Country and Region Based Differences in Fishing in the Eastern Central Atlantic Ocean Using Dominance Analysis

The Eastern Central Atlantic Ocean is located on the west coast of the African continent and the East coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has classified the operational area into 34 fishing areas. Under the influence of the canary Current (cold current), equatorial countercurrent (warm current), and ocean trade winds, an upwelling fishing ground has been formed in the broad continental shelf area of the Eastern Central Atlantic Ocean, which is abundant in fishery resources and is a globally important fishing area. Studies have shown that the Eastern Central Atlantic Ocean has been overfished by the European Union and other countries, which damaged the fishery resources and ecosystem in this fishing area. Therefore, analyzing the composition of catches of different countries and regions in this area can objectively evaluate the situation of fishing and utilization of fishery resources in different countries and regions, and provide a strong basis for rational development and scientific management of fishery resources in this fishing area. Using the catch data of the Eastern Central Atlantic Ocean provided by FAO from 1950 to 2019, the dominance analysis was used to analyze the composition and contribution of catches and catch species in the Eastern Central Atlantic, as well as in the coastal and non-coastal countries and regions in different decades. Previous works have illustrated that the total catch in the region has been increasing since 1950. The top ten identifiable species of fish in the region during the mentioned period were Sardina pilchardus, Jack and horse mackerels nei, Sardinellas nei, Sardinella aurita, Scomber colias, Ethmalosa fimbriata, Katsuwonus pelamis, Engraulis encrasicolus, Thunnus albacares, and Sardinella maderensis accounting for 63.61% of the total catch in this fishing area. Statistics of catches by age revealed that five species including Sardina pilchardus, Sardinellas nei, Sardinella aurita, Ethmalosa fimbriata, Thunnus albacares ranked in the top ten in each decade, and Sardina pilchardus, and Ethmalosa fimbriata catch increased in each decade, and Sardina pilchardus ranked first in each decade. From 1950 to 2019, the total catch of the top ten coastal countries and regions reached 10974.80×104 t, accounting for 94.95% of the total catch of the coastal countries and regions, representing the catch level of the coastal countries and regions. The sum of the total catches of the top ten non-coastal countries and regions from 1950 to 2019 reached 6440.01×104 t accounting for 80.40% of the total catch of the non-coastal countries and regions in this fishing area, representing the catch level of non-coastal countries and regions. Dominant analysis showed that four species of Sardina pilchardus, Ethmalosa fimbriata, Sardinella aurita, and Scomber colias were dominant in this fishing area. With an average combined contribution of 52.06% in each decade, Morocco, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria contributed the maximum to the fishing, among which Morocco and Senegal contributed more than 10% in each decade. The European Union, Russia (Soviet Union), and Japan were the main contributing countries among non-coastal countries and regions with an average total contribution of 82.71% in each decade and the average total contribution of the European Union was ∼60% in each decade. The cumulative catch of the Chinese mainland in this fishing area was merely 55.71×104 t, which was less than 18% of Japan´s contribution. According to this study, the fishery resources in the Eastern Central Atlantic Ocean have been overfished or overexploited to varying degrees threatening the survival of major catch species such as Sardina pilchardus, cephalopods. In this fishing area, the European Union, Japan, and other non-coastal countries and regions had captured a sizable catch with high economic value (such as tuna). Therefore, the monitoring and management of overfishing and illegal fishing must be strengthened to accelerate the monitoring and conservation of major catch species such as sardines and cephalopods. Coastal countries and regions should formulate reasonable fishery management measures, reject unreasonable fishery assistance and fishery agreements, scientifically evaluate fishery development systems such as bottom trawling permits, and reduce the damage to demersal marine fish resources and social impacts. Non-coastal countries and regions should keep the intensity of fishing appropriately to help resource assessment and conservation of overfished fishery resources in this fishing area. Coastal countries and regions should strengthen regional cooperation, break the current situation of unbalanced development between regions, and promote the sustainable development of fishery resources in the Eastern Central Atlantic Ocean. Based on the dominance analysis, this study comprehensively analyzed the fishery resources in the Eastern Central Atlantic Ocean from the perspective of catch composition and difference in catch size of countries and regions, objectively reflected the importance of different catch species, as well as the contribution and utilization of different fishing countries and regions to the fishery resources, which provided scientific support for the sustainable utilization of fishery resources in this fishing area. It also provided a new opinion for the analysis of the utilization of fishery resources in various fishing areas around the world.