Towards the development of environmental indices for the Namibian shelf, with particular reference to fisheries management

Abstract

The Namibian Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources has the task of collecting and providing relevant oceanographic information for management of their fisheries. However, quality information is difficult
\nto provide because of the complexity of the processes
\ninvolved in the Namibian marine ecosystem. Nonetheless,
\nthere are oceanographic data available that can
\ncontribute to fisheries management by improving the
\ngeneral understanding of important oceanographic
\nprocesses related to fisheries. The focus of this paper is
\non the development of simple environmental indices
\nthat can serve as a measurement or proxy of the state
\nor intensity of certain important oceanographic processes
\nor variables for temporal comparison. These
\nindices relate to oceanographic processes such as upwelling,
\nfrontal movements, anoxic bottom conditions
\nand biological indicators, which can be updated on a regular basis to provide a long-term perspective of the particular processes to management and marine scientists.