Potential uncontrolled foreign fishing was addressed through the declaration of a 200-mile (322-km) exclusive economic zone in 1990. Namibia created a fisheries institute and put in place a research program involving regular ‘at sea’ surveys. Based on the high catch rates of previous decades, the government estimated that after a short (unspecified) period of recovery the hake stocks would support long-term sustainable catch levels of 250,000 to 300,000 tonnes (Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources 1991 as cited in Sherbourne 2010). The newly appointed Namibian scientists initially reduced catch limits to 60,000 tonnes but this was contested by some scientists, including South Africans, who “were stunned by the conservativism [sic] of the initial total allowable catch recommendation by the new government” (Ocean and Land Resource Assessment Consultants 2013). From the outset, then, there was scientific disagreement regarding the size of the resource and the anticipated rate of rebuilding: survey-based estimates indicated overexploitation, while estimates based on commercial catch and effort data indicated nearly pristine