More than fifteen years of collaboration on the assessment of small pelagic fish off Northwest Africa: Lessons learned and future perspectives

摘要

Ensuring the sustainable use of the small pelagic fish stocks and the sustainable management of the fisheries exploiting them is a significant challenge faced by countries in Northwest Africa. Small pelagic fish constitute the bulk of the landings in this region, with annual catches of the main species ranging from approximately 1.7 to 2.5 million tonnes over the last few decades. Many of the main pelagic stocks are distributed across the 200 nautical-mile boundaries of the sub-region, and are shared bilaterally or sub-regionally among countries of Western Africa. These resources, which migrate along the Northwest African coast, are exploited by local fleets of both the artisanal and industrial sectors, as well as distant water fishing vessels from Europe, Asia, and Central America. The transboundary nature of these fish stocks calls for joint action with respect to their monitoring and management. In 2001, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations created a permanent working group on the assessment of small pelagic fish off Northwest Africa, which today reports to the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic. As a result of this Working Group's efforts, more consistent series of catch and effort and annual abundance indices of the main small pelagic fish species are now available, and significant improvements in sampling intensity have been achieved. Furthermore, consolidated annual advice is provided at a regional scale on the state of these resources that complements the national assessment and management advice systems. This paper provides some reflections on the contributions of the Working Group to science-based fisheries management and possible future actions that could further strengthen the collaborative momentum gained through this type of regional collaboration.