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With strong political will, the three coastal states of Angola, Namibia and South Africa have demonstrated that sustainable development of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) is feasible. In this context, the three member states of the Benguela Current Commission have adopted a multi-sectorial LME approach tor ensuring long-term conservation while balancing social, economic and environmental benefits.

The signing of the Benguela Current Convention in March 2013 ushered in a new era of south–south collaboration between the three southern African countries of Angola, Namibia and South Africa towards the ecosystem-based governance of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME). The three developing countries have collaborated since the 1990s to develop a common vision for improved understanding and management of the priority transboundary environmental problems that threaten the resilience and robustness of the BCLME. What started with modest scientific collaboration developed organically into a holistic approach to ocean management; this was as a result of consistent support from the governments of the three countries and a number of development partners. The result is the signing and ratification of the Benguela Current Convention – the first legal framework in the world to be based on the LME approach to ocean governance. This paper traces the genesis of collaboration between the three BCLME countries in the adoption and implementation of the LME approach to ocean governance.

The achievements of the Benguela Current Convention (BCC) in the implementation of ecosystem-based management (EBM) for the sustainable development of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) are highlighted. Ecosystem-based natural science and social science assessments are providing a solid foundation for the management of goods and services in the BCLME through the implementation of the Benguela Current Convention − the world's first large marine ecosystem (LME) governance body.

Fisheries resources of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) are critically important to the socio-economic well-being of the people of Angola, Namibia and South Africa. Their high degree of environmental vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining a healthy ecosystem by increasing its resilience to the impacts of anthropogenic and natural forcing. Conflicting objectives in fisheries management processes between the biological sustainability of the stocks and socio-economic gains of the fishers and the economy in general, are some of the challenges facing the BCLME. In this paper, an overview and description of the fisheries yields from major resources of the BCLME is provided, using time series catch data, with discussions on how these are affected by climate variability and/or change. Data were sourced from previous syntheses, reports on the state of fisheries resources, and various national databases. Results indicate that, although major fisheries yields in the BCLME are currently much lower than their historical past, catches have in general been stable during the past two decades. Currently, there appears to be no clear evidence of the impacts of climate change on the fisheries resources in the BCLME, although some changes have been observed, but such impacts may be masked by highly variable and complex nature of this LME. However, through the Benguela Current Convention (BCC), the three coastal states are focused on ensuring that the shared commercially important fish stocks are jointly monitored, assessed and managed, through the implementation of adaptive fisheries management plans for priority shared fish resources based on ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) principles.