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Mauritanian EEZ - Ecology

The hydroclimatic situation of Mauritanian waters makes the region a zone of transition from Saharan to tropical and an important passage for a great number of biogeographically different species. This marine wealth has stimulated rapid growth of fisheries, which developed from 1982-2006. During the first 15 years of exploitation, the number of fishing vessels rose from 150 to 300-350, and dugouts increased in number from 580 to 3500. This enormous increase in effort of industrial and artisanal fisheries resulted in a decline in the abundance of pelagic such as round sardinellas and of certain demersal species, cephalopods and some species of Sparidae. Indeed, demersal biomass dropped from an estimated 600,000 tons in 1982 to 150,000 tons in 2006, i.e. a 75% reduction in biomass. Unfortunately, the improvement of some of Mauritania’s marine resources along certain parts of the shelf, observed in 1987, did not include species of high commercial value. North of Cape Timiris, the very high increases in abundance in deep layers (80-200 m) were observed where strong concentrations of Munidae, Scorpaenidae and Triglidae were found. Most coastal depth layers continue to offer only very poor yield in particular below 30 m, the area exploited very intensely by the cephalopod fishery vessels. However, the reduction in biomass was particularly pronounced in the most productive layers into which fisheries expanded. Thus the reduction of Sparidae species could be the reason for the abundance of Octopus vulgaris, which has been under-exploited since the end of the 1960s. Generally, variations and fluctuations of assessed stocks confirm the impact of overexploitation of demersal stocks.
Mauritanian waters are not immune to the effects of climatic changes. Recent studies have shown a rise in temperature, correlated to a notable reduction in upwelling intensity along the coast.