5.1 The Moroccan fisheries
5.2 The Spanish fisheries
5.3 Other fleets
The sardine fishery of Morocco has a long history and has been described by many authors. The fishery is principally carried out in Zone A. At present, there are more than 200 vessels engaged in this fishery, operating from Safi, Essaouira and Agadir. Agadir is at present the most important port for the sardine fishery.
The seiners fish fairly close to their bases and only go fishing when the sardine shoals get within their action radius. The distribution of the fish varies not only between seasons, but also from year to year, which makes the fish much more available in some years than in others. Thus, the fishing effort exerted by the fleet depends on the availability of the fish, and may vary substantially between years, the effort being high when fish availability is high.
The average size of the seiners has gradually been increasing due to replacement of smaller vessels by larger ones.
Since 1973, an attempt has been made to develop large-scale operations south of Agadir. A Moroccan/French joint venture was developed using three large carriers each having one catcher-vessel (purse seiner). This operation has been terminated. Plans are now being made for a national large-scale fishery.
Spanish vessels have traditionally been fishing sardines between the Strait of Gibraltar and south of Cape Juby. A fleet from the Spanish mainland fished mainly in the area north of Casablanca, whereas the fleet from the Canary Islands fished in Zone B, in particular the more southern part. This fleet was composed of about 40 purse seiners of about 130 GRT and 400 HP in 1976. Catches are preserved in ice and brought to the Canary Islands for canning. The main fishing season for this fleet is between June and February.
Fleets from various other countries started to join the sardine fishery in Zones B and C in the early seventies. This includes Polish freezer trawlers as well as USSR, Norwegian trawlers, and some fishing by Portuguese ships. It is noted that Polish vessels operated mainly in area C (Krzeptowski, 1975). The number of Polish vessels fishing in the area varied substantially by month and by year, with the consequence that the number of vessels per year is not a good indication of effort. However, information presented to the group indicated Polish fishing takes place virtually throughout the year.
Two Norwegian factory vessels fished in both Zone B and C but have now stopped operations in the area. Other fleets which were active in the area until 1976 were from Bulgaria and Romania. Bermuda is fishing occasionally with a factory ship and 9 to 14 catcher purse seiners.
Not much is known about the operation of the USSR fleet but it is estimated that about 15 Atlantic type vessels operated in the area north of Cape Blanc.
