shot with a speargun. Spearfishing and hook-and-line fishing have caused the collapse of many of False Bay’s fish stocks, despite being selective fishing methods.
Roman, Hottentot seabream, pyjama shark, and pufadder shyshark gather around a baited underwater video system. Stereo cameras allow scientists to estimate the size and age of the fish drawn to the bait.
Hottentot seabream swim by fronds of split-fan kelp in Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area, False Bay, South Africa.
A Red Roman in Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area. Populations of this seabream have been in decline from overfishing, but show a strong recovery in no-take marine protected areas.
South Africa’s growing legion of recreational fishermen numbered 900,000 in 2007. It forms South Africa’s largest fishery, and fisheries scientists hold them responsible for the decline of many fish species.
False clown anemonefish in carpet sea anemone. Ternate, Indonesia.
Ternate, Indonesia
Ternate, Indonesia
