An eight-week research voyage off the coast of Northwest Africa started on 21 October from Dakar.

We will be conducting research in the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem in the waters of The Gambia, Mauritania, Morocco and Senegal, and our scientific focus will be on pelagic fish until reaching our final destination of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain in December. For those unfamiliar with the term, oceanic pelagic fish are those found in the pelagic zones of oceans. These fish include anchovies, sardines, swordfish, tuna and mackerel. The data collected will allow for the monitoring of pelagic stocks in northwest Africa and strengthen the data series collected in the past.

Four countries are involved in this campaign: The Gambia, Mauritania, Morocco and Senegal. Two national scientists have been nominated by each country to participate in the activities on board the vessel. The scientists are expected to take part in survey planning, oceanographic and biological sampling, scrutinizing of acoustic records and other scientific work as applicable. The participants are biologists or fishery technicians with good knowledge of the local fauna. The international scientists onboard will include those from FAO and Norway’s Institute of Marine Research (IMR) alongside a team of scientists from Kenya, Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Angola, Namibia, Morocco and Côte d’ivoire.

We hope you’ll join us on this blog over the next weeks as we study pelagic fish the waters of Northwest Africa. Look forward to having you – virtually – on board with us on the Blog: Aboard the Nansen (#EAFNansen)