1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Terms of reference
1.2 Participants
1.3 Definition of working area
1.4 Structure of the report

The FAO Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish off Northwest Africa met in the Centre national de recherches océanographiques et des pêches, CNROP, Nouadhibou, Mauritania, from 24 to 31 March 2001. The overall objective of the working group was to contribute to the improved assessment of small pelagic resources in Northwest Africa and the analysis of fisheries management and exploitation options aimed at ensuring optimal and sustainable use of small pelagic fish resources for the benefit of coastal countries.

The species to be assessed by the group were: sardine (Sardina pilchardus), sardinellas (Sardinella aurita and S. maderensis), horse mackerels (Trachurus trecae and T. trachurus) and mackerel (Scomber japonicus), in the region between the southern border of Senegal and the northern border of Morocco.

The meeting was funded by project GCP/INT/730/NOR: International co-operation with the Nansen Programme, the Netherlands Institute for Fisheries Research (RIVO) and the Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Norway and organized by FAO.

Altogether 23 scientists from 8 different countries participated. The chairman of the group was Mr. Reidar Toresen, Norway.

The meeting was a follow-up to two workshops 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[3] to this report (FAO Fisheries Report No. 657 - Supplement).

1.1 Terms of reference

The terms of reference for the group were:

1. Presentation of reports on acoustic surveys and new research activities

2. Review of new catch and biological data

3. Updating existing data base

4. Updating previous stock assessments for all species

5. Formulation of management advice

6. Co-ordination of biological research projects

1.2 Participants

Eduardo Balguerias	Spain
Ely Ould Beibou	Mauritania
Petr Bukatin	Russia
Ana Maria Caramelo	FAO (Rome)
Hamid Chfiri	Morocco
Malika Chlaida	Morocco
Ad Corten	The Netherlands
Sidina Ould Dedah	Mauritania
Cheikh Abdellahi Inejih	Mauritania
Aziza Lakhnigue	Morocco
Ebaye Ould Mohamed Mahmoud	Mauritania
Mohamed M’Barek	Mauritania
Asberr Mendy	The Gambia
Hassan Moustahfid	Morocco
Ahmedou M. Moustapha	Mauritania
Alexander Nesterov	Russia
Birane Samb	Senegal
Maria Teresa Garcia Santamaria	Spain
Mahfoudh Ould Taleb Ould Sidi	Mauritania
Ibrahima Sow	Senegal
Merete Tandstad	FAO (Rome)
Reidar Toresen (chairman)	Norway
Abdoulaye Wague	Mauritania

1.3 Definition of working area

The working area for the working group is defined as the waters between the southern border of Senegal and the northern border of Morocco.

1.4 Structure of the report

A separate section is devoted to each of the main groups of species (sardine, sardinellas, horse mackerels and mackerel). For each of these, standardised information is given on: stock identity, the fisheries, catch and effort, biological data, abundance indices, assessment, management, recommendations and future research.