New insights in the spatial dynamics of sardinella stocks off Mauritania (North-West Africa) based on logbook data analysis

Sardinella spp. are the main species fished in Mauritanian waters. Logbook data (1991–2009) were used to standardise CPUE. This clearly revealed that the abundance of sardinella peaked in the warm season (July–September) which is the main, if not the only significant spawning season for round sardinella.This study does not directly confirm or falsify the common belief that the adults migrate from the Senegalese EEZ up to north of the 21°N latitude, but it presents a variety of new hypotheses. If a single transboundary stock exists, part of its individuals, or a sub-stock, is probably more sedentary and remains in the permanent upwelling area located in northern Mauritania and southern Morocco.Between years, changes in abundance index are dominated by a decrease from 1996 to 2006, depending on the months taken into account, and especially whether or not the warm (spawning) season is considered. For a given month, the spatial distribution of sardinella shows limited differences between years. In the southernmost latitudes of the Mauritanian EEZ the seasonal pattern, which is dominated by high catch rates during the warm season, is much stronger after the year 2001, and then tended to increase year after year.Changes in species distribution and abundance during the twenty-year study period are difficult to relate to environmental dynamics. However, an inversion of the upwelling trend was observed in 2001, matching a change in the seasonality of sardinella catches, although the causality between the two phenomena could not be established. The increase in the abundance index of sardinella in the last five years, particularly during most of the core fishing season (July–September) might be due to favourable oceanographic conditions (higher upwelling index) and/or changes in the fishing strategies or efficiency. Before annual indices of abundance can be used in the future, it will be necessary to better understand possible changes in catchability during the warm/spawning season.