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Report of the FAO Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish off Northwest Africa. Nouakchott, Mauritania, 21–30 April 2009. / Rapport du Groupe de travail de la FAO sur l’évaluation des petits pélagiques au large de l’Afrique nordoccidentale. Nouakchott, Mauritanie, 21-30 avril 2009.

Year of publication 2011

Pages 252

Author Fisheries and Aquaculture Management Division

Product type Book (series)

ISBN 9789250068824

Series title FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Report

Series number 2070-6987 - R965

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) The ninth meeting of the FAO Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish off Northwest Africa was held in Nouakchott, Mauritania, from 21 to 30 April 2009. The Group assessed the state of the small pelagic resources in Northwest Africa and made projections on the development of the stocks and on future effort and catch levels. The advices for the stocks are given in relation to the agreed reference points F0.1, FMSY, B0.1 and BMSY and on the basis of the projections for the next five y ears. Total catch of small pelagic fish for the period from 1990 to 2008 has been fluctuating with an average of around 1.7 million tonnes. With the exception of Sardine (Sardina pilchardus) in Zone C, the other small pelagic fish stocks in the region are considered to be either fully or overexploited. The catches of Round sardinella (Sardinella aurita) are high over the last three years probably because of a very good recruitment in 2005, but there is no evidence of another good year class in t he following years. The Working Group remains concerned about this stock and still considers it overexploited. Cunene horse mackerel (Trachurus trecae) was found to be overexploited and the recruitment survey index suggests a bad recruitment for 2008 compared with 2007. The state of the Atlantic horse mackerel stock (Trachurus trachurus) improves, probably due to a good recruitment in 2007, and in 2008 is considered fully exploited. Because the horse mackerel fishery is a mixed fishery in parts of the zone, an overall reduction of effort on these species was recommended. Chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus) are found to be fully exploited.

Statutory body / Meeting title Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF)

Cite this content as:

FAO.Report of the FAO Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish off Northwest Africa. Nouakchott,Mauritania, 21–30 April 2009.Rapport du Groupe de travail de la FAO sur l’évaluation des petits pélagiques au large de l’Afrique nordoccidentale.Nouakchott, Mauritanie, 21-30 avril 2009.FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Report/FAO Rapport sur les pêches et l’aquaculture. No. 965 Rome, FAO.2011. 252 p.

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    Report of the FAO Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish off Northwest Africa. Nouadhibou, Mauritania, 26 April-5 May 2005 / Rapport du Groupe de travail de la FAO sur l’évaluation des petits pélagiques au large de l’Afrique nord-occidentale. Nouadhibou, Mauritanie, 25 avril-5 mai 2005. 2006
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    The fifth meeting of the FAO Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish off Northwest Africa was held in Nouadhibou, Mauritania, from 26 April to 5 May 2005. The meeting continued to focus on data quality and on the analysis of trends in the basic data (landings, catch, effort, abundance, length and age distribution) and trends in the fishery independent survey data. The structure of the report is the same as that of the previous Working Group report (FAO, 2004), with the ad dition of two chapters, one on bonga (Ethmalosa fimbriata) and one on anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus). The results of the assessments indicate that the sardine stock in Zone C is not fully exploited and the Working Group hence noted that the total catch level may be temporarily increased but should be adjusted to natural changes in the stock. A constant monitoring of the stock abundance and structure, by scientific surveys, independent from catch data, should be ensured, to detect u nanticipated changes that may require urgent management measures. As regards the central stock of sardine (Zones A+ B), it is recommended not to increase catches above the average level of the last five years. The stock of round sardinella was found to be fully exploited and it was hence recommended not to increase catches of sardinella above the current level (2004). As a precautionary approach, the Working Group recommended not to increase catches above the average level of the las t five years for the horse mackerels and not to increase catches above the 2004 level for chub mackerel. For bonga the Working Group recommended as a precautionary measure that the catch level should not exceed the average over the last five years and for anchovy the catch level should not exceed the average over the last three years.
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    Book (stand-alone)
    Report of the FAO Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish off Northwest Africa. Nouadhibou, Mauritania, 22–27 May 2017. Rapport du Groupe de travail de la FAO sur l’évaluation des petits pélagiques au large de l’Afrique nord-occidentale. Nouadhibou, Mauritanie, 22-27 mai 2017. 2018
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    The seventeenth meeting of the FAO Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish off Northwest Africa was held in Nouadhibou, Mauritania, 22–27 May 2017. The Group assessed the status of the small pelagic resources in Northwest Africa and made projections on the development of the status of the stocks and on future effort and catch levels. Total catch of the main small pelagic fish in the subregion increased from around 2.4 million tonnes in 2015, to 2.7 million tonnes in 2016, constituting a 13 percent increase as compared to 2015. Total catch of small pelagic fish for the period 1990–2016 has been fluctuating with an average of around 1.9 millions tonnes while the average for the last five years has been 2.6 million tonnes. La dix-septième réunion du Groupe de travail de la FAO sur l'évaluation des petits pélagiques au large de l'Afrique du Nord-Ouest s’est tenue à Nouadhibou, en Mauritanie, du 22 au 27 mai 2017. Le Groupe de travail a examiné l’état actuel des ressources de petits pélagiques en Afrique nord-occidentale et a fait des projections sur le développement de l’état des stocks ainsi que sur les futurs niveaux d’effort et de captures. Les captures totales observées des principales espèces de petits poissons pélagiques dans la sous-région ont enregistrées une augmentation en passant d´environ 2,4 millions de tonnes capturées en 2015 pour environ 2,7 millions de tonnes en 2016 (13 pour cent par rapport à 2015). Les captures totales de petits pélagiques pour la période 1990-2016 ont fluctué avec une moyenne de près de 1,9 million de tonnes alors que la moyenne pour les cinq dernières années a été de 2,6 millions de tonnes.
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    Book (series)
    Report of the FAO Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish off Northwest Africa. Nouadhibou, Mauritania, 24-31 March 2001. / Rapport du Groupe de travail de la FAO sur l’évaluation des petits pélagiques au large de l’Afrique nord-occidentale. Nouadhibou, Mauritanie, 24-31 mars 2001. 2001
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    The FAO Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish off Northwest Africa met in the Centre national de recherches océanographiques et des pêches (CNROP), Nouadhibou, Mauritania, from 24 to 31 March 2001. The working area was defined as the waters between the southern border of Senegal and the northern border of Morocco and the main groups of species defined as sardine, sardinellas, horse mackerels and mackerel. The overall objective of the Working Group is to contribute to the imp roved assessment of small pelagic resources in Northwest Africa and the analysis of fisheries management and exploitation options aimed at ensuring optimal and sustainable use of small pelagic fish resources for the benefit of coastal countries. The existing acoustic data series evidentiate that the main stocks have shown strong fluctuations during the last 9 years (particularly sardine and sardinella), but it is difficult to detect a long-term trend. On the other hand, CPUE data for horse mackerel and sardinella generally show a declining trend over the last few years. Although the group is not yet in a position to make detailed stock projections, it is expected that stocks will decline further in case of a further expansion of the (industrial) fishing effort in the area. As a general recommendation the group therefore suggests to adopt a precautionary approach, and not to increase the combined catch of small pelagic species above the average level attained during the most recent 5 years (1995-1999).
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