IFFO assessment made public 

IFFO Fishery assessment report (English)

MoU with participants

Updated 2024 Workplan

Revised workplan with budget made public

Updated workplan

FIP workplan

A representative of the regional fisheries organisation CSRP attended the FIP meeting in May 2024, for the first time. We had a useful discussion around how to extend FIP activities to Senegal

Resutls from student research project  concludes that vessel and factory capacities are sufficient and possibly excessive for the available quotas and resources.

For 2024 to September, 625 samples were taken covering 112,000 t of landings, with 47,558 individuals measured (see IMROP report attached). Landings data for 2023 provided.

A report on data collected via paper logbooks has been made available; landings data from 2019-2023 is included in the report. 

A report on observer deployments, providing details about bycatch and ETP species, has been produced as a first step toward understanding ecosystem impact.

A FIP meeting was held wherein catch data was presented showing total catch, non-target species and discard data. 

The April/ May newsletter has been made available and details data collection activities that have taken place during the first half of the year.

The summary of the 2022 COPACE meeting has been made available

The FIP's December 2022 newsletter has been made available; the newsletter mentioned that enforcement activities have increased over the past several months.

A summary of 4-years of observer deployments (2019- 2022) was presented to the FIP meeting at the end of 2022.

The FIP continues to provide monitoring data on a regular basis; data from January- May 2022 is provided in the May/ June FIP newsletter

A symposium on small pelagics was held in Nouakchott; topics disucussed included: supply chain developments, ecosystem impacts, data-poor stock assessment methodologies, etc. 

The Global Round Table on Marine Ingredients has submitted a consultative document to the Government of Mauritania (Ministry of Fisheries) offering advice and support for the Mauritania management plan

FIP is in the process of drafting a new FMP in line with the MSC standards 

A funding request application has been submitted to the MSC by IMROP for stock assessment funding 

An initial workshop for the PAPP was held and the FIP presented and discussed  key issues with the ministry and other industry stakeholders.

Recent workshops have now been held to train catch enumerators and data entry staff on using tablets and updated IT systems

Final monitoring report of landings  between May- December 2021 has been made available

Inaccuracies corrected with old pre-assessment; based on updated pre-assessment, some scores were re-scored

Synthesis of observer reports for 2020 have been produced by IMROP. Four missions took place and bycatch was analysed and made up <1% of the catch. Bycatch composition did not signal any rare or ETP species.

The Ministry has put forward a plan and terms of reference for a small pelagic management plan. Final report production is ongoing. 

IMROP and the FIP coordinator participated in a Far Fish workshop to evaluate the role of climate change in small pelagic stock dynamics in the CECAF area.

Spring/ Summer 2021 newsletter; The FIP aims to tackle the most critical gaps in IMROPs sampling through an ongoing project. Project software/ database has been set up, and a workshop has been organized.

National Consultation Commission on Small Pelagics meeting was held in November of 2020
 

Zoning audit report published

The FIP will be financing a project to improve data collection in Mauritania and the exploitation of logbooks

The FIP sent a letter to the Mauritanian Minister of fisheries (signed by several Mauritanian and international stakeholders) that contains the views discussed around the management strategy for Atlantic Horse Mackerel

Report produced for internal training workshop held for scientific observers

A FAO workshop was held in February 2020

Work continues alongside the Morocco Sardine and Anchovy FIP to align on shared goals.

A letter was sent to the Fisheries Minister regarding ongoing discussions on regional cooperation

Mauritania is currently working on a management strategy for the period 2020 – 24: Development of the national strategy for a sustainable and inclusive development of the maritime fishing sector

A study was commissioned to look at the possibility of COMHAFAT taking on the role of fisheries management

In October 2019 a Training program of researchers and workshop on fisheries information systems was organised to strengthen the capacity of data collectors, by training them in the use of ODK software

An acoustic campaign was carried out in October 2019 in the Mauritanian zone as a part of the synoptic coverage of the pelagic resources and ecosystem off West Africa, from South Africa to Morocco

In February 2019, a working group carried out every 4 years was led by IMROP. - working group results presented at the FIP meeting held in Nouadhibou in September 2019

An ambitious budget agreed with IMROP to strengthen the acoustic surveys 

An acoustic campaign was carried out on board the N / O Al-Awam in August 2019 to assess and map the distribution and estimate the abundance of the main coastal pelagic species in the Mauritanian EEZ

The FIP has produced an ecosystem modeling final report based on their ecopath modeling work

Work is in progress to better understand the impact of the fishery on the ecosystem, using an Ecopath model 

Support an appropriate regional body in developing the regional-level management of small pelagic stocks

Increase to PI 1.2.3, 1.2.4 & 2.1.3; A paper has been produced detailing two quantitative stock assessments for both stocks applying multiple methods of assessment. 

The FIP's Steering Committee (Comite de Pilotage) has been officially established

Mauritanian Ministry has declared (in letter) that for 2023, there will be a 4,000 tonne cap fishmeal in place. In addition, flat sardinella (covered under this FIP) can no longer be used for fishmeal production - implementation of government policy from 2023 

New regulations imposed wherein a three month fishing ban was decreed by the Mauritanian Government, from April 15 until July 15 2021 for all types of trawl fishing.

S. aurita, horse mackerel, sole and yellow mullet are prohibited for fishmeal use;  20% of the remaining catches must be landed for human consumption.