Parapenaeopsis atlantica
Very important catch rates are sometimes obtained in the Ivory Coast, in the neighbourhood of river mouths. In Ghana, the essential part of artisanal sea shrimping is carried out on this species (400 to 500 tons/year, according to the data from the FRU at Tema conveyed to the Working Group).; Little studies have been conducted on this species and its potential, which may not be negligible, is not known.
Parapenaeus longirostris
This deep water (50 to 600 m) species has been exploited in the Ivory Coast and Nigeria in certain years with interesting catch rates. The main obstacle to its exploitation in the Gulf of Guinea seems due to the nature of the sea bottoms. When these are trawlable, in particular off the Congo, Senegal and Mauritania, a regular fishery with catch rates reaching 1 ton/day in Congo, and 500 kg/day in Senegal have been reported. The potential of this species, probably important, remains nevertheless unknown. The fact that the species has not been exploited in the Gulf of Guinea may be due to scarcity of the species in this sector.
Miscellaneous deep water species
There exists on the continental slope several species of peneids and carids whose potentials remain to be estimated. Some of them are likely to be caught with pots but this technique has never been tested off the West African coast. It would be desirable that a programme of exploratory surveys be set up to identify resources and define the most appropriate gear and the corresponding catch rates.
