FishSource

Mauritania small pelagics - purse seine (FIP)

Last Updated: 2024-06-14

Progress Rating: A

Evaluation Start Date: 2017-08-31

Type: Comprehensive

Status: Active

FIP Lead: Institut Mauritanien de Recherches Oceanographiques et des Peches (IMROP), Olvea Group (OG), Youssef Jaridi (YJ)

Stock Profile Link
Bonga shad - Mauritania
European pilchard - NW Africa southern
Madeiran Sardinella - NW Africa
Round sardinella - NW Africa

Comments:

The last stage 4 is reported within the past 12 months. FIP remains A rated.

1. FIP Development	Oct 18	Fishery assessment or scoping document made public 29 October 2018 — IFFO assessment made public 12 July 2017 — IFFO Fishery assessment report (English)
2. FIP Launch	Jul 17	Confirmation of project participants 12 July 2017 — MoU with participants
2. FIP Launch	Feb 24	Workplan made public 2 February 2024 — Updated 2024 Workplan 3 January 2022 — Revised workplan with budget made public 29 October 2018 — Updated workplan 31 August 2017 — FIP workplan
3. FIP Implementation	Feb 24	FIP activities undertaken 1 February 2024 — Resutls from student research project concludes that vessel and factory capacities are sufficient and possibly excessive for the available quotas and resources. 1 December 2023 — A report on data collected via paper logbooks has been made available; landings data from 2019-2023 is included in the report. 1 December 2023 — A report on observer deployments, providing details about bycatch and ETP species, has been produced as a first step toward understanding ecosystem impact. 2 August 2023 — A FIP meeting was held wherein catch data was presented showing total catch, non-target species and discard data. 1 April 2023 — The April/ May newsletter has been made available and details data collection activities that have taken place during the first half of the year. 1 February 2023 — The summary of the 2022 COPACE meeting has been made available 1 December 2022 — The FIP's December 2022 newsletter has been made available; the newsletter mentioned that enforcement activities have increased over the past several months. 1 December 2022 — A summary of 4-years of observer deployments (2019- 2022) was presented to the FIP meeting at the end of 2022. 1 June 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 24 May 2022 — A symposium on small pelagics was held in Nouakchott; topics disucussed included: supply chain developments, ecosystem impacts, data-poor stock assessment methodologies, etc. 14 March 2022 — 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 1 February 2022 — FIP is in the process of drafting a new FMP in line with the MSC standards 1 February 2022 — A funding request application has been submitted to the MSC by IMROP for stock assessment funding 1 January 2022 — An initial workshop for the PAPP was held and the FIP presented and discussed key issues with the ministry and other industry stakeholders. 5 December 2021 — Recent workshops have now been held to train catch enumerators and data entry staff on using tablets and updated IT systems 1 December 2021 — Final monitoring report of landings between May- December 2021 has been made available 17 September 2021 — Inaccuracies corrected with old pre-assessment; based on updated pre-assessment, some scores were re-scored 1 August 2021 — 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. 1 July 2021 — The Ministry has put forward a plan and terms of reference for a small pelagic management plan. Final report production is ongoing. 29 June 2021 — 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. 1 June 2021 — 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. 5 November 2020 — National Consultation Commission on Small Pelagics meeting was held in November of 2020 1 September 2020 — Zoning audit report published 17 July 2020 — The FIP will be financing a project to improve data collection in Mauritania and the exploitation of logbooks 7 July 2020 — 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 6 July 2020 — Report produced for internal training workshop held for scientific observers 12 February 2020 — A FAO workshop was held in February 2020 1 February 2020 — Work continues alongside the Morocco Sardine and Anchovy FIP to align on shared goals. 7 January 2020 — A letter was sent to the Fisheries Minister regarding ongoing discussions on regional cooperation 1 December 2019 — 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 1 November 2019 — A study was commissioned to look at the possibility of COMHAFAT taking on the role of fisheries management 28 October 2019 — 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 9 October 2019 — 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 1 September 2019 — An ambitious budget agreed with IMROP to strengthen the acoustic surveys 1 September 2019 — 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 21 August 2019 — 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 1 July 2019 — The FIP has produced an ecosystem modeling final report based on their ecopath modeling work 1 March 2019 — Work is in progress to better understand the impact of the fishery on the ecosystem, using an Ecopath model 1 March 2018 — Support an appropriate regional body in developing the regional-level management of small pelagic stocks
4. Improvements in Fishing Practices and Fishery Management	Sep 23	Verifiable improvement in policy/management and fishing practices 22 September 2023 — 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. 8 December 2022 — The FIP's Steering Committee (Comite de Pilotage) has been officially established 15 July 2022 — 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 15 July 2021 — 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. 28 October 2020 — S. aurita, horse mackerel, sole and yellow mullet are prohibited for fishmeal use; 20% of the remaining catches must be landed for human consumption.
5. Improvements on the Water	—	Verifiable improvement on the water
6. MSC certification (optional)	—	MSC certificate made public