Development of guidance notes for the management of shared stocks of Sardinella in northwest West Africa
On 3 and 4 July 2024, the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC) hosted an expert workshop to produce guidance notes on the management options to be implemented to apply the recommendations of the Fishery Commission for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF) for the management of shared sardinella stocks in North-West Africa. The event brought together some fifteen experts from Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau and the Gambia, under the co-facilitation of Matthieu Bernardon, the EAF-Nansen Programme expert in fisheries management.
The main objective of this two-day meeting is to draw up guidance notes on the management options to be implemented to apply CECAF's recommendations concerning the management of sardinella fisheries in northwest West Africa. More specifically, the aim is to identify the priority subjects to be addressed and define the structure of the guidance notes and the drafting methodology.
In his opening address, Mr Khallahi Brahim, Permanent Secretary of the SRFC, stressed the importance of this exercise: "This exercise is very important in that it will help to synthesize and disseminate existing scientific information so that it is understandable and directly usable by decision-makers for the management of fisheries targeting shared stocks of sardinella," he said.
Cheikh Braham, chairman of the CECAF working group on small pelagic for northwest Africa, added that "this workshop is a perfect response to one of the key recommendations of the last meeting of the CECAF working group on small pelagic, which was held in Dakar from 25 June to 2 July 2024. It will support the efforts to be made to improve the sharing of scientific results and conclusions".
This workshop is part of the implementation of the letter of agreement between the FAO's EAF-Nansen Programme and the SRFC, one of the objectives of which is to support the regular production of useful information for managers, based on the best available knowledge at national and regional level, in particular the data produced as part of the scientific plan and campaigns of the research vessel Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, as well as the results of the work of the CECAF working groups.
This initiative aims to improve the sustainable management of shared fisheries resources and strengthen regional cooperation in fisheries.
The EAF-Nansen Programme is a longstanding partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Norway, executed in close collaboration with the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (IMR).
The Programme is also one of the endorsed ‘Decade Actions’ under the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).