An international working party held in Mauritania in December 1998 and the "Workshop to plan the 1999 R/V DR. FRIDTJOF NANSEN surveys in the northern CECAF[1] area and the standardization of acoustic surveys in the region" held in Morocco in October 1999, both stressed an already expressed concern regarding the importance of a more regional approach to research and management of fishes in the area. These two meetings recommended the establishment of an international working group for assessment of small pelagics off Northwest Africa.
As an initial step two workshops were held in 2000: the first in Casablanca (February 2000) to review the information on small pelagic resources off Northwest Africa and the second in Tenerife (June 2000) to continue the preparation of sardine data for stock assessment initiated in Casablanca in February 2000 and to review the assessment methods of small pelagic fish. The reports from these two meetings are presented in the supplement to this report (FAO Fisheries Report No. 657 - Supplement).
Based on the above, a permanent FAO Working Group composed of scientists from the coastal States, and from countries or organizations that play an active role in West African pelagic fisheries, was established in March 2001.
The main objectives of the Working Group is to improve the assessment of the small pelagics resources, as well as to analyse options for their management and exploitation to ensure optimal sustainability of the resources for the economic benefit of Morocco, Mauritania, The Gambia and Senegal.
Twenty three scientists from FAO, The Gambia, Mauritania, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Senegal, Russia and Spain participated in the first meeting of the FAO Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish off Northwest Africa which was organized by FAO at the Centre national de recherches océanographiques et des pêches, Nouadhibou, Mauritania, from 24 to 31 March 2001.
The meeting was funded by project GCP/INT/730/NOR (International cooperation with the Nansen Programme), the Netherlands Institute for Fisheries Research (RIVO) and the Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Norway.
FAO is grateful to the participants of the FAO Working Group who have contributed to the content of the present report. A first editing of the report was made by Reidar Toresen (IMR), Ad Corten (RIVO), Ana Maria Caramelo (FAO) and Merete Tandstad (FAO). The report was further revised and completed by Merete Tandstad and Ana Maria Caramelo.
