Mauritanian EEZ - Exploitation

Mauritanian waters which sustain considerable marine resources have been subjected to rapidly expanding pelagic and demersal fisheries. Pelagic deep-sea fisheries target tuna such as yellowfin tuna Thunnus yellowfin tunas, the skipjack Katsuwonus pelamis and the bigeye tuna Thunnus obesus. Small pelagic coastal fisheries are essentially focussed on Carangidae such as European black mackerel Trachurus trachurus, African black mackerel Trachurus tracae and the yellow mackerel Decapterus rhonchus, and some Clupeidae such as sardine Sardina pilchardus, round sardinella Sardinella aurita and punt sardinella Sardinella maderensis. By-catch species are mainly pelagic species such as anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus, sabres fish Trichiurus lepturus and, squid Loligo vulgaris, and demersal species such as Brachydeuterus auritus, hakes and various Sparidae. All these species are exploited by the trawler fleet and purse seiners. The latter captured 281,000 tons pelagic fish in 1980, 45% being sardinella. Total catch taken by trawlers steadily increased to approximately 445 000 tons in 1987, largely dominated by the Carangidae mackerels (accounting for 51%). Fishing is mostly carried out in the northern zone, although catches are made in the southern area for a few months during the warm season.
The shrimp fishery developed from 1986 onwards, and currently comprises more than 40 units. Principal demersal fleets of trawlers with freezers primarily targeted cephalopods and Sparidae in 1988. Cephalopods accounted for 60% of landed catch in 1983, of which 85% was octopus Octopus vulgaris. Freezer trawlers traditionally targeting Sparidae switched to targeting cephalopods, which comprised 16% of their catch in 1984 and 29% in 1987. Hake fishing has been declining since 1984; annual captures were estimated in 1987 at around 7,000 tons. Fishing for shrimp, on the other hand, underwent considerable development after 1987; shrimp catches reached 1,100 tons for second half of the year and the captures of lobsters were estimated at 5-6 tons. Overall, demersal catches decreased from 100,000 tons in 1987 to 50, 000 tons in 1997, largely due to the decline in catches of octopus Octopus vulgaris, which reached its lowest levels since 1968 (43,000 tons in 1993 and 15,000 tons in 1997).