Guinean EEZ

The inshore stocks were considered to be close to a virgin state in the 1980s. Following an increase in the number of trawlers, the abundance and mean size of fish decreased and depletions have been documented for several species. This has led to a progressive deterioration of the ecosystem but the recent explosion in the abundance of forage species with low commercial value may have concealed some trends in ecosystem indicators. Since 1998, the biomass of retained species decreased considerably but there was a sign of recovery in 2002. Yet, for many species, only small fish have been landed since 2004, an observation which suggests a generalized growth overexploitation in this ecosystem.