2.1 Senegal-Mauritanian Zone (Divisions 34.1.3 and 34.3.1)
2.2 Sherbro Division (34.3.3)
The point of departure for estimating catches has been the statements to FAO from different countries fishing in the region. These data were readjusted by the corresponding delegations. The statistical grid employed was that of CECAF and, for reasons connected with stock distribution and availability of data, the 'Saharian littoral' (34.1.3) and 'Cape Verde' (34.3.1) were grouped into a single Senegal-Mauritanian zone (Fig. 1).
As statistics are usually given for groups of species, no breakdown was attempted at the beginning. The catches of sardinella (Sardinella aurita and S. maderensis) are given in Table 1, those for horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus, T. trecae and Caranx rhonchus) in Table 2, and those for mackerel (Scomber japonicus) in Table 3.
The catches of sardinella by coastal countries are very considerable, representing in recent years 20 to 30 percent of the total. For the Senegalese fisheries a long chronological series of complete data exist only for the Dakar sardine fishery, while estimates had to be made for other types of fishing (Fréon et al. - Annex 3). Not much is known about Gambian and Mauritanian fisheries apart from very fragmentary data (Ansa-Emmim, 1978), although their volume appears to be relatively low. Total catch increased enormously in 1970 with the arrival of fleets of purse seine vessels whose main targets were the sardinella species. After that date catches remained between 200 000 and 300 000 t/year.
The greater part of mackerel and horse mackerel fishing is carried out by countries foreign to the zone. Total catches of horse mackerel rose rapidly during this period and particularly between 1968 and 1971. Since then catches remain between 400 000 and 500 000 t/year. As for Scomber japonicus the evolution of total yearly catches shows that the maximum of approximately 250 000 t was reached in 1970, after which catches decreased steadily, not exceeding about 130 000 t in 1976.
The data available are given in Table 4. They concern clupeids: sardinella and bonga. Horse mackerel seems to be fished only in small quantities by the Soviet fleet. Mackerel catches are negligible.
Fishing by coastal countries, i.e.. Sierra Leone and Liberia, make up 60 to 80 percent of the total.
Total yearly catches of clupeidae show a rather regular increase, exceeding 60 000 t in recent years. The distinction of catches between bonga and sardinella is not always easy and statistics for each species must be interpreted with caution. Catches of horse mackerel are very low and are of practical interest only in the two years 1971-72 when less than 2 000 t were caught.
