Fisheries experts meeting in Senegal have called for urgent, coordinated measures to safeguard sardinella stocks increasingly threatened by overexploitation. The recommendations emerged from a research-management working group of the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission held in Dakar.
Experts from Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau urged the prompt introduction of joint actions, including a biological rest period across the sub-region. They emphasized that temporarily suspending sardinella fishing during breeding seasons is critical to allow stocks to regenerate.
The specialists warned that without swift and collective intervention, declining sardinella populations could have serious consequences for food security, livelihoods, and the broader marine ecosystem in West Africa.
