Because of the mobility of the fishing gear and the greater capacity of most of the vessels, that fleet operates more widely, from the Angolan border in the north to the border with South Africa in the south (Fig. 2), at depths of 200 to 1000 m. However, some 70% of the effort concentrates at depths of 200 to 400 m and effort decreases to 8% at depths >600 m. Between 2003 and 2005, 40% of all trawl sets were made in the central area (Table 1); more than half of these were in the area between Henties Bay and Walvis Bay.