Length-based assessment of five small pelagic fishes in the Senegalese artisanal fisheries

Fisheries management is an important strategy for ensuring sustainable use of resources. However, in West Africa, in the absence of quality data for many stocks and effective stock assessment models, the cases where this has been truly successful are notable for their rarity. In West Africa, small pelagic fish are of great socio-economic importance, as well as good indicators of fish stressors. Here, historical data (2004–2019) of five small pelagic species (Sardina pilchardus, Ethmalosa fimbriata, Trachurus trecae, Scomber colias and Mugil cephalus) were collected in Senegalese waters. The B/B(MSY) results showed stocks to be collapsed (B/B(MSY) = 0.13 and 0.1 for M. cephalus and S. pilchardus, respectively) and heavily overfished (B/B(MSY) = 0.24; E. fimbriata). Only S. colias and T. trecae stock were considered to be in good condition (B/B(MSY) = 1.7 and 1.4 respectively). The L(c)/L(c_opt) ratio was ≤ 1 for E. fimbriata and M. cephalus, suggesting that the individuals caught for these species were too small. To reverse these bad stock statuses, catching individuals at L(c_opt), 25, 21, 43 and 18 cm for S. colias, E. fimbriata, M. cephalus and S. pilchardus, respectively should be a natural guarantee against recruitment failure and allow individuals to ensure the long-term survival of populations, in a context of data poor fisheries. In conclusion, this study shows that, despite limitations, the LBB model can provides indicators of stock status for species to encourage management measures, especially in data poor countries. It is hoped that these results can help to better assess many stocks currently considered too data poor to be assessed or at least encourage data collection effort on stocks discerned as in bad or critical status.