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Diagnostic analysis of the Canary Current System of West Africa: the need for a paradigm shift to proactive natural resource management

Abstract

Large exports of land-based contaminants to the ocean exacerbate the effects of climate change, pollute ocean waters, disrupt biogeochemical cycles, harm marine organisms, and consequently jeopardise food security and the livelihoods of ocean-dependent communities. The Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) is characterised by a mix of the Atlantic Ocean basin waters, reverse flow from the Mediterranean Sea, and inland waters from adjacent countries. This biodiversity-rich ecosystem is a source of ecosystem goods and services that provide sustenance for populations in the coastal states of West Africa and beyond. However, with the ocean surface warming, ocean productivity and fisheries’ outputs have declined across multiple trophic levels. Therefore, in this diagnostic study based on a systematic literature review (publications from 2009 to 2020), we (a) provide an integrative assessment of the CCLME with the exception of Morocco, in the context of the modular large marine ecosystem framework using the categories ‘environmental’ (productivity, fish and fisheries, pollution, and ecosystem health) and ‘non-environmental’ (socioeconomic and governance), and (b) identify knowledge gaps and data scarce regions. The key drivers of change in the CCLME were identified as fishing pressure, land-based pollution, coastal habitat loss, and climate change. Productivity, land-based pollution, and ecosystem health were priority areas for data collection in the CCLME, with data deficiencies particularly apparent in The Gambia and Guinea. Therefore, to mitigate further degradation and accelerate progress toward sustainable management of the CCLME, research should be conducted in these priority areas of data deficiency. Furthermore, as most drivers of change in this ecosystem are related to weak management and a lack of regulatory enforcement, we recommend effective implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of existing national and transboundary regulations, as well as ecosystem-based human-centred management approaches, as proactive strategies for decoupling anthropogenic disturbances from climate change and optimising the productivity of the CCLME.

Descriptors:
Anthropogenic disturbance; Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem; Climate change; Land-based pollution; Productivity

1. INTRODUCTION

Climate change and anthropogenic disturbances are an increasing threat to the sustainability of the planet. Despite efforts to protect the deteriorating health of Earth’s ocean, the scope of current conservation measures is insufficient to address the issues that threaten ocean sustainability (IOC-UNESCO, 2017; Laffoley et al., 2020LAFFOLEY, D., BAXTER, J. M., AMON, D. J., CLAUDET, J., HALL-SPENCER, J. M., GRORUD-COLVERT, K., LEVIN, L. A., REID, P. C., ROGERS, A. D., TAYLOR, M. L. & WOODALL, L. C. 2020. Evolving the narrative for protecting a rapidly changing ocean, post-COVID-19. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 31(6), 1512-1534.). The interconnected ocean covers >70% (361 million km2) of the Earth’s surface and is the planet’s largest ecosystem. It can be divided into five ocean basins: the Arctic, Indian, Southern, Pacific, and Atlantic (Laffoley et al., 2020LAFFOLEY, D., BAXTER, J. M., AMON, D. J., CLAUDET, J., HALL-SPENCER, J. M., GRORUD-COLVERT, K., LEVIN, L. A., REID, P. C., ROGERS, A. D., TAYLOR, M. L. & WOODALL, L. C. 2020. Evolving the narrative for protecting a rapidly changing ocean, post-COVID-19. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 31(6), 1512-1534.). Human health and well-being depend on the ocean because it provides multiple ecosystem goods and services including food, minerals, energy, international trade, recreation, and cultural activities (Visbeck et al., 2014VISBECK, M., KRONFELD-GOHARANI, U., NEUMANN, B., RICKELS, W., SCHMIDT, J., VAN DOORN, E., MATZ-LÜCK, N., OTT, K. & QUAAS, M. F. 2014. Securing blue wealth: The need for a special sustainable development goal for the ocean and coasts. Marine Policy, 48, 184-191.; Melanie et al., 2017). It also regulates global oxygen levels, carbon sequestration, and nutrient cycling (Laffoley et al., 2020LAFFOLEY, D., BAXTER, J. M., AMON, D. J., CLAUDET, J., HALL-SPENCER, J. M., GRORUD-COLVERT, K., LEVIN, L. A., REID, P. C., ROGERS, A. D., TAYLOR, M. L. & WOODALL, L. C. 2020. Evolving the narrative for protecting a rapidly changing ocean, post-COVID-19. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 31(6), 1512-1534.). Despite the numerous benefits derived from the ocean, humans are pressuring ocean resources through ocean-based economic growth, human development, and unregulated access (Visbeck et al., 2014VISBECK, M., KRONFELD-GOHARANI, U., NEUMANN, B., RICKELS, W., SCHMIDT, J., VAN DOORN, E., MATZ-LÜCK, N., OTT, K. & QUAAS, M. F. 2014. Securing blue wealth: The need for a special sustainable development goal for the ocean and coasts. Marine Policy, 48, 184-191.). Given the importance of ocean resources and the pressures to which they are currently exposed, the restoration of regional ocean health is becoming increasingly important, as marine environments continue to deteriorate (Franke et al., 2020FRANKE, A., BLENCKNER, T., DUARTE, C. M., OTT, K., FLEMING, L. E., ANTIA, A., REUSCH, T. B., BERTRAM, C., HEIN, J., KRONFELD-GOHARANI, U., DIERKING, J., KUHN, A., SATO, C., VAN DOORN, E., WALL, M., SCHARTAU, M., KAREZ, R., CROWDER, L., KELLER, D., ENGEL, A., HENTSCHEL, U. & PRIGGE, E. 2020. Operationalizing ocean health: toward integrated research on ocean health and recovery to achieve ocean sustainability. One Earth, 2(6), 557-565.).

For the governance and protection of the ocean and its resources, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) granted coastal states sovereign rights in exclusive economic zones (EEZs) within an area up to 200 nautical miles (370 km) from coastlines. EEZs constitute 39% of the ocean (O’Leary et al., 2020O’LEARY, B. C., HOPPIT, G., TOWNLEY, A., ALLEN, H. L., MCINTYRE, C. J. & ROBERTS, C. M. 2020. Options for managing human threats to high seas biodiversity. Ocean & Coastal Management, 187, 105110.) and account for more than 90% of global marine fisheries (Palomares et al., 2020PALOMARES, M. L. D., KHALFALLAH, M., WORONIAK, J. & PAULY, D. 2020a. Assessments of marine fisheries resources in West Africa with emphasis on small pelagics. Fisheries Centre Research Reports, 28(4), 96.). Because the effects of country-level activities in this dynamic ocean area are not constrained by national borders, the large marine ecosystems (LMEs) approach to the assessment and management of marine resources and their environments was introduced at an international symposium convened at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1984 (Sherman and Hempel, 2008SHERMAN, K. & HEMPEL, G. 2008. The UNEP large marine ecosystem report: a perspective on changing conditions in LMEs of the world’s Regional Seas. UNEP Regional Seas Report and Studies No. 182. Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Environment Programme.). LMEs are large units of ocean space of approximately 200,000 km2 or more that were delineated along EEZs of coastal states based on ecological (bathymetry, hydrography, productivity, and trophic relationships) rather than political or economic (Sherman and Hempel, 2008SHERMAN, K. & HEMPEL, G. 2008. The UNEP large marine ecosystem report: a perspective on changing conditions in LMEs of the world’s Regional Seas. UNEP Regional Seas Report and Studies No. 182. Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Environment Programme.; Sherman et al., 2009SHERMAN, K., BELKIN, I. M., FRIEDLAND, K. D., O’REILLY, J. & HYDE, K. 2009. Accelerated warming and emergent trends in fisheries biomass yields of the world’s large marine ecosystems. Journal of the Human Environment, 38(4), 215-224.) criteria. The LME system includes a multidisciplinary five-modular approach (productivity, fish and fisheries, pollution and ecosystem health, socioeconomics and governance, each with its own set of indicators) that is used to track the changing state of the ecosystem and facilitate the implementation of corrective actions that can sustain or restore resources and environments (Sherman and Hempel, 2008SHERMAN, K. & HEMPEL, G. 2008. The UNEP large marine ecosystem report: a perspective on changing conditions in LMEs of the world’s Regional Seas. UNEP Regional Seas Report and Studies No. 182. Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Environment Programme.). The majority of EEZs fall entirely or partially within regional LMEs. Consequently, maintaining and conserving fisheries, marine species, and ecosystems can be accomplished by combining interventions on land, in freshwater, and in the ocean (IPBES, 2019 Global Assessment Report).

The Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME, Figure 1) is one of sixty-six regional LMEs, one of seven that surround Africa, and one of four eastern boundary upwelling ecosystems (EBUEs): the Canary, California, Benguela, and Humboldt Current systems. EBUEs account for 1% of global ocean surface area and 20% of global fisheries catch (Chavez and Messié, 2009CHAVEZ, F. P. & MESSIÉ, M. 2009. A comparison of eastern boundary upwelling ecosystems. Progress in Oceanography, 83(1-4), 80-96.; Fischer et al, 2019FISCHER, G., ROMERO, O., TOBY, E., IVERSEN, M., DONNER, B., MOLLENHAUER, G., NOWALD, N., RUHLAND, G., KLANN, M., HAMADY, B. & WEFER, G. 2019. Changes in the dust-influenced biological carbon pump in the Canary current system: implications from a coastal and an offshore sediment trap record off Cape Blanc, Mauritania. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 33(8), 1100-1128.). They are characterised by coastal upwelling-related fronts that occur between cold near-shore waters and warm offshore waters (Nieto et al., 2012NIETO, K., DEMARCQ, H. & MCCLATCHIE, S. 2012. Mesoscale frontal structures in the Canary upwelling system: new front and filament detection algorithms applied to spatial and temporal patterns. Remote Sensing of Environment, 123, 339-346.). The CCLME is dominated by wind-driven permanent (20 - 26°N) and seasonal (13 -20°N) upwelling zones (Gómez-Letona et al., 2017GÓMEZ-LETONA, M., RAMOS, A. G., COCA, J. & ARÍSTEGUI, J. 2017. Trends in primary production in the canary current upwelling system - a regional perspective comparing remote sensing models. Frontiers in Marine Science, 4, 370.). The permanent upwelling front, off the Mauritanian-Senegalese coast, makes it a nutrient-rich, highly productive system (Arístegui et al., 2009ARÍSTEGUI, J., BARTON, E. D., ÁLVAREZ-SALGADO, X. A., SANTOS, A. M. P., FIGUEIRAS, F. G., KIFANI, S., HERNÁNDEZ-LEÓN, S., MASON, E., MACHÚ, E. & DEMARCQ, H. 2009. Sub-regional ecosystem variability in the Canary Current upwelling. Progress in Oceanography, 83(1-4), 33-48.; Ramos et al., 2017RAMOS, A., RAMIL, F. & SANZ, J. L. 2017. Deep-sea ecosystems off Mauritania: an introduction. Dordrecht: Springer.). Among the different regions in the CCLME (Figure 1), the coastline orientation of adjacent countries, variable width of the continental shelf, and presence of several capes (from north to south: Cape Ghir, Cape Juby, Cape Bojador, Cape Barbas, Cape Blanc, Cape Timiris and Cape Verde; shown in Figure 1) contribute to differences in upwelling intensities (Demarcq and Somoue, 2015DEMARCQ, H. & SOMOUE, L. 2015. Phytoplankton and primary productivity off Northwest Africa. In: VALDÉS, L. & DÉNIZ-GONZÁLEZ, I. (eds.). Oceanographic and biological features in the canary current large marine ecosystem [online]. Paris: IOC-UNESCO, pp. 161-174. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9186 [Accessed: 22 Dec 2020].
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). The CCLME has a surface area of 1.125 × 106 km2 and is located in Northwest Africa, between longitude 15.30° W and latitude 24.65° N (Conti and Scardi, 2010CONTI, L. & SCARDI, M. 2010. Fisheries yield and primary productivity in large marine ecosystems. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 410, 233-244.). The Canary Current affects seven adjacent countries from north to south: the Canary Islands (Spain), Morocco, Mauritania, Cabo Verde, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Guinea. The capital cities for each are along the coast and combine for a population of 64.5 million people (Sambe et al., 2016SAMBE, B., TANDSTAD, M., CARAMELO, A. M. & BROWN, B. E. 2016. Variations in productivity of the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem and their effects on small pelagic fish stocks. Environmental Development, 17, 105-117.). Mauritania, in the far north, is particularly vulnerable to desertification because 90% of its national territory lies within the Sahara Desert, as well as to sea-level rises and coastal erosion in its coastal areas (NDC Mauritania, 2015). Cabo Verde, a small island developing state (SIDS) with formally designated an archipelago since 1977 (Le Tixerant et al., 2020LE TIXERANT, M., BONNIN, M., GOURMELON, F., RAGUENEAU, O., ROUAN, M., LY, I., OULD ZEIN, A., NDIAYE, F., DIEDHIOU, M., NDAO, S. & NDIAYE, M. B. 2020. Atlas cartographiques du droit de l’environnement marin en Afrique de l’Ouest. Méthodologie et usage pour la planification spatiale. European Journal of Geography, 112.), has a relatively small land surface area compared with the other coastal states. However, it has an extended EEZ relative to other countries (Table 1). The archipelago has a hot desert-type climate and consists of ten islands and five islets (Mitchell-Thomé, 1972MITCHELL-THOMÉ, R. C. (1972). Outline of the geology of the Cape Verde Archipelago. Geologische Rundschau, 61(3), 1087-1109). Freshwater scarcity is a problem; at 500 m3/year/person, the archipelago has the second lowest water availability in sub-Saharan Africa (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions Cabo Verde, INDC 2015aREPUBLIC OF GUINEA-BISSAU. The State’s General Office of The Environment. 2015a. Strategy and national action plan for the biodiversity 2015-2020. Estratégia e Plano Nacional da Diversidade Biologica. Guinea-Bissau: The State’s General Office of The Environment.). As a SIDS, Cabo Verde takes 8% of its annual domestic freshwater supply from the ocean (Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (“FAO”), 2016FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2016. AQUASTAT main database [online]. Rome: FAO. Available at: http://www.fao.org/aquastat/en/ [Accessed: 12 Dez 2020].
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) making use of approximately twenty expensive and energy intensive desalination units (INDC, 2015aREPUBLIC OF GUINEA-BISSAU. The State’s General Office of The Environment. 2015a. Strategy and national action plan for the biodiversity 2015-2020. Estratégia e Plano Nacional da Diversidade Biologica. Guinea-Bissau: The State’s General Office of The Environment.). Guinea Bissau, also classified as a SIDS due to its island characteristics, includes an archipelago of over 88 volcanic islands and islets (Fernandes, 2012FERNANDES, R. 2012. Job satisfaction in the marine and estuarine fisheries of Guinea-Bissau. Social Indicators Research, 109(1), 11-23.) and has 22% of its land area covered by water. The physical characteristics of the countries that border the CCLME are presented in Table 1.

Table 1
Physical and soci-economic characteristics of the focused adjacent countries of the CCLME.

Figure 1
Schematic surface circulation in the CCLME and the focus countries of this study. The Upwelling system comprise permanent currents (dark gray lines), winter-spring seasonal currents (green lines), summer-autumn seasonal currents (blue lines), dash lines are currents identified only from altimetry. CanC = Canary upwelling current; CJ = Canary jet; NEC= The North Equatorial current; MC= The Mauritania current; NECC= The North Equatorial counter-current; SLJ= Sierra Leone Jet (adapted from Faye et al., 2015FAYE, S., LAZAR, A., SOW, B. A. & GAYE, A. T. 2015. A model study of the seasonality of sea surface temperature and circulation in the Atlantic North-eastern Tropical Upwelling System. Frontiers in Physics, 3, 76.).

The CCLME is a class 1 highly productive ecosystem (Failler, 2014FAILLER, P. 2014. Climate variability and food security in Africa: the case of small pelagic fish in West Africa. Journal of Fisheries & Livestock Production, 2(2), 1-11.), i.e. a marine eco-region with the highest productivity in terms of primary (phytoplankton) and secondary (zooplankton) production (Berraho et al., 2015BERRAHO, A., SOMOUE, L., HERNÁNDEZ-LEÓN, S. & VALDÉS, L. 2015. Zooplankton in the Canary current large marine ecosystem. In: VALDÉS, L. & DÉNIZ-GONZÁLEZ, I. (eds.). Oceanographic and biological features in the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem. Paris: IOC Publishing, pp. 183-195. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9188 [Accessed: 22 Dec 2020].
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). Among the LMEs that surround Africa, the CCLME was the largest contributor to reported fish catches in 2014 (41% of total), with an estimated economic value of USD 7.1 billion (Zeller et al., 2020ZELLER, D., HOOD, L., PALOMARES, M. L. D., SUMAILA, U. R., KHALFALLAH, M., BELHABIB, D., WORONIAK, J. & PAULY, D. 2020. Comparative fishery yields of African large marine ecosystems. Environmental Development, 36, 100543.). The total annual value of ecosystem goods and services, including fisheries, timber and non-timber forest products, climate regulation, waste treatment, and tourism and recreation provided by the marine and coastal ecosystem of the CCLME has been estimated at USD 11.7 billion (Interwies and Görlitz, 2013INTERWIES, E. & GÖRLITZ, S. 2013. Economic and social valuation of the CCLME ecosystem services. Rapport au Groupe de travail socioéconomie et commerce du CCLME, 50. Available at: https://iwlearn.net/resolveuid/1f49c47a-54e7-4e7b-bdfb-56c723379537 [Accessed: 12 Dec 2021]
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). Consequently, the CCLME is a vital resource not only for countries within its influence zone but also for much of West Africa (CCLME project, 2016CCLME (Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project). 2016. Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) transboundary diagnostic analysis (TDA). Dakar: CCLME Project Coordination Unit.). However, as in other ocean basins, pollution in the CCLME is widespread, worsening, and, in most countries, poorly controlled (Landrigan et al., 2020LANDRIGAN, P., STEGEMAN, J., FLEMING, L., ALLEMAND, D., ANDERSON, D., BACKER, L., BRUCKER-DAVIS, F., CHEVALIER, N., CORRA, L., CZERUCKA, D. & BOTTEIN, M. Y. D. 2020. Human health and ocean pollution. Annals of Global Health, 86(1), 151.), highlighting the need for proactive resource management.

In previous studies conducted within the framework of the FAO-United Nations Environment Project (UNEP)-Global Environment Facility projects, transboundary diagnostic analyses (CCLME project, 2014CCLME (Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project). 2014. Évaluation des activités terrestres pouvant constituer des sources de pollution marine et côtière des pays du grand ecosystème marin du courant des canaries. Dakar: CCLME Project Coordination Unit.; CCLME project, 2016CCLME (Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project). 2016. Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) transboundary diagnostic analysis (TDA). Dakar: CCLME Project Coordination Unit.) of the CCLME did not include a time-bound literature review. In addition, the main objective of these studies was to identify priority transboundary issues and propose a series of policy recommendations and reforms that could address the transboundary concerns through a Strategic Action Programme adopted by all countries (CCLME project, 2016CCLME (Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project). 2016. Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) transboundary diagnostic analysis (TDA). Dakar: CCLME Project Coordination Unit.). Therefore, given that the CCLME is a dynamic system, the present diagnostic study builds on these previous studies and on other CCLME studies through systematic literature review. Specifically, the present research aims to (1) determine what is currently known about the condition of biological (fisheries) resources and ecosystem health of the CCLME; (2) contribute to the economies of individuals as well as nations, and (3) facilitate the development of management frameworks and policy instruments that govern access to the CCLME, its uses, and its conservation. This research also sought to identify priority knowledge and capacity building needs, begin to develop possible solutions, and establish a baseline for a decadal comparison consistent with the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030; https://www.oceandecade.org)

The steps of the current systematic literature review (Figure 2) were adopted from the works of Denyer and Tranfield (2009)DENYER, D. & TRANFIELD, D. 2009. Producing a systematic review. In: BUCHANAN, D. A. & BRYMAN, A. (eds.). The Sage handbook of organizational research methods. London: Sage Publications Ltd., pp. 671-689. and Mengist et al., (2020)MENGIST, W., SOROMESSA, T. & LEGESE, G. 2020. Method for conducting systematic literature review and meta-analysis for environmental science research. MethodsX, 7, 100777., and the diagnosis of the CCLME was completed through a focus on selected core indicators of the ecosystem-based five-modular approach (Table 2), which could be broadly classified by its environmental (productivity, fish and fisheries, pollution, and ecosystem health) and non-environmental (socioeconomics and governance) parameters. In addition, but with the exception of Morocco, the assessment was downscaled to the coastal areas and national EEZ (sub-LME) levels to comprise a holistic view of the contributions and local realities of the adjacent coastal states under investigation, namely Mauritania, Cabo Verde, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Guinea, which is also part of the Guinea current LME (GCLME) (Figure 1).

Table 2
Selected indicators based on the 5-LME modular themes and distribution of papers by country.

Figure 2
Systematic literature review steps adopted from Denyer and Tranfield (2009)DENYER, D. & TRANFIELD, D. 2009. Producing a systematic review. In: BUCHANAN, D. A. & BRYMAN, A. (eds.). The Sage handbook of organizational research methods. London: Sage Publications Ltd., pp. 671-689. and Menguist et al., 202MENGIST, W., SOROMESSA, T. & LEGESE, G. 2020. Method for conducting systematic literature review and meta-analysis for environmental science research. MethodsX, 7, 100777.0.

A systematic search was conducted in October 2020. The literature search strategy included three electronic databases: Google Scholar, Web of Science, and JSTOR using paired search terms as follows: ‘productivity’, ‘fisheries’, ‘pollution’, ‘socioeconomic’, ‘governance’ AND ‘CCLME’ OR ‘canary current’ OR the name(s) of the focus country. The main inclusion criteria were publications that focused on one or more of the selected indicators, one or more of the focus countries, and that had been produced within the last decade (2009-2020). Publications in several languages (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian) were considered, as were various document types (academic papers, grey literature, and national policy documents) and methodologies (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed research). Inclusion screening was performed by two reviewers independently. Following the information extraction, supplemental literature on aspects deemed necessary were obtained from expert review recommendations and hand-searching reference lists. Data were extracted and subsequently synthesised using STATA software (version 16; STATA Corporation, USA); results are presented in Table 2. Subsequently, a causal chain analysis was conducted that included information and evidence from the literature search; results are displayed in Figure 6.

Figure 3
Percentage change in major land uses in the CCLME countries of study between 2000 and 2013 (data source: Tappan et al., 2016TAPPAN, G. G., CUSHING, W. M., COTILLON, S. E., MATHIS, M. L., HUTCHINSON, J. A. & DALSTED, K. J. 2016. West Africa land use land cover time series: US Geological Survey data release. Science Data Base, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5066/F73N21JF
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).

Figure 4
Bilateral and multilateral marine fishing agreements between studied CCLME countries (blue rectangles) and beyond (grey circles). Dashed blue lines represents agreements between CCLME countries. Data source: ecolex.org.

Figure 5
Changes over a decade (2009 - 2019) in governance effectiveness and regulatory quality of studied countries. Data source: Kaufmann et al., 2010KAUFMANN, D., KRAAY, A. & MASTRUZZI, M. 2010. The worldwide governance indicators: methodology and analytical issues [online]. Pretoria: World Bank. Available at: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/3913 [Accessed: Day Mo YEAR].
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/hand...
.

Figure 6
Feedback loop (positive) on main stressors on the CCLME. Natural stressors are highlighted in purple while green are anthropogenic stressors. X → Y indicates that an increase in X leads to an increase in Y.

The analysis on pollution and ecosystem health was complemented by an analysis of land use change metrics (e.g. percentage change and yearly loss) for major land use types (i.e. forest, mangrove, settlement, and agriculture). Changes to these major land uses are primarily driven by human activities, such as intensive agriculture and deforestation, which serve as important land-based sources of nutrient and trace metal transfer into the ocean. The extent of changes to these major land uses for the CCLME countries was computed for 2000 and 2013 from the West Africa land use land cover time series of US Geological Survey data (Tappan et al., 2016TAPPAN, G. G., CUSHING, W. M., COTILLON, S. E., MATHIS, M. L., HUTCHINSON, J. A. & DALSTED, K. J. 2016. West Africa land use land cover time series: US Geological Survey data release. Science Data Base, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5066/F73N21JF
https://doi.org/10.5066/F73N21JF...
). Data for each land use category (e.g. forest) were aggregated from all sub-classes (e.g. sub-forest) in the time series maps, which contained 25 land categories; results are presented in Table 3.

Table 3
Extent (km2) of major land uses in 2000 and 2013 in the CCLME focus countries.

2. The current state of knowledge on the biological resources and ecosystem health of the CCLME

After an extensive literature search, research on the CCLME conducted between 2009-2020 and focusing on one or more LME modular themes was categorised into academic papers (journal articles: 65; theses: 5) and grey literature (produced by institutions: 26; national official documents: 7). The geographic scope of most studies was at the LME to sub-LME level (multi-country). On a country-level scale, Senegal was highlighted as a high-data density area, whereas the EEZs of The Gambia and Guinea were understudied (Table 2). These findings agree with those of Brugiere and Kormos (2009)BRUGIERE, D. & KORMOS, R. 2009. Review of the protected area network in Guinea, West Africa, and recommendations for new sites for biodiversity conservation. Biodiversity and Conservation, 18(4), 847-868., who stated that the biodiversity of Guinea was the least well-studied of those in West Africa.

2.1. The productivity of the CCLME

In terms of marine biodiversity, 14,095 taxa are known to exist in the CCLME; these are dominated by arthropods (22.3%), molluscs (21.6%), algae (15%), and chordates (14.3%) (Abedellahi et al., 2014). In the CCLME, climate variability, upwelling intensity and plankton biomass are intricately linked (Sánchez-Garrido et al., 2021SÁNCHEZ-GARRIDO, J. C., FIECHTER, J., ROSE, K. A., WERNER, F. E. & CURCHITSER, E. N. 2021. Dynamics of anchovy and sardine populations in the Canary Current off NW Africa: responses to environmental and climate forcing in a climate-to-fish ecosystem model. Fisheries Oceanography, 30(3), 232-252.). Primary productivity tends to vary annually: 323 gCm-2 year-1 was reported in 2015 (Fanning et al., 2015FANNING, L., MAHON, R., BALDWIN, K. & DOUGLAS, S. 2015. Transboundary waters assessment programme (TWAP) assessment of governance arrangements for the ocean, Volume 1: Transboundary large marine ecosystems. IOC Technical Series, 119, 1-196.), whereas 372 gCm-2 year-1 was reported in 2016 (Sambe et al., 2016SAMBE, B., TANDSTAD, M., CARAMELO, A. M. & BROWN, B. E. 2016. Variations in productivity of the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem and their effects on small pelagic fish stocks. Environmental Development, 17, 105-117.). Multi-decadal analyses show a general decreasing trend in chlorophyll-a (chl-a) levels (Chavez & Messié, 2009CHAVEZ, F. P. & MESSIÉ, M. 2009. A comparison of eastern boundary upwelling ecosystems. Progress in Oceanography, 83(1-4), 80-96.). Annual mean chl-a varies between 0.37 mg/m3 (Fanning et al., 2015FANNING, L., MAHON, R., BALDWIN, K. & DOUGLAS, S. 2015. Transboundary waters assessment programme (TWAP) assessment of governance arrangements for the ocean, Volume 1: Transboundary large marine ecosystems. IOC Technical Series, 119, 1-196.) and 1.31 mg/m3 (Sambe et al., 2016SAMBE, B., TANDSTAD, M., CARAMELO, A. M. & BROWN, B. E. 2016. Variations in productivity of the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem and their effects on small pelagic fish stocks. Environmental Development, 17, 105-117.). In the annual cycle of chl-a in the CCLME, it reaches its maximum levels (0.57 mg/m3) in February and minimum levels (0.24 mg/m3) in September (Fanning et al., 2015FANNING, L., MAHON, R., BALDWIN, K. & DOUGLAS, S. 2015. Transboundary waters assessment programme (TWAP) assessment of governance arrangements for the ocean, Volume 1: Transboundary large marine ecosystems. IOC Technical Series, 119, 1-196.). Microphytoplankton populations in the CCLME are composed mainly of dinoflagellates and diatoms, and the number of phytoplankton species appears to decrease from north to south (Abdellahi et al., 2014ABDELLAHI, M. I. C., SIDI, M. O. T. & DIADHIOU, H. D. 2014. Évaluation de l’état de la biodiversité marine dans la région du CCLME (Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem). Rapport d’étude [online]. Guinea: CCLM, pp. 1-177. Available at: http://www.fao.org/3/a-br707f.pdf [Accessed: 29 Nov 2020].
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; FAO, 2014FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2014. Évaluation des activités terrestres pouvant constituer des sources de pollution marine et côtière des pays du grand écosystème marin du courant des Canaries. In: CCLME (Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project). Report of the third Meeting of Biodiversity Habitat and Water Quality Working Group, 23-25 Sep 2014, Casablanca, Morocco. Casablanca: CCLME, pp. 1-18.). The biomass of these microscopic plants, which constitute the base of aquatic food webs, are projected to decrease by 35% in 2050, with changes of similar magnitude likely in the overall biomass of fish (Blanchard et al., 2012BLANCHARD, J. L., JENNINGS, S., HOLMES, R., HARLE, J., MERINO, G., ALLEN, J. I., HOLT, J., DULVY, N. K. & BARANGE, M. 2012. Potential consequences of climate change for primary production and fish production in large marine ecosystems. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 367(1605), 2979-2989.). In the food web of the CCLME, zooplankton occupies a key position and plays an important role in compacting organic matter, critical to the functioning of the ocean’s biological pump (Berraho et al., 2015BERRAHO, A., SOMOUE, L., HERNÁNDEZ-LEÓN, S. & VALDÉS, L. 2015. Zooplankton in the Canary current large marine ecosystem. In: VALDÉS, L. & DÉNIZ-GONZÁLEZ, I. (eds.). Oceanographic and biological features in the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem. Paris: IOC Publishing, pp. 183-195. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9188 [Accessed: 22 Dec 2020].
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). Along the Senegal-Guinea maritime area, zones of high zooplankton biomass usually correspond to areas with high dissolved oxygen concentrations (4.0-4.5 mL/L) and low salinities (31.5-34.5 ppt) (Ndour et al., 2018NDOUR, I., BERRAHO, A., FALL, M., ETTAHIRI, O. & SAMBE, B. 2018. Composition, distribution and abundance of zooplankton and ichthyoplankton along the Senegal-Guinea maritime zone (West Africa). The Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Research, 44(2), 109-124.). Sardinellas and other higher trophic species, including other fish and marine mammal species, rely on zooplankton (e.g. copepods) as a primary food source (Messié & Chavez, 2017MESSIÉ, M. & CHAVEZ, F. P. 2017. Nutrient supply, surface currents, and plankton dynamics predict zooplankton hotspots in coastal upwelling systems. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(17), 8979-8986.). In general, zooplankton biomass decreases from nutrient-rich coastal waters to oligotrophic offshore waters. (Berraho et al., 2015BERRAHO, A., SOMOUE, L., HERNÁNDEZ-LEÓN, S. & VALDÉS, L. 2015. Zooplankton in the Canary current large marine ecosystem. In: VALDÉS, L. & DÉNIZ-GONZÁLEZ, I. (eds.). Oceanographic and biological features in the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem. Paris: IOC Publishing, pp. 183-195. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9188 [Accessed: 22 Dec 2020].
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). Zooplankton reaches its annual peak abundance (~3 gC/m2) between March and April following upwelling event and nitrate supply (Messié & Chavez, 2017MESSIÉ, M. & CHAVEZ, F. P. 2017. Nutrient supply, surface currents, and plankton dynamics predict zooplankton hotspots in coastal upwelling systems. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(17), 8979-8986.). Copepods are the dominant group of zooplankton, accounting for between 60 - 95% in the CCLME (Salah et al., 2012SALAH, S., ETTAHIRI, O., BERRAHO, A., BENAZZOUZ, A., ELKALAY, K. & ERRHIF, A. 2012. Distribution des copépodes en relation avec la dynamique du filament de Cap Ghir, (Côte atlantique du Maroc). Comptes Rendus Biologiques, 335(2), 155-167.; FAO, 2014FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2014. Évaluation des activités terrestres pouvant constituer des sources de pollution marine et côtière des pays du grand écosystème marin du courant des Canaries. In: CCLME (Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project). Report of the third Meeting of Biodiversity Habitat and Water Quality Working Group, 23-25 Sep 2014, Casablanca, Morocco. Casablanca: CCLME, pp. 1-18.; Berraho et al., 2015BERRAHO, A., SOMOUE, L., HERNÁNDEZ-LEÓN, S. & VALDÉS, L. 2015. Zooplankton in the Canary current large marine ecosystem. In: VALDÉS, L. & DÉNIZ-GONZÁLEZ, I. (eds.). Oceanographic and biological features in the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem. Paris: IOC Publishing, pp. 183-195. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9188 [Accessed: 22 Dec 2020].
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).

At the sub-LME level, The Mauritanian EEZ has a chl-a concentration of 0.5-10.0 mg/m3 and a nitrate concentration of 4.6-9.0 µmol/L (Clark et al., 2016CLARK, D. R., WIDDICOMBE, C. E., REES, A. P., MALCOLM, E., WOODWARD, S. & CLARK, D. R. 2016. The significance of nitrogen regeneration for new production within a filament of the Mauritanian upwelling system. Biogeosciences, 13(10), 2873-2888.). In this environment, flagellates (~87%) are the dominant phytoplankton group, followed by diatoms (~13%) and dinoflagellates (~0.1%). During the intense upwelling winter period of February to March (Benazzouz et al., 2013BENAZZOUZ, A., DEMARCQ, H., CHAGDALI, M., MORDANE, S., ORBI, A., HILMI, K., ATILLAH, A., LARISSI, J., MAKAOUI, A., ETTAHIRI, O. & BERRAHO, A. 2013. Changement à long terme et tendance de l’activité de l’upwelling du système du courant des Canaries à partir de l’imagerie satellite. Géo Observateur, 21, 1-21., 2014BENAZZOUZ, A., MORDANE, S., ORBI, A., CHAGDALI, M., HILMI, K., ATILLAH, A., PELEGRÍ, J. L. & DEMARCQ, H. 2014. An improved coastal upwelling index from sea surface temperature using satellite-based approach - the case of the Canary Current upwelling system. Continental Shelf Research, 81, 38-54, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2014.03.012
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; Ndoye et al., 2014NDOYE, S., CAPET, X., ESTRADE, P., SOW, B., DAGORNE, D., LAZAR, A., GAYE, A. & BREHMER, P. 2014. SST patterns and dynamics of the southern Senegal-Gambia upwelling center. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 119(12), 8315-8335.), zooplankton biomass and diversity are highly variable (Glushko and Lidvanov, 2012GLUSHKO, O. G. & LIDVANOV, V. V. 2012. Composition and structure of the zooplankton in coastal waters of Mauritania in winter. Journal of Siberian Federal University, Biology, 2, 138-150.). This zone represents the southern limit of the distribution of temperate copepods (i.e. Calanus helgolandicus, Temora longicornis and Oncaea curta) and the northern boundary for tropical species (i.e. Undinula vulgaris, Eucalanus pileatus, Euchaeta paraconcinna, Acartia plumosa and Corycaeus africanus) (Berraho et al., 2015BERRAHO, A., SOMOUE, L., HERNÁNDEZ-LEÓN, S. & VALDÉS, L. 2015. Zooplankton in the Canary current large marine ecosystem. In: VALDÉS, L. & DÉNIZ-GONZÁLEZ, I. (eds.). Oceanographic and biological features in the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem. Paris: IOC Publishing, pp. 183-195. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9188 [Accessed: 22 Dec 2020].
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). The distribution of chl-a off the coast of Cabo Verde is influenced by several synergistic factors that vary according to the oscillation of physical parameters in the North Atlantic Ocean. Maximum chl-a levels (0.960-1.043 mg/m3) occur annually between October and November (Ramos et al., 2012RAMOS, V., LLINÁS, O., CIANCA, A. & MORALES, J. 2012. Variation of the chlorophyll a related to sea surface temperature, wind and geostrophic currents in the Cape Verde region using satellite data. Cabo Verde: Portal do Conhecimento.). Approximately 80 species of epibenthic algae and 142 species of microalgae have been identified in the area (Varela et al., 2011VARELA, A., DELGADO, A., CRUZ, E., LOPES, I., CORREIA, M. A., DUARTE, O. & CORREIA, S. 2011. Análise das instituições e políticas de pesca em Cabo Verde. Mindelo: Réseau sur les Politiques de Pêche en Afrique de l’Ouest.) as well as 295 species of zooplankton (copepods). Zooplankton biomass, assessed in spring 2003, varied with depth and light conditions: 10 mg/m3 at 700-m depth during daytime, 100 mg/m3 at 100-m depth during daytime and rising to 130 mg/m3 at night (Martin and Christiansen, 2009MARTIN, B. & CHRISTIANSEN, B. 2009. Distribution of zooplankton biomass at three seamounts in the NE Atlantic. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 56(25), 2671-2682.). Diurnal variations in zooplankton biomass were confirmed by Denda and Christiansen (2014)DENDA, A. & CHRISTIANSEN, B. 2014. Zooplankton distribution patterns at two seamounts in the subtropical and tropical NE Atlantic. Marine Ecology, 35(2), 159-179. with values of 14.7 g/m2 and 18.3 g/m2 for day and nighttime, respectively.

In the coastal waters of Senegal between 1999 and 2009, chl-a levels were 0.37-2.45 mg/m3 with a mean chl-a of 1.06 mg/m3 (Diankha et al., 2013DIANKHA, O., SOW, B. A., THIAW, M. & GAYE, A. T. 2013. Seasonal variability of sea surface temperature, chlorophyll-a and Ethmalosa fimbriata abundance off the coast of Senegal. Journal of Integrated Coastal Zone Management, 13(4), 491-497.). Diatoms represent 93% of the total microphytoplankton biomass (Demarcq and Somoue, 2015DEMARCQ, H. & SOMOUE, L. 2015. Phytoplankton and primary productivity off Northwest Africa. In: VALDÉS, L. & DÉNIZ-GONZÁLEZ, I. (eds.). Oceanographic and biological features in the canary current large marine ecosystem [online]. Paris: IOC-UNESCO, pp. 161-174. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9186 [Accessed: 22 Dec 2020].
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). In the Senegalo-Mauritanien (northern section of the Senegal EEZ) upwelling system, only the average values of microphytoplankton and zooplankton biomasses were available, 3.6 and 1.5 gCm-2, respectively, for 1996 and 2005 (Mbaye, 2015MBAYE, B. C. 2015. Etude de l’impact de l’environnement biophysique sur les premiers stades de vie de Sardinella aurita dans le système d’upwelling sénégalo-mauritanien: modélisation saisonnière et interannuelle. Océanographie [thesis]. Paris: Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris VI; Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar.). In the Senegambian area (southern section of the Senegal EEZ), zooplankton biomass data, as cited by Berraho et al. (2015)BERRAHO, A., SOMOUE, L., HERNÁNDEZ-LEÓN, S. & VALDÉS, L. 2015. Zooplankton in the Canary current large marine ecosystem. In: VALDÉS, L. & DÉNIZ-GONZÁLEZ, I. (eds.). Oceanographic and biological features in the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem. Paris: IOC Publishing, pp. 183-195. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9188 [Accessed: 22 Dec 2020].
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, date back four decades (1982 and 1983). Although this data might not reflect the current distribution, annual average zooplankton abundance was 2,000 ind./m3 with bimodal peaks; the primary peak was in November-January in 1982/83 (15,000 ind./m3), and the secondary peak was in May-August 1982 (5,000-10,000 ind./m3), respectively.

The Republic of Guinea Bissau has one of the most biodiversity-rich EEZs on the Northwest African coast because of its extensive continental shelf and highly diverse coastal ecosystems, which include estuaries, islands, rivers, and mangroves (Intchama et al., 2018INTCHAMA, J. F., BELHABIB, D. & JUMPE, R. J. T. 2018. Assessing Guinea Bissau’s legal and illegal unreported and unregulated fisheries and the surveillance efforts to tackle them. Frontiers in Marine Science, 5, 79.). It also has one of the highest chl-a concentrations at 3.8 μg/L, with a maximum zooplankton biomass of 900 mg/m3 (Ndour et al., 2018NDOUR, I., BERRAHO, A., FALL, M., ETTAHIRI, O. & SAMBE, B. 2018. Composition, distribution and abundance of zooplankton and ichthyoplankton along the Senegal-Guinea maritime zone (West Africa). The Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Research, 44(2), 109-124.). Similar to the entire CCLME, copepods account for 57% of zooplankton biomass, followed by zoes (20%) and jellyfish (10%) (Soromou et al., 2020SOROMOU, L. W., TEA, M. A., KOIVOGUI, Y., KEYRA, M. & SEGNIAGBETO, H. 2020. Zooplankton diversity in the Bay of Tabounssou: the case of Faban Estuary, Guinea. Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics, 10(5), 223-231.). The dominant species, accounting for approximately 80% of zooplankton, are copepods such as Paracalanus quasimodo, Oithona brevicornis, Oithona simplex, Oithona spinulosa, and Oithona nana (Berraho et al., 2015BERRAHO, A., SOMOUE, L., HERNÁNDEZ-LEÓN, S. & VALDÉS, L. 2015. Zooplankton in the Canary current large marine ecosystem. In: VALDÉS, L. & DÉNIZ-GONZÁLEZ, I. (eds.). Oceanographic and biological features in the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem. Paris: IOC Publishing, pp. 183-195. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9188 [Accessed: 22 Dec 2020].
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). However, zooplankton distribution in the Guinean EEZ is uneven because of environmental factors (Soromou et al., 2020SOROMOU, L. W., TEA, M. A., KOIVOGUI, Y., KEYRA, M. & SEGNIAGBETO, H. 2020. Zooplankton diversity in the Bay of Tabounssou: the case of Faban Estuary, Guinea. Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics, 10(5), 223-231.).

2.2. Fish and fisheries of the CCLME

Although ocean upwelling intensities are increasing and sea surface temperatures are rising, overfishing remains the greatest threat to marine biodiversity and the ocean’s long-term sustainability (Tedsen et al., 2014TEDSEN, E., BOTELER, B., MCGLADE, K., SREBOTNJAK, T. & ABHOLD, K. 2014. Marine resource management and coastal livelihoods: an Atlantic perspective. Atlantic Future, Scientific Paper, 15, 1-66.; Watkins et al., 2014; Bakun et al., 2015BAKUN, A., BLACK, B. A., BOGRAD, S. J., GARCIA-REYES, M., MILLER, A. J., RYKACZEWSKI, R. R. & SYDEMAN, W. J. 2015. Anticipated effects of climate change on coastal upwelling ecosystems. Current Climate Change Reports, 1(2), 85-93.). The increasing global demand for fish, particularly from emerging markets, as well as conservation efforts in other regions, have made African waters a magnet for fleets from all over the world (Watkins, 2014WATKINS, K. 2014. Grain, fish money: financing Africa’s green and blue revolutions. Nigeria: Africa Progress Panel.). The CCLME contains one of the most productive fishery zones with commercially significant fisheries (Sambe et al., 2011SAMBE, B., LYMER, B. L., CARAMELO, A. M. & TANDSTAD, M. 2011. Reversing the degradation of the Canary current large marine ecosystem. In: ICES Annual Science Conference, 20-24 Sep 2010, Gdańsk, Poland. Gdańsk: ICES, pp. 19-23.; Sambe et al., 2016SAMBE, B., TANDSTAD, M., CARAMELO, A. M. & BROWN, B. E. 2016. Variations in productivity of the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem and their effects on small pelagic fish stocks. Environmental Development, 17, 105-117.; Failler, 2020FAILLER, P. 2020. Fisheries of the canary current large marine ecosystem: from capture to trade with a consideration of migratory fisheries. Environmental Development, 17, 100573.; FAO, 2020FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2020. The canary current large marine ecosystem project [online]. Rome: FAO. Available at: http://www.fao.org/in-action/canary-current-lme/background/the-region/en/ [Accessed: 21 Dec 2020].
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; Vazquez et al., 2021VAZQUEZ, R., PARRAS-BERROCAL, I., CABOS, W., SEIN, D. V., MAÑANES, R. & IZQUIERDO, A. 2021. Assessment of the Canary current upwelling system in a regionally coupled climate model. Climate Dynamics, 1-17.). Fishery activity is classified based on fleet characteristics (especially boat length and engine power) as either artisanal (small-scale) or industrial (large-scale). Artisanal fleets consist of small (3-11 m in length) wooden boats equipped with outboard engines of up to 25 horsepower, whereas industrial fleets include much larger vessels (up to 25 m long) with inboard engines of up to 500 horsepower (INDP, 2012INDP (Instituto Nacional Desenvolvimento das Pescas, Divisão de Estatística). 2012. Relatório de principais resultados do censo geral da frota de pesca artesanal e industrial/semi-industrial ano de 2011. Cabo Verde: INDP.). Total catches by industrial fleets have risen substantially from 819,000 tonnes (1950) to 7.4 million tonnes (2010), with 55% by foreign industrial fleets. During the same period, small-scale commercial and non-commercial catches have increased from 85,000 tonnes to 779,000 tonnes (Belhabib et al., 2015BELHABIB, D., SUMAILA, U. R. & PAULY, D. 2015. Feeding the poor: contribution of West African fisheries to employment and food security. Ocean & Coastal Management, 111, 72-81.). Fish populations in the CCLME are dominated by small pelagics such as sardines (Sardina pilchardus), sardinellas (Sardinella sp.), horse mackerels (Trachurus sp.) (Sambe et al., 2016SAMBE, B., TANDSTAD, M., CARAMELO, A. M. & BROWN, B. E. 2016. Variations in productivity of the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem and their effects on small pelagic fish stocks. Environmental Development, 17, 105-117.; CCLME project, 2016CCLME (Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project). 2016. Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) transboundary diagnostic analysis (TDA). Dakar: CCLME Project Coordination Unit.), as well as species from lower trophic levels. In 1986, the Spanish Institute of Oceanography performed the only systematic assessment of demersals biomass (43,645 tonnes) to date in the CCLME. A more recent survey from 1995 presented only partial data on demersal stocks (Belhabib, 2019BELHABIB, D. 2019. Une exploration des impacts potentiels des règles de l’OMC sur les subventions à la pêche: Le cas de la pêcherie de sardinelles en Afrique de l’Ouest. Toronto: IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development).).

The profile of fishing fleets varies greatly between adjacent countries. For example, in Mauritania, foreign industrial fleets account for approximately 80% of the annual catch. More than 72 marine species of economic value are caught in the CCLME, including cephalopods, crustaceans, demersal fish, small pelagics, tuna, oysters, and prawns (CCLME project, 2014CCLME (Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project). 2014. Évaluation des activités terrestres pouvant constituer des sources de pollution marine et côtière des pays du grand ecosystème marin du courant des canaries. Dakar: CCLME Project Coordination Unit.). The dominant fish species caught include the round sardinella (Sardinella aurita), milk shark (Rhizoprionodon acutus), law croaker (Pseudotolithus senegallus), and the meagre (Argyrosomus regius), which are at risk of overexploitation (Gorez, 2018GOREZ, B. 2018. West Africa: fishmeal, mealy deal. Samudra Report, 1(78), 33-35.; Trégarot et. al., 2020TRÉGAROT, E., MEISSA, B., GASCUEL, D., SARR, O., EL VALY, Y., WAGNER, O. H., ABOU KANE, E., HAIDALLAH, M. S., FALL, A. D., DIA, A. D. & FAILLER, P. 2020a. The role of marine protected areas in sustaining fisheries: The case of the National Park of Banc d’Arguin, Mauritania. Aquaculture and Fisheries, 5(5), 253-264.). In almost two decades (1991-2009), total catches from the EEZ of Mauritania increased from 350,000 tonnes to over 1 million tonnes, with approximately 80% by industrial pelagic fleets (Barham et al., 2014). According to a report by the Comite Scientifique pour la Conservation de la Faune et la Flore Marines de l’Antarctique (CSC, 2010), crustaceans, cephalopods, and small pelagics were overfished by European fleets. The steady increase in fishing intensity has led to a severe decrease in biomass and signs that fisheries are becoming massively overexploited (Trégarot et. al., 2020TRÉGAROT, E., TOURON-GARDIC, G., CORNET, C. C. & FAILLER, P. 2020b. Valuation of coastal ecosystem services in the large marine ecosystems of Africa. Environmental Development, 36, 100584.). In 2010, an assessment of demersals classified them into twelve overfished species, three fully exploited species and seven unexploited species. Demersal biomass has decreased by about 75% since 1982, whereas the fishing effort was 30% higher than the maximum sustainable yield (40% for finfish). Some of the species affected include the flathead mullet (biomass decrease of 13%), meagre (-11%), spottail spiny turbot (Psettodes belcheri; -10%), canary drum (Umbrina canariensis; -8.3%), European squid (-8.3%), white grouper (-7.2%), and octopus (-5.5%) (Meissa and Gascuel 2015MEISSA, B. & GASCUEL, D. 2015. Overfishing of marine resources: some lessons from the assessment of demersal stocks off Mauritania. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 72(2), 414-427.). The fishery sector of Mauritania is one of the fastest growing in West Africa and accounts for a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and half of its exports. In 2013, the average annual catch was 600,000 tonnes from Northwest Africa, with 300,000 tonnes comprised of round sardinella harvested from Mauritania alone (Gorez, 2018GOREZ, B. 2018. West Africa: fishmeal, mealy deal. Samudra Report, 1(78), 33-35.). Fishing production exceeds 500,000 tonnes but is dominated by foreign fleets (95%). There are two main industrial fishing strategies: sardinella-oriented (dutch-type trawlers), i.e. sardinellas constitute 65% of the total catch, and mackerel-oriented (Russian-type trawlers) with catches that are dominated by horse mackerel (58%), chub mackerel (15%), and sardinellas (mostly as bycatch and representing 20%) (Braham et al., 2014BRAHAM, C. B., FRÉON, P., LAUREC, A., DEMARCQ, H. & BEZ, N. 2014. New insights in the spatial dynamics of sardinella stocks off Mauritania (North-West Africa) based on logbook data analysis. Fisheries Research, 154, 195-204.). Artisanal fishery landings are reported to have increased from 15,000 tonnes in 1994 to over 114,000 tonnes in 2009 (Mauritanian Institute of Oceanographic Research and Fisheries, IMROP, 2010IMROP (Institut Mauritanien de Recherches Océanographiques et des Pêches). 2010. Evaluation des ressources et l’aménagement des pêcheries mauritaniennes et la gestion de leur environnement. Nouadhibou: IMROP.). Sardinella biomass and diversity is higher in July-September (spawning/warm period), which might be due to the higher upwelling index or changes in fishing strategy or efficiency (Barham et al., 2014BRAHAM, C. B., FRÉON, P., LAUREC, A., DEMARCQ, H. & BEZ, N. 2014. New insights in the spatial dynamics of sardinella stocks off Mauritania (North-West Africa) based on logbook data analysis. Fisheries Research, 154, 195-204.). Furthermore, demersal fish catches decreased from 55,000 tonnes in 2006 to approximately 28,000 tonnes in 2009, whereas pelagic catches rose from about 200,000 tonnes in the 1990s to >800,000 tonnes in 2010 (IMROP, 2010IMROP (Institut Mauritanien de Recherches Océanographiques et des Pêches). 2010. Evaluation des ressources et l’aménagement des pêcheries mauritaniennes et la gestion de leur environnement. Nouadhibou: IMROP.; Binet et al., 2013BINET, T., FAILLER, P., CHAVANCE, P. N. & MAYIF, M. A. 2013. First international payment for marine ecosystem services: the case of the Banc d’Arguin National Park, Mauritania. Global Environmental Change, 23(6), 1434-1443, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.09.015
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).

Cabo Verde is an important marine hotspot due the presence of rare species of high scientific value, such as the melon-headed whale (Peponocephala electra) (Varela et al., 2011VARELA, A., DELGADO, A., CRUZ, E., LOPES, I., CORREIA, M. A., DUARTE, O. & CORREIA, S. 2011. Análise das instituições e políticas de pesca em Cabo Verde. Mindelo: Réseau sur les Politiques de Pêche en Afrique de l’Ouest.). Its fisheries are dominated by marine fishing, which mainly targets pelagic species (FAO, 2011FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2011. FAO yearbook: fishery and aquaculture statistics. Rome: FAO Publishing.). Artisanal fisheries target mostly demersal species for local consumption and market sale, whereas industrial fisheries target mostly pelagic fish that are used to supply the fish processing industry and for exportation (Almada et al., 2015ALMADA, E. O., VEIGA, J., AUGUSTO L., NASCIMENTO, G. & FONSECA, B. O. 2015. Atualização das informações referentes às avaliações dos potenciais das principais pescarias. Instituto do Mar (IMar), archives, Cabo Verde). In Cabo Verde, 315 fish species have been identified, of which 6.3% are endemic to the archipelago (Wirtz et al., 2013WIRTZ, P., BRITO, A., FALCON, J. M., FREITAS, R., FRICKE, R., MONTEIRO, V., REINER, F. & TARICHE, O. 2013. The coastal fishes of the Cape Verde Islands - new records and an annotated check-list. Spixiana, 36(1), 113-142.) and 150 are commercially valuable (González and Tariche, 2009GONZÁLEZ, J. A. & TARICHE, O. 2009. Um olhar sobre a biodiversidade marinha e bases para a sua gestão sustentável. Potenciais recursos pesqueiros de profundidade de Cabo Verde. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Presidencia del Gobierno de Canarias & Fundación Universitaria de las Palmas.). Fishing potential has been estimated at between 36,000 and 46,000 tonnes, composed mainly of large apex predators, tuna, small pelagics, and demersal fish (Almada et al., 2015ALMADA, E. O., VEIGA, J., AUGUSTO L., NASCIMENTO, G. & FONSECA, B. O. 2015. Atualização das informações referentes às avaliações dos potenciais das principais pescarias. Instituto do Mar (IMar), archives, Cabo Verde). In recent years, the stock of some of the overfished species, including sharks (Squalus melanurus) and mackerels (Decapterus macarellus), has declined (Almada et al., 2015ALMADA, E. O., VEIGA, J., AUGUSTO L., NASCIMENTO, G. & FONSECA, B. O. 2015. Atualização das informações referentes às avaliações dos potenciais das principais pescarias. Instituto do Mar (IMar), archives, Cabo Verde; Luz and Viera, 2020LUZ, A. & VIEIRA, N. 2020. Stock assessment of blackspot picarel (Spicara melanurus) and mackerel scad (Decapterus macarellus) in Cape Verde waters, Northwest Africa. In: PALOMARES, M. L. D., KHALFALLAH, M., WORONIAK, J. & PAULY, D. (eds.). Assessments of marine fisheries resources in West Africa with emphasis on small pelagics. Fisheries Centre Research Reports, 28(4), 1-98.).

In Senegal, the total marine fish catch comprises 250 taxonomic groups dominated by Pomatomus saltatrix (currently commercially extinct in Senegal), Sparidae fish, and small pelagic fish, especially sardinellas (Belhabib et al., 2014BELHABIB, D., KOUTOB, V., SALL, A., LAM, V. W. Y. & PAULY, D. 2014. Fisheries catch misreporting and its implications: the case of Senegal. Fisheries Research, 151, 1-11.). In 2018, marine fisheries landed 524,852 tonnes, artisanal fisheries sector landed 398,643 tonnes (76%), and industrial fisheries landed 126,209 tonnes (24%) (Mbaye et al., 2018MBAYE, D. L., DIALLO, O. B., DIALLO, H. K. D. & SAKITE, Y. 2018. Résultats généraux des pêches maritimes 2018 [online]. Dakar: Direction des Pêches Maritimes Senegal. Available at: https://www.oceandocs.org/bitstream/handle/1834/15921/Résultatsgénérauxdespêches2018final.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y [Accessed: 30 Dec 2020].
https://www.oceandocs.org/bitstream/hand...
). The industrial fleets are dominated by Senegal-flagged vessels (94%), whereas only 6% are foreign-owned (Mbaye et al., 2018MBAYE, D. L., DIALLO, O. B., DIALLO, H. K. D. & SAKITE, Y. 2018. Résultats généraux des pêches maritimes 2018 [online]. Dakar: Direction des Pêches Maritimes Senegal. Available at: https://www.oceandocs.org/bitstream/handle/1834/15921/Résultatsgénérauxdespêches2018final.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y [Accessed: 30 Dec 2020].
https://www.oceandocs.org/bitstream/hand...
). In West Africa, Senegal is second only to Nigeria in fish production, with an annual catch of approximately 450,000 tonnes (Blédé et al., 2015BLÉDÉ, B., COMPAORÉ, P. & DIOUF, A. 2015. Threats to Senegal’s fishing sector: a case study from the Ziguinchor region. Pretoria: ISS (Institute for Security Studies).). Pelagics make up about 80% of the fish catches and are an essential source of animal protein for West African populations (Failler, 2014FAILLER, P. 2014. Climate variability and food security in Africa: the case of small pelagic fish in West Africa. Journal of Fisheries & Livestock Production, 2(2), 1-11., 2020FAILLER, P. 2020. Fisheries of the canary current large marine ecosystem: from capture to trade with a consideration of migratory fisheries. Environmental Development, 17, 100573.). A 2018 survey of 141 vessels showed that Senegalese vessels consisted of 106 trawlers, eleven tuna vessels, and five sardine seiners, while foreign fleets consisted of sixteen tuna and three hake vessels (Mbaye et al., 2018MBAYE, D. L., DIALLO, O. B., DIALLO, H. K. D. & SAKITE, Y. 2018. Résultats généraux des pêches maritimes 2018 [online]. Dakar: Direction des Pêches Maritimes Senegal. Available at: https://www.oceandocs.org/bitstream/handle/1834/15921/Résultatsgénérauxdespêches2018final.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y [Accessed: 30 Dec 2020].
https://www.oceandocs.org/bitstream/hand...
). Recent indications show a significant decline in abundance of West African demersal resources, particularly in Senegal where grouper biomass, for example, has reduced by 90%. Species such as the sawfishes are under threat of extinction due to their low population growth rate, high catchability in fisheries, and high market value (Fernandez-Carvalho et al., 2014FERNANDEZ-CARVALHO, J., IMHOFF, J. L., FARIA, V. V., CARLSON, J. K. & BURGESS, G. H. 2014. Status and the potential for extinction of the large tooth sawfish Pristis pristis in the Atlantic Ocean. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 24(4), 478-497.; Dulvy et al., 2016DULVY, N. K., DAVIDSON, L. N., KYNE, P. M., SIMPFENDORFER, C. A., HARRISON, L. R., CARLSON, J. K. & FORDHAM, S. V. 2016. Ghosts of the coast: global extinction risk and conservation of sawfishes. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 26(1), 134-153.). In addition, in Senegal, the abundance index of octopus (Octopus vulgaris), a commercial cephalopod with high economic value, decreased from 13.7 kg/day at sea in 1999 to 3.3 kg/day at sea in 2016 (Diedhiou et al., 2019DIEDHIOU, I., YANG, Z., NDOUR, M., DÈME, M., FALL, M., THIAW, M., THIAM, N. & LI, S. 2019. Socioeconomic dimension of the octopus “Octopus vulgaris” in the context of fisheries management of both small-scale and industrial fisheries in Senegal. Marine Policy, 106, e103517.). In contrast, landing volumes increased from 2,980 tonnes in 1997 to 5,932 tonnes in 2016, with octopi constituting 80% of the total cephalopod catch (Diedhiou et al., 2019DIEDHIOU, I., YANG, Z., NDOUR, M., DÈME, M., FALL, M., THIAW, M., THIAM, N. & LI, S. 2019. Socioeconomic dimension of the octopus “Octopus vulgaris” in the context of fisheries management of both small-scale and industrial fisheries in Senegal. Marine Policy, 106, e103517.).

In The Gambia, about 500 pelagic and demersal fish species have been identified. The dominant fish species are sardinellas, bonga shad, mackerels, and other Clupeoides species (Ragusa, 2014RAGUSA, G. 2014. Overview of the fisheries sector in the Gambia. Fisheries and Aquaculture Journal, 5(3), 1-4.; Belhabib et al., 2016bBELHABIB, D., CAMPREDON, P., LAZAR, N., SUMAILA, U. R., BAYE, B. C., KANE, E. A. & PAULY, D. 2016b. Best for pleasure, not for business: evaluating recreational marine fisheries in West Africa using unconventional sources of data. Palgrave Communications, 2(1), 15050.). The total catch by industrial fleets in 2005 was estimated at 4,600 million tonnes (Ragusa, 2014RAGUSA, G. 2014. Overview of the fisheries sector in the Gambia. Fisheries and Aquaculture Journal, 5(3), 1-4.). Fish catches declined from 308,000 tonnes/year in 1990 to 76,700 tonnes/year in 2010 (Belhabib et al., 2016bBELHABIB, D., CAMPREDON, P., LAZAR, N., SUMAILA, U. R., BAYE, B. C., KANE, E. A. & PAULY, D. 2016b. Best for pleasure, not for business: evaluating recreational marine fisheries in West Africa using unconventional sources of data. Palgrave Communications, 2(1), 15050.). In 2016, total capture production was approximately 58,261 tonnes, of which 55,686 tonnes was from marine catches and 2,575 tonnes from inland waters (FAO, 2018aFAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2018a. Fishery and aquaculture country profiles Cabo Verde [online]. Rome: FAO Publishing. Available at: http://www.fao.org/fishery/ [Accessed: 15 Mar 2021].
http://www.fao.org/fishery/...
). Artisanal fishery is dominant in The Gambia, with primary targets including bonga shad (Ethmalosa fimbriata) which takes place in marine, brackish, and freshwater zones (Mendy, 2008MENDY, A. 2008. Analysis of actors on the Gambia coastal environment. Banjul: Programme Capacities and Knowledge.). Subsistence fishing in The Gambia falls under one of the following categories: shellfish collection (mostly undertaken by women), fish given to women for helping men with their fishing activities, line and net fishing by men, and crab gathering by children (Anon, 2012).

The Guinea Bissau EEZ is one of the most productive zones in West Africa. A fish inventory has identified 327 species with an estimated fishery potential of >15,000 tonnes for shrimp, 30,000 tonnes for demersal species, and 100,000 tonnes for small pelagics (Niang, 2009NIANG, N. A. 2009. Dynamique socio-environnementale et développement local des régions côtières du Sénégal: l’exemple de la pêche artisanale. DSc. Rouen: Université de Rouen.). In artisanal catches, 53% of the catch is composed of small pelagic fish (Cabral, 2015CABRAL, J. P. 2015. El sector pesquero artesanal de Guiné- Bissau. MSc. Alacant: Universitat d’Alacant. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10045/52771 [Accessed: 30 Dec 2020].
http://hdl.handle.net/10045/52771...
). The industrial catch in Guinea Bissau is approximately 152,042 tonnes and consists mainly of bony fish (83%), crustaceans (10%), and cephalopods (7%) (Cabral, 2015CABRAL, J. P. 2015. El sector pesquero artesanal de Guiné- Bissau. MSc. Alacant: Universitat d’Alacant. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10045/52771 [Accessed: 30 Dec 2020].
http://hdl.handle.net/10045/52771...
). Total fish catch has been estimated at 85,000 tonnes, of which 20,400 tonnes (24%) comes from artisanal fisheries, which represents 62% of domestic market fish consumption (Cassamá, 2017CASSAMÁ, J. B. F. 2017. Análise do setor da pesca artesanal em Guiné Bissau: impactos e perspectivas. BSc. Florianópolis: UFSC (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina).). A stock assessment campaign, conducted in 2018 covering twelve miles from the coastline and depths of up to 600 metres, estimated the catch potential at 300,000 tonnes including fish (79%), crustaceans (14%), and cephalopods (9%) (The Istanbul programme implemented in Guinea Bissau, 2020). Recently, Belhabib (2019)BELHABIB, D. 2019. Une exploration des impacts potentiels des règles de l’OMC sur les subventions à la pêche: Le cas de la pêcherie de sardinelles en Afrique de l’Ouest. Toronto: IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development). estimated an annual fish potential of 250,000 tonnes, similar to the values from the CCLME project in 2014. Some species are overfished in these waters due to the prevalence of illegal fleets and the high fishing efficiency of foreign fleets (Edmundson, 2014EDMUNDSON, H. 2014. Optimizar a riqueza natural da Guiné-Bissau. Pretoria: World Bank.; Intchama et al., 2018INTCHAMA, J. F., BELHABIB, D. & JUMPE, R. J. T. 2018. Assessing Guinea Bissau’s legal and illegal unreported and unregulated fisheries and the surveillance efforts to tackle them. Frontiers in Marine Science, 5, 79.). For instance, eighteen sharks and twenty rays were recorded, but no sawfish were documented in Guinea Bissau waters between 2009 and 2010 (Jung et al., 2011JUNG, A., BUCAL, D. & GOMES, M. 2011. Mission de renforcement des capacités du CIPA/PAN-Requins pour le traitement et l’analyse des enquêtes 2009-2010. Guinée-Bissau: Ministère des Pêches de Guinée-Bissau.).

In Guinea, fish species were identified belonging to fourteen families and eighteen species of fish larval. Families of fish larvae included pelagics (Clupeidae, Carangidae, Pristigasteridae, and Hemiramphidae), demersal fish (Sciaenidae, Polynemidae, Drepanidae, Sphyraenidae, and Albulidae) and benthic fish (Cynoglossidae, Tetraodontidae, Gobidae, Mugilidae, and Trichiuridae) (Goumou et al., 2020GOUMOU, P., ZOTOMY, C., SOROMOU, L. W., DORE, K. B. & KABA, B. 2020. Diversity of fish larvae in the seaboard of Rogbane and Takonko-Conakry, republic of guinea. Journal of Global Biosciences, 9(5), 7377-7394.). Artisanal fisheries provide >80% of national catches; 81.8% of artisanal fishers use conical nets known as ‘Tèté yèlè’ made from mosquito nets, whereas the remaining 18.2% use synthetic 5 mm mesh nets (Goumou et al., 2020GOUMOU, P., ZOTOMY, C., SOROMOU, L. W., DORE, K. B. & KABA, B. 2020. Diversity of fish larvae in the seaboard of Rogbane and Takonko-Conakry, republic of guinea. Journal of Global Biosciences, 9(5), 7377-7394.). Such fishing has led to the unsustainability of the ichthyofauna. In 2017, total marine catch was around 100,000 tonnes, but this mostly came from industrial fishing practised by foreign fleets; the output of inland fisheries represented around 30,000 tonnes of the catch (FAO, 2019aFAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2019a. Profils de la pêche et de l'aquaculture par pays Guinée. Fiches d’information Profils de pays [online]. Rome: FAO Publishing. Available at: https://www.fao.org/fishery/countryprofiles/search/en [Accessed: 15 Mar 2021].
https://www.fao.org/fishery/countryprofi...
).

The data suggest that fisheries are declining in the CCLME (Sambe et al., 2011SAMBE, B., LYMER, B. L., CARAMELO, A. M. & TANDSTAD, M. 2011. Reversing the degradation of the Canary current large marine ecosystem. In: ICES Annual Science Conference, 20-24 Sep 2010, Gdańsk, Poland. Gdańsk: ICES, pp. 19-23.), which is currently experiencing ecosystem overfishing primarily due to ‘fishing down the trophic level’ for small pelagic fishes (Links et al., 2020LINK, J. S., WATSON, R. A., PRANOVI, F. & LIBRALATO, S. 2020. Comparative production of fisheries yields and ecosystem overfishing in African Large Marine Ecosystems. Environmental Development, 36, 100529.). The increased demand for fishmeal and fish oil due to the high prices of these commodities in world markets has triggered the establishment and multiplication of fishmeal factories along the West African coast (Greenpeace, 2019GREENPEACE. 2019. A waste of fish - food security under threat from fishmeal and fish oil industry in West Africa. Netherlands: Greenpeace International.). In Mauritania, fish meal production has rapidly expanded over the last few years, with 29 plants in place by 2015 (Gorez, 2018GOREZ, B. 2018. West Africa: fishmeal, mealy deal. Samudra Report, 1(78), 33-35.) and 33 by 2019 (Greenpeace, 2019GREENPEACE. 2019. A waste of fish - food security under threat from fishmeal and fish oil industry in West Africa. Netherlands: Greenpeace International.). In Senegal, there are now more than a dozen officially registered fishmeal plants and others operating clandestinely. There are three plants in The Gambia (Greenpeace, 2019GREENPEACE. 2019. A waste of fish - food security under threat from fishmeal and fish oil industry in West Africa. Netherlands: Greenpeace International.). Fishmeal factories have recently begun using an increasing number of fresh fish, particular small pelagics such as round and flat sardinellas and bonga (Gorez, 2018GOREZ, B. 2018. West Africa: fishmeal, mealy deal. Samudra Report, 1(78), 33-35.; Greenpeace, 2019GREENPEACE. 2019. A waste of fish - food security under threat from fishmeal and fish oil industry in West Africa. Netherlands: Greenpeace International.). In total, the fish catch for fishmeal and fish oil from the three countries was 695,154 tonnes in 2018; 4-5 kg of wild fish is required to produce 1 kg of fishmeal (Greenpeace, 2019GREENPEACE. 2019. A waste of fish - food security under threat from fishmeal and fish oil industry in West Africa. Netherlands: Greenpeace International.).

2.3. Pollution and ecosystem health

West Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change; its effects could lead to negative changes in marine resources that threaten the livelihoods and well-being of local communities who depend on fisheries for food and income (Lam et al., 2012LAM, V. W. Y., CHEUNG, W. W. L., SWARTZ, W. & SUMAILA, U. R. 2012. Climate change impacts on fisheries in West Africa: implications for economic, food and nutritional security, African Journal of Marine Science, 34(1), 103-117.). These impacts, including changes in the intensity and seasonality of precipitation, upwellings, coastal currents, salinity, oxygen, and acidity levels, are likely to be aggravated by mineral, oil, and gas exploitation, the degradation of mangroves and other coastal habitats, and the damage to coastal infrastructures, which increases the food security risk of coastal communities and fishers (Sambe et al., 2011SAMBE, B., LYMER, B. L., CARAMELO, A. M. & TANDSTAD, M. 2011. Reversing the degradation of the Canary current large marine ecosystem. In: ICES Annual Science Conference, 20-24 Sep 2010, Gdańsk, Poland. Gdańsk: ICES, pp. 19-23.; Nyadzi et al., 2020NYADZI, E., BESSAH, E. & KRANJAC-BERISAVLJEVIC, G. 2020. Taking stock of climate change induced sea level rise across the West African Coast. Environmental Claims Journal, 33(1), 77-90.). The rate of sea-level rise in West Africa, particularly between 10°N and 10°S, is slightly higher than the global average of 3.5-4.0 mm/year (Scambos and Stammerjohn, 2020SCAMBOS, T. & STAMMERJOHN, S. 2020. The state of the climate in Africa 2019. Genebra: (WMO) World Meteorological Organization.). Sea surface temperatures (SST) have risen at a rate of 0.28°C per decade between 1982 and 2013 (Vélez-Belch et al., 2015VÉLEZ-BELCHÍ, P., GONZÁLEZ-CARBALLO, M., PÉREZ-HERNÁNDEZ, M. D. & HERNÁNDEZ-GUERRA, A. 2015. Open ocean temperature and salinity trends in the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem. IOC Technical Series [online], 115, 299-308. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9196 [Accessed: 17 Nov 2021].
http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9196...
). According to more recent estimates (from 1982 to 2019), the rate is actually 0.58°C per decade; the CCLME is classified as a fast-warming LME (Sweijd and Smit, 2020SWEIJD, N. A. & SMIT, A. J. 2020. Trends in sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a in the seven African Large Marine Ecosystems. Environmental Development, 36, 100585.). Increases in SST are associated with lower primary production, disruption of trophic interactions, and decline in fish production and growth rates (Blanchard et al., 2012BLANCHARD, J. L., JENNINGS, S., HOLMES, R., HARLE, J., MERINO, G., ALLEN, J. I., HOLT, J., DULVY, N. K. & BARANGE, M. 2012. Potential consequences of climate change for primary production and fish production in large marine ecosystems. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 367(1605), 2979-2989.). Other side effects of climate change include hypoxic events and ocean acidification (Bakun et al., 2015BAKUN, A., BLACK, B. A., BOGRAD, S. J., GARCIA-REYES, M., MILLER, A. J., RYKACZEWSKI, R. R. & SYDEMAN, W. J. 2015. Anticipated effects of climate change on coastal upwelling ecosystems. Current Climate Change Reports, 1(2), 85-93.). Aside from natural stressors and fishing pressures, there are numerous other sources of ocean pollution, both sea-based (upwelled waters, offshore exploration, and ballast waters) and land-based, with the latter accounting for 80% of the pollution that threatens the health of the ocean (Lee et al., 2016LEE, R. Y., SEITZINGER, S. & MAYORGA, E. 2016. Land-based nutrient loading to LMEs: a global watershed perspective on magnitudes and sources. Environmental Development, 17, 220-229.; Sweijd and Smit, 2020SWEIJD, N. A. & SMIT, A. J. 2020. Trends in sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a in the seven African Large Marine Ecosystems. Environmental Development, 36, 100585.; Landrigan et al., 2020LANDRIGAN, P., STEGEMAN, J., FLEMING, L., ALLEMAND, D., ANDERSON, D., BACKER, L., BRUCKER-DAVIS, F., CHEVALIER, N., CORRA, L., CZERUCKA, D. & BOTTEIN, M. Y. D. 2020. Human health and ocean pollution. Annals of Global Health, 86(1), 151.). Land-based pollution sources include the uncontrolled disposal of solid waste and the discharge of domestic and industrial effluents, especially from highly industrialised and densely populated coastal cities (Sherman and McGoven, 2012SHERMAN, K. & MCGOVEN, G. 2012. Frontline observations on climate change and sustainability of large marine ecosystems. New York: United Nations Development Programme.). Agricultural runoff into riverine areas is also a major source of land-based nutrient export to the ocean (Wang et al., 2020WANG, Y., XIE, Z., LIU, S., WANG, L., LI, R., CHEN, S., JIA, B., QIN, P. & XIE, J. 2020. Effects of anthropogenic disturbances and climate change on riverine dissolved inorganic nitrogen transport. Journal of Advances in Modelling Earth Systems, 12(10), e2020MS002234.).

Toxic heavy metals can bioaccumulate in marine organisms and ultimately find their way into humans via dietary pathways in the food web . In the CCLME, coastal upwelling is the primary natural source of cadmium, while the phosphate industry is the primary source of anthropogenic cadmium (Auger et al., 2015AUGER, P. A., MACHU, E., GORGUES, T., GRIMA, N. & WAELES, M. 2015. Comparative study of potential transfer of natural and anthropogenic cadmium to plankton communities in the North-West African upwelling. Science of the Total Environment, 505, 870-888.). Morocco, the northernmost country of the CCLME, is the second largest global phosphate producer, extracting 27 million tonnes per year for processing into phosphoric acid and fertilizers (Auger et al., 2015AUGER, P. A., MACHU, E., GORGUES, T., GRIMA, N. & WAELES, M. 2015. Comparative study of potential transfer of natural and anthropogenic cadmium to plankton communities in the North-West African upwelling. Science of the Total Environment, 505, 870-888.). Due to the industry’s release of mercury and an estimated 236 tonnes of cadmium into the ocean during manufacturing, regional cadmium levels in mussels are higher than the recommended values of 1 μgg-1 and thus unfit for consumption (Auger et al., 2015AUGER, P. A., MACHU, E., GORGUES, T., GRIMA, N. & WAELES, M. 2015. Comparative study of potential transfer of natural and anthropogenic cadmium to plankton communities in the North-West African upwelling. Science of the Total Environment, 505, 870-888.). Elevated levels of cadmium were found in some bivalves and cephalopods from the Mauritania coast, while levels of lead and mercury were within recommended limits in these organisms (Toure et al., 2016TOURE, A., GARAT, A., DIOP, C., CABRAL, M., EPOTE, M. J., LEROY, E., FALL, M., DIOUF, A., DEHON, B. & ALLORGE, D. 2016. Présence de métaux lourds et de résidus médicamenteux dans les effluents des établissements de santé de Dakar (Sénégal). International Journal of Biological and Chemical Sciences, 10(3), 1422-1432.). The main stressors affecting important fishery spawning areas and nurseries in the Senegalese EEZ are fishing pressures, offshore oil and gas exploration activities, and pollution (Ismala et al., 2019ISMAÏLA, N., ASSIATOU, B., NDIAGA, T., MODOU, T., SALIOU, F., MASSAL, F. & MIKA, D. 2019. Identification and characterization of critical sites for small pelagic fish in the coastal marine area of Senegal, West Africa. Journal of Biology and Life Science, 11(1), 18.). Cadmium and arsenic levels were found to be high in some mussels (Diop et al., 2015; Ndiaye et al., 2017). Chromium, lead, vanadium, and nickel concentrations have been found to be high in sea lettuce (Ulva lactuca), whereas cadmium, copper, and selenium concentrations have been found to be high in the tissues of some fish, including flathead mullet and tilapia (Diop et al., 2015). However, bioaccumulation of mercury in fish tissues is strongly dependent on their size and foraging habitat; coastal demersals had higher mercury elevations than offshore pelagic species (Le Croizier et al., 2019LE CROIZIER, G., SCHAAL, G., POINT, D., LE LOC’H, F., MACHU, E., FALL, M., MUNARON, J.M., BOYÉ, A., WALTER, P., LAË, R. & MORAIS, L.T. 2019. Stable isotope analyses revealed the influence of foraging habitat on mercury accumulation in tropical coastal marine fish. Science of the Total Environment, 650, 2129-2140.). Though concentrations of mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in fish tissues from Dakar landing sites were well within the guideline of 0.5µgg-1 deemed acceptable by the European Union for daily human consumption (Net et al., 2015NET, S., HENRY, F., RABODONIRINA, S., DIOP, M., MERHABY, D., MAHFOUZ, C., AMARA, R. & OUDDANE, B. 2015. Accumulation of PAHs, Me-PAHs, PCBs and total mercury in sediments and marine species in coastal areas of Dakar, Senegal: contamination level and impact. International Journal of Environmental Research, 9(2), 419-432.), care should be taken in the consumption of contaminated fish as the tolerable weekly intake levels of 1.3 μg kg-1 established by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) can easily be exceeded (Le Croizier et al., 2019LE CROIZIER, G., SCHAAL, G., POINT, D., LE LOC’H, F., MACHU, E., FALL, M., MUNARON, J.M., BOYÉ, A., WALTER, P., LAË, R. & MORAIS, L.T. 2019. Stable isotope analyses revealed the influence of foraging habitat on mercury accumulation in tropical coastal marine fish. Science of the Total Environment, 650, 2129-2140.). Significantly, a data gap was identified in terms of heavy metal pollution from other EEZs.

Numerous estuaries and transboundary river systems drain into the CCLME, including the Casamance River, Senegal River, Gambia River, Rio Cacheu, Geba River, Koliba/Corubal River, and Konkoure River. However, basin-scale data on the pollution (nutrients and microplastics) exports of these rivers to the CCLME have not been reported to date.

Marine plastic pollution has increased 10-fold since 1980 (IPBES Global Assessment Report, 2019). In 2010, mismanaged plastic debris from African coastal countries constituted 14% (4.4 million metric tonnes) of the total global waste entering the ocean (Jambeck et al., 2015JAMBECK, J. R., GEYER, R., WILCOX, C., SIEGLER, T. R., PERRYMAN, M., ANDRADY, A., NARAYAN, R. & LAW, K. L. 2015. Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science, 347(6223), 768-771.). In 2019, global plastic production was 368 million tonnes (UNDP, 2021). Plastic debris is the type of land-based pollution that most noticeably affects the ocean and its organisms (Jambeck et al., 2018JAMBECK, J., HARDESTY, B. D., BROOKS, A. L., FRIEND, T., TELEKI, K., FABRES, J., BEAUDOIN, Y., BAMBA, A., FRANCIS, J., RIBBINK, A. J., BALETA, T., BOUWMAN, H., KNOX, J. & WILCOX, C. 2018. Challenges and emerging solutions to the land-based plastic waste issue in Africa. Marine Policy, 96, 256-263.). However, country-level data for plastic debris pollution entering the ocean in West Africa remain limited (Tavares et al., 2020TAVARES, D. C., MOURA, J. F., CEESAY, A. & MERICO, A. 2020. Density and composition of surface and buried plastic debris in beaches of Senegal. Science of the Total Environment, 737, 139633.). Along the beach of Cabo Verde, marine litter also poses challenges to marine wildlife conservation as well as to human health and well-being (Fernandes, 2019FERNANDES, M. F. 2019. Quantification of macro and microplastics on a desert island, Santa Luzia, Cabo Verde Archipelago, North East Atlantic Ocean. MSc. Porto: University of Porto.). A study by Fernandes (2019)FERNANDES, M. F. 2019. Quantification of macro and microplastics on a desert island, Santa Luzia, Cabo Verde Archipelago, North East Atlantic Ocean. MSc. Porto: University of Porto. of three of the most consumed demersal fish (Sparisoma cretense, Cephalopholis taeniops, and Diplodus prayensis) showed that 94.5% (52 of 55) had microplastic (<5 mm in size) in at least one of their tissues, with an average number of 4.8 ± 4.0 pieces of plastic per fish. Furthermore, marine debris on beaches where sea turtles nest extend the time needed for hatchlings to reach the ocean, a journey whose time determines the chance of survival from predators such as birds, ghost crabs, and other animals (Ramos et al., 2012RAMOS, V., LLINÁS, O., CIANCA, A. & MORALES, J. 2012. Variation of the chlorophyll a related to sea surface temperature, wind and geostrophic currents in the Cape Verde region using satellite data. Cabo Verde: Portal do Conhecimento.). On the Senegal beach, plastic accounted for 98% of waste. Densities at a depth of 10 cm were 25 times higher than on the surface, with a significant density difference observed between urban and rural settings (Tavares et al., 2020TAVARES, D. C., MOURA, J. F., CEESAY, A. & MERICO, A. 2020. Density and composition of surface and buried plastic debris in beaches of Senegal. Science of the Total Environment, 737, 139633.). In Guinea Bissau, untreated urban sewers in the central part of the capital are discharged directly into the river. As a result, 70% of solid waste for the urban environment is washed into the ocean during the rainy season (NBSAP Guinea Bissau, 2015). In Guinea, the environmental problems have arisen mostly due to the lack of effective coordination and consultation mechanisms for environmental management (Ukwe and Ibe, 2010UKWE, C. N. & IBE, C. A. 2010. A regional collaborative approach in transboundary pollution management in the guinea current region of western Africa. Ocean & Coastal Management, 53(9), 493-506.). In the capital city, waste systems have not been developed to clear the apparent plastic from the ocean surface (Borowski, 2017BOROWSKI, P. F. 2017. Environmental pollution as a threat to the ecology and development in Guinea Conakry. Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, 28(4), 27-32.). Pollution arising from exploration and mining activities is also a major threat to the ocean (Donkor, 2012) and to public health. Much of the land-based waste in the ocean has been flushed there. It contaminates the shoreline, jeopardises marine and coastal flora and fauna, and negatively affects the livelihoods of locals (Borowski, 2017BOROWSKI, P. F. 2017. Environmental pollution as a threat to the ecology and development in Guinea Conakry. Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, 28(4), 27-32.).

A higher supply of nutrients to the ocean enhances phytoplankton bloom (Chavez and Messié, 2009CHAVEZ, F. P. & MESSIÉ, M. 2009. A comparison of eastern boundary upwelling ecosystems. Progress in Oceanography, 83(1-4), 80-96.). Indeed, the nutrient-rich environments of the CCLME are susceptible to harmful algal blooms (Pitcher and Fraga, 2015PITCHER, G. C. & FRAGA, S. 2015. Harmful algal bloom events in the canary current large marine ecosystem. IOC Technical Series, 115, 175-182.). In the CCLME, such algal blooms have yet to be studied in detail off the coast of Northwest Africa (Trainer et al., 2010; Pitcher and Fraga, 2015PITCHER, G. C. & FRAGA, S. 2015. Harmful algal bloom events in the canary current large marine ecosystem. IOC Technical Series, 115, 175-182.). However, the dense blooms of up to 107 cells/L that typically occur in spring and summer are associated with stratified ocean conditions induced by freshwater runoff (Trainer et al., 2010). Furthermore, several species of dinoflagellates, including Alexandrium, Gymnodinium, and Pyridium species, have been implicated in some form of fish poisoning (Pitcher and Fraga, 2015PITCHER, G. C. & FRAGA, S. 2015. Harmful algal bloom events in the canary current large marine ecosystem. IOC Technical Series, 115, 175-182.).

Atmospheric inputs to the ocean’s surface of mineral aerosols or desert dust, that is soil particles suspended in the atmosphere by strong winds, are a major source of iron (Mahowald et al., 2009MAHOWALD, N. M., ENGELSTAEDTER, S., LUO, C., SEALY, A., ARTAXO, P., BENITEZ-NELSON, C., BONNET, S., CHEN, Y., CHUANG, P. Y., COHEN, D. D. & DULAC, F. 2009. Atmospheric iron deposition: global distribution, variability, and human perturbations. Review of Marine Science, 1(1), 245-278.) and other nutrients that stimulates primary productivity in the CCLME (Gelado-Caballero, 2015GELADO-CABALLERO, M. D. 2015. Saharan dust inputs to the Northeast Atlantic. In: VALDÉS, L. & DÉNIZ-GONZÁLEZ, I. (eds.). Oceanographic and biological features in the canary current large marine ecosystem [online]. Paris: IOC-UNESCO, pp. 53-61. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9176 [Accessed: Day Mo YEAR].
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). Iron is a key determinant of the biological productivity in ocean upwelling systems (Capone et al., 2013CAPONE, D. G. & HUTCHINS, D. A. 2013. Microbial biogeochemistry of coastal upwelling regimes in a changing ocean. Nature Geoscience, 6(9), 711-717.). North Africa accounts for 55% of global dust emissions, with areas of highly active sources being Niger, Mali, and Senegal (Gelado-Caballero, 2015GELADO-CABALLERO, M. D. 2015. Saharan dust inputs to the Northeast Atlantic. In: VALDÉS, L. & DÉNIZ-GONZÁLEZ, I. (eds.). Oceanographic and biological features in the canary current large marine ecosystem [online]. Paris: IOC-UNESCO, pp. 53-61. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9176 [Accessed: Day Mo YEAR].
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). Because of the proximity to the Sahara and Sahel Deserts, mineral aerosol inputs to the CCLME are among the highest of any ocean basin (Arístegui et al., 2009ARÍSTEGUI, J., BARTON, E. D., ÁLVAREZ-SALGADO, X. A., SANTOS, A. M. P., FIGUEIRAS, F. G., KIFANI, S., HERNÁNDEZ-LEÓN, S., MASON, E., MACHÚ, E. & DEMARCQ, H. 2009. Sub-regional ecosystem variability in the Canary Current upwelling. Progress in Oceanography, 83(1-4), 33-48.), making it an iron-rich zone (Capone et al., 2013CAPONE, D. G. & HUTCHINS, D. A. 2013. Microbial biogeochemistry of coastal upwelling regimes in a changing ocean. Nature Geoscience, 6(9), 711-717.). Depending on aridity, annual average dust deposition in the Northeast Atlantic can range from 140 Tg/year to 276 Tg/year (Gelado-Caballero, 2015GELADO-CABALLERO, M. D. 2015. Saharan dust inputs to the Northeast Atlantic. In: VALDÉS, L. & DÉNIZ-GONZÁLEZ, I. (eds.). Oceanographic and biological features in the canary current large marine ecosystem [online]. Paris: IOC-UNESCO, pp. 53-61. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9176 [Accessed: Day Mo YEAR].
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). There are three annual dust seasons: two strong (November-March and May-September) and one low (October-December) (Gelado-Caballero, 2015GELADO-CABALLERO, M. D. 2015. Saharan dust inputs to the Northeast Atlantic. In: VALDÉS, L. & DÉNIZ-GONZÁLEZ, I. (eds.). Oceanographic and biological features in the canary current large marine ecosystem [online]. Paris: IOC-UNESCO, pp. 53-61. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9176 [Accessed: Day Mo YEAR].
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). However, natural climate variability and human land use changes, such as agricultural intensification, deforestation, and any other soil disturbances, can influence dust generation and mineral aerosol entrainment in the atmosphere (Mahowald et al., 2009MAHOWALD, N. M., ENGELSTAEDTER, S., LUO, C., SEALY, A., ARTAXO, P., BENITEZ-NELSON, C., BONNET, S., CHEN, Y., CHUANG, P. Y., COHEN, D. D. & DULAC, F. 2009. Atmospheric iron deposition: global distribution, variability, and human perturbations. Review of Marine Science, 1(1), 245-278.; Gelado-Caballero, 2015GELADO-CABALLERO, M. D. 2015. Saharan dust inputs to the Northeast Atlantic. In: VALDÉS, L. & DÉNIZ-GONZÁLEZ, I. (eds.). Oceanographic and biological features in the canary current large marine ecosystem [online]. Paris: IOC-UNESCO, pp. 53-61. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9176 [Accessed: Day Mo YEAR].
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). The loss of natural vegetative cover exposes soil layers, which results in dry soils and increased dust emissions into the atmosphere.

Forest loss per year was lowest in Mauritania and highest in Guinea Bissau, with a peak in 2013 (Table 4). Ecosystem services from coastal ‘blue’ forests in the CCLME were valued at an estimated USD 18,017 million year and USD 19,351 million year from mangrove and seagrass beds, respectively. However, data on coral reefs have yet to be collected (Trégarot et al., 2020TRÉGAROT, E., TOURON-GARDIC, G., CORNET, C. C. & FAILLER, P. 2020b. Valuation of coastal ecosystem services in the large marine ecosystems of Africa. Environmental Development, 36, 100584.). In Mauritania, fish grounds are mostly near the shore and are associated with seagrass beds (Trégarot et al., 2020TRÉGAROT, E., TOURON-GARDIC, G., CORNET, C. C. & FAILLER, P. 2020b. Valuation of coastal ecosystem services in the large marine ecosystems of Africa. Environmental Development, 36, 100584.), but information on seagrass coverage in the CCLME countries is lacking. In terms of mangrove coverage, the countries associated with the CCLME, excluding Cabo Verde and Mauritania (no available data), had approximately 5,464 km2 of area as of 2013 (Table 3), which represents approximately 37% of the total mangrove coverage of West African countries, estimated at 14,753.44 km2 (Hu et al., 2020HU, T., ZHANG, Y., SU, Y., ZHENG, Y., LIN, G. & GUO, Q. 2020. Mapping the global mangrove forest aboveground biomass using multisource remote sensing data. Remote Sensing, 12(10), 1690.). The highest mangrove area extension between 2000 and 2013 was observed in The Gambia (Figure 3). Nearly 10% of Guinea Bissau is covered by mangroves, but forest fires destroy 1.2 km2 of these annually. Additionally, whole trees are cut down in some areas during oyster harvesting (INDC, 2015bREPUBLIC OF GUINEA-BISSAU. Ministério do Ambiente e Biodiversidade. 2015b. Intended nationally determined contribution of Guinea-Bissau [online]. Guinea-Bissau: Ministério do Ambiente e Biodiversidade. Available at: https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/submissions/INDC/Published%20Documents/Guinea%20Bissau/1/GUINEA-BISSAU_INDC_Version%20to%20the%20UNFCCC%20(eng).pdf [Accessed: 31 Dec 2020].
https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/submission...
). Wet rice cultivation, or rice paddy farms, grown by the Balanta ethnic group within mangroves areas account for 80% of annual rice production (yields of 1,700-2,600 kg/ha) (NBSAP Guinea Bissau, 2015). Mangrove areas are favourable for farming because they do not require additional fertilisers and demand relatively little water (NBSAP Guinea Bissau, 2015). However, these farming practises are damaging to mangroves.

Table 4
Yearly forest loss (km2) in the CCLME focus countries (data source: University of Maryland/hansen/global_forest_change_2019_v1_7).

In 2007, mangroves covered 2,039 km2 of the coastline of Guinea (Feka and Ajonina, 2011FEKA, N. Z. & AJONINA, G. N. 2011. Drivers causing decline of mangrove in West-Central Africa: a review. International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management, 7(3), 217-230.), but by 2013 only 1,736 km2 remained (Tappan et al. 2016TAPPAN, G. G., CUSHING, W. M., COTILLON, S. E., MATHIS, M. L., HUTCHINSON, J. A. & DALSTED, K. J. 2016. West Africa land use land cover time series: US Geological Survey data release. Science Data Base, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5066/F73N21JF
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). Coastal development activities have indisputably contributed to the stripping of mangrove forests in Guinea. A clear example is the development of the Kamsar port, which resulted in the loss of approximately 700 km2 of mangrove forests (Feka and Ajonina, 2011FEKA, N. Z. & AJONINA, G. N. 2011. Drivers causing decline of mangrove in West-Central Africa: a review. International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management, 7(3), 217-230.).

3. Contributions of marine resources to individuals and national economies

3.1. Socioeconomic considerations

Though the focus countries discussed herein are linked by the CCLME, they differ in terms of social, political, economic, and environmental contexts (Table 1). Except for Cabo Verde, these are designated among the least developed countries by the United Nations, feature extreme poverty, and have annual gross national incomes of USD 1,035 or less. Cabo Verde greatest source of wealth is the ocean. Per capita consumption of fishery resources increased from 23.0 kg to 26.5 kg between 2003 and 2011 (Medina and Gomes, 2015). Approximately 78 coastal communities depend on fishing as the primary source of income (Varela et al., 2011VARELA, A., DELGADO, A., CRUZ, E., LOPES, I., CORREIA, M. A., DUARTE, O. & CORREIA, S. 2011. Análise das instituições e políticas de pesca em Cabo Verde. Mindelo: Réseau sur les Politiques de Pêche en Afrique de l’Ouest.). According to a general fleet census (Varela et al., 2011VARELA, A., DELGADO, A., CRUZ, E., LOPES, I., CORREIA, M. A., DUARTE, O. & CORREIA, S. 2011. Análise das instituições e políticas de pesca em Cabo Verde. Mindelo: Réseau sur les Politiques de Pêche en Afrique de l’Ouest.), between July and August 2011, artisanal fleets were comprised of 1,239 boats, with 3,717 fishermen aged 12-87 and 987 fisherwomen aged 16-76. More recently, Gonzalez et al. (2020)GONZÁLEZ, J. A., MONTEIRO, C. A., CORREIA, S., LOPES, E., ALMEIDA, N., MARTINS, A., GAZTANAGA, I., GONZALEZ-LORENZO, G., ARENAS-RUIZ, R., TEJERA, G. & LORENZO, J. M. 2020. Current and emerging small-scale fisheries and target species in Cabo Verde, with recommendations for pilot actions favouring sustainable development. Cybium, 44(4), 355-371. reported that in 2017, there were 1,588 boats and 5,078 fishers in the national small-scale fishing sector, that is, within three nautical miles, with earnings ranging from USD 23 to 47 per week per fisherman, based on data collected from the National Directorate of Marine Economy. Adopting fishing as a profession was driven mainly by long-standing family tradition; 47% of fishers belonged to this category (Varela et al., 2011VARELA, A., DELGADO, A., CRUZ, E., LOPES, I., CORREIA, M. A., DUARTE, O. & CORREIA, S. 2011. Análise das instituições e políticas de pesca em Cabo Verde. Mindelo: Réseau sur les Politiques de Pêche en Afrique de l’Ouest.). Alternatively, 32% became fishers due to a lack of alternative sustenance and livelihood, 20% because of passion, and only 2% for profit. Of the women fishers, 53.6% sought to maintain family tradition, 18% lacked alternatives, 11% found that fishing with other women provided much needed peer support, while others reasons included family support and taste (Varela et al., 2011VARELA, A., DELGADO, A., CRUZ, E., LOPES, I., CORREIA, M. A., DUARTE, O. & CORREIA, S. 2011. Análise das instituições e políticas de pesca em Cabo Verde. Mindelo: Réseau sur les Politiques de Pêche en Afrique de l’Ouest.). Gomes and Medina (2015) reported that fisheries contribute between 2% and 10% to GDP. However, this depends on the activities considered: primary (fish harvesting), auxiliary (post-harvest processing and sales), or associated activities (tourism, shipbuilding, and production of fishing nets and gear) (Monteiro, 2012). Tuna fisheries account for 85% of exports (Lopes et al., 2019LOPES, F., CALADO, H. & VERGILLO, M. 2019. Stakeholder perceptions on the maritime economy and planning in Cabo Verde. LEMAR [online]. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333321326_Stakeholder_perceptions_on_the_maritime_economy_and_planning_in_Cabo_Verde [Accessed: 17 Oct 2021].
https://www.researchgate.net/publication...
).

In Mauritania, the average seafood consumption per capita is estimated at 8-10 kg per year, predominantly from the artisanal sector, but reaches as high as 20 kg per year in the coastal cities of Nouakchott and Nouadhibou (FAO, 2019bFAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2019b. Fishery 0and aquaculture country profiles Mauritania [online]. Rome: FAO Publishing. Available at: https://www.fao.org/fishery/countryprofiles/search/en [Accessed: 15 Mar 2021].
https://www.fao.org/fishery/countryprofi...
). The Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC, 2016) reported that fisheries amounted to 6% of the national GDP in 2013. In 2018, employment in the fishing sector was estimated at 180,420 people (FAO, 2019bFAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2019b. Fishery 0and aquaculture country profiles Mauritania [online]. Rome: FAO Publishing. Available at: https://www.fao.org/fishery/countryprofiles/search/en [Accessed: 15 Mar 2021].
https://www.fao.org/fishery/countryprofi...
).

In Senegal, in 2013 (FAO, 2019cFAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2019c. Fishery and aquaculture country profiles Senegal [online]. Rome: FAO Publishing. Available at: https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/facp/195?lang=en [Accessed: 15 Mar 2021].
https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/facp/195?...
) and 2019 (Greenpeace, 2019GREENPEACE. 2019. A waste of fish - food security under threat from fishmeal and fish oil industry in West Africa. Netherlands: Greenpeace International.), fish and seafood contributed to approximately 43% and 70% of animal protein intake, respectively. However, 75% of households still suffer from chronic poverty (WFP, 2018). Yearly per capita seafood consumption increased from 23.9 kg in 2017 (FAO, 2019cFAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2019c. Fishery and aquaculture country profiles Senegal [online]. Rome: FAO Publishing. Available at: https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/facp/195?lang=en [Accessed: 15 Mar 2021].
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) to 29.9 kg in 2019 (Greenpeace, 2019GREENPEACE. 2019. A waste of fish - food security under threat from fishmeal and fish oil industry in West Africa. Netherlands: Greenpeace International.). In 2015, the sector provided more than 53,100 direct and an estimated 540,000 indirect jobs, mainly in artisanal fishing and processing (FAO, 2019cFAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2019c. Fishery and aquaculture country profiles Senegal [online]. Rome: FAO Publishing. Available at: https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/facp/195?lang=en [Accessed: 15 Mar 2021].
https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/facp/195?...
). In 2015, fisheries accounted for approximately 3.2% of national GDP (FAO, 2017FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2017. Fishery and aquaculture country profiles Senegal [online]. Rome: FAO Publishing. Available at: https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/facp/195?lang=en [Accessed: 15 Mar 2021].
https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/facp/195?...
). Threats to the sector include the construction of fishmeal factories along the coast and near landing sites, which has increased fishing pressure on small pelagics since 2010 (Mbaye, 2018MBAYE, A. 2018. Pêche artisanale sénégalaise et gouvernance du changement climatique [thesis]. Paris: Muséum National, d’Histoire Naturelle, Ecole Doctorale Sciences de la Nature et de l’Homme - ED 227.). Furthermore, local fishers face difficulties finding fish due to sophisticated industrial fishing fleets in the artisanal zones, and sometimes encounter foreign ships that wreck their nets. This leads to conflict, frustration, and the potential loss of livelihood and food security (Jönsson, 2019JÖNSSON, J. H. 2019. Overfishing, social problems, and ecosocial sustainability in Senegalese fishing communities. Journal of Community Practice, 27(3-4), 213-230.). Given that the majority of Senegalese depend on fishery, overfishing of small pelagics and other marine resources has contributed to a rise in poverty and the forced migration of fishers (Jönsson and Kamali, 2012JÖNSSON, J. H. & KAMALI, M. 2012. Fishing for development: a question for social work. International Social Work, 55(4), 504-521.). The depletion of marine biological stocks has driven fisherfolk further into the ocean, with most now positioned up to 30 nautical miles from their community of origin (Binet et al., 2012BINET, T., FAILLER, P. & THORPE, A. 2012. Migration of Senegalese fishers: a case for regional approach to management. Maritime Studies, 11(1), 1-14, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/2212-9790-11-1
https://doi.org/10.1186/2212-9790-11-1...
). These movements could be for multiple reasons, including a number of fishing techniques (Binet et al., 2012BINET, T., FAILLER, P. & THORPE, A. 2012. Migration of Senegalese fishers: a case for regional approach to management. Maritime Studies, 11(1), 1-14, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/2212-9790-11-1
https://doi.org/10.1186/2212-9790-11-1...
) and trans-shipment operations, i.e. the transfer of fish to larger vessels at sea (Interpol, 2014INTERPOL, 2014. Study on Fisheries Crime in the West African Coastal Region. Available at: https://www.interpol.int/content/download/5144/file/INTERPOL%20Study%20on%20Fisheries%20Crime%20in%20the%20West%20African%20Coastal%20Region%20EN.pdf [Accessed: 6 Feb 2022]
https://www.interpol.int/content/downloa...
; Daniels et al., 2016DANIELS, A., GUTIÉRREZ, M., FANJUL, G., GUEREÑA, A., MATHESON, I. & WATKINS, K. 2016. Western Africa’s missing fish: the impacts of unreported and unregulated fishing and under-reporting catches by foreign fleets. London: Overseas Development Institute.). Today, the depletion of CCLME fish stock is linked to an increase in illegal fishing (Interpol, 2014INTERPOL, 2014. Study on Fisheries Crime in the West African Coastal Region. Available at: https://www.interpol.int/content/download/5144/file/INTERPOL%20Study%20on%20Fisheries%20Crime%20in%20the%20West%20African%20Coastal%20Region%20EN.pdf [Accessed: 6 Feb 2022]
https://www.interpol.int/content/downloa...
). If nothing is done to address the societal issue of fisher migration, fishers will be forced to travel longer distances and to increase efforts to catch rare species and smaller fish using prohibited techniques. Some fisherfolk have already begun long illegal migrations to Europe, while others leave Senegal and Mauritania yearly to fish in the Canary Islands, Morocco, or Spain (Binet et al., 2012BINET, T., FAILLER, P. & THORPE, A. 2012. Migration of Senegalese fishers: a case for regional approach to management. Maritime Studies, 11(1), 1-14, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/2212-9790-11-1
https://doi.org/10.1186/2212-9790-11-1...
).

In The Gambia, fish account for 40% of national protein intake (Ragusa, 2014RAGUSA, G. 2014. Overview of the fisheries sector in the Gambia. Fisheries and Aquaculture Journal, 5(3), 1-4.). In 2016, per capita fish consumption was 28.3 kg (FAO, 2016FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2016. AQUASTAT main database [online]. Rome: FAO. Available at: http://www.fao.org/aquastat/en/ [Accessed: 12 Dez 2020].
http://www.fao.org/aquastat/en/...
), which was higher than the annual average of 20.3 kg. In 2015, fisheries represented 1.8% of GDP (FAO, 2018aFAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2018a. Fishery and aquaculture country profiles Cabo Verde [online]. Rome: FAO Publishing. Available at: http://www.fao.org/fishery/ [Accessed: 15 Mar 2021].
http://www.fao.org/fishery/...
). Inland waters also contribute significantly to the total production of fisheries. In 2015, 4,659 fishers were employed in the sector, 3,237 and 1,422 in marine and inland waters, respectively (FAO, 2018aFAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2018a. Fishery and aquaculture country profiles Cabo Verde [online]. Rome: FAO Publishing. Available at: http://www.fao.org/fishery/ [Accessed: 15 Mar 2021].
http://www.fao.org/fishery/...
). In Guinea Bissau, approximately 69.3% of the population live below the international poverty line of USD 1.90 per day, whereas 33% are extremely poor (Light Survey on Poverty Assessment, ILAP II, 2010 in INDC, 2015bREPUBLIC OF GUINEA-BISSAU. Ministério do Ambiente e Biodiversidade. 2015b. Intended nationally determined contribution of Guinea-Bissau [online]. Guinea-Bissau: Ministério do Ambiente e Biodiversidade. Available at: https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/submissions/INDC/Published%20Documents/Guinea%20Bissau/1/GUINEA-BISSAU_INDC_Version%20to%20the%20UNFCCC%20(eng).pdf [Accessed: 31 Dec 2020].
https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/submission...
). The highest proportion of poor households, 39.6%, was recorded within the agriculture and fishing employment sectors (INDC, 2015bREPUBLIC OF GUINEA-BISSAU. Ministério do Ambiente e Biodiversidade. 2015b. Intended nationally determined contribution of Guinea-Bissau [online]. Guinea-Bissau: Ministério do Ambiente e Biodiversidade. Available at: https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/submissions/INDC/Published%20Documents/Guinea%20Bissau/1/GUINEA-BISSAU_INDC_Version%20to%20the%20UNFCCC%20(eng).pdf [Accessed: 31 Dec 2020].
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). In 2016, fish consumption per capita was estimated to be relatively low at 1.3 kg (FAO, 2018bFAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2018b. Fishery and aquaculture country profiles Gambia [online]. Rome: FAO Publishing. Available at: https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/facp/75/en [Accessed: 15 Mar 2021].
https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/facp/75/e...
). Indeed, bivalves and gastropods are the main protein source for the Bijagós population, though data on these gastropods is lacking (NBSAP Guinea Bissau, 2015). Fish protein represents only 0.8% of total protein in the diet. Fishing is practised by farmers in the off season, as they migrate to Bijagós’ archipelago during the dry season (targeting mostly elasmobranchs, pelagic sharks, and rays for their fins) and return to grow rice during the wet season (Tedsen et al., 2014TEDSEN, E., BOTELER, B., MCGLADE, K., SREBOTNJAK, T. & ABHOLD, K. 2014. Marine resource management and coastal livelihoods: an Atlantic perspective. Atlantic Future, Scientific Paper, 15, 1-66.). Fisheries employ approximately 2.0% and 5.2% of the total population and active population, respectively, with the potential value of fish estimated at between USD 150-200 million Biai (2009)BIAI, I. A. R. F. 2009. Efeitos das alterações climáticas na zona costeira noroeste da Guiné Bissau [online]. MSc. Lisbon: UST (Universidade Técnica de Lisboa). Available at: http://www.civil.ist.utl.pt/shrha-gdambiente/DM_IB.pdf [Accessed: 12 Dec 2020].
http://www.civil.ist.utl.pt/shrha-gdambi...
. The number of artisanal fishers employed ranges from five to eight per canoe, or ‘pirogue,’ earning an average of 161 USD per month, whereas the person in charge earns between USD 275-344 from fish sales (Cassamá, 2017CASSAMÁ, J. B. F. 2017. Análise do setor da pesca artesanal em Guiné Bissau: impactos e perspectivas. BSc. Florianópolis: UFSC (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina).). The rich marine resources of Guinea Bissau have contributed little to national economic development. In fact, these resources have been extensively exploited by foreign countries, whether through bilateral agreements (Figure 4) or simply through illegal and unregulated fishing (Intchama and Araújo, 2010INTCHAMA, J. F. & ARAÚJO, R. C. P. 2010. Análise da produção e economia do setor pesqueiro de Guinée Bissau, costa ocidental da África. In: Congresso da Sociedade Brasileira de Economia, Administração e Sociologia Rural (SOBER), 25-28 Jul 2010, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Campo Grande: SOBER, pp. 1-19.; Dias, 2016DIAS, E. 2016. Caracterização da comunidade de pequenos peixes pelágicos e da dieta do predador; Caranx hippos, no Parque Nacional Marinho João Vieira Poilão, Guiné-Bissau [online]. DSc. Lisbon: Universidade de Lisboa. Available at: https://repositorio.ul.pt/handle/10451/26431 [Accessed: 22 Dec 2020].
https://repositorio.ul.pt/handle/10451/2...
). The fisheries sector in Guinea Bissau accounts for 3.3% of GDP. Fish exports represent up to 50% of government revenue, mainly from agreements and licences issued to foreign-flagged industrial vessels (Tedsen et al., 2014TEDSEN, E., BOTELER, B., MCGLADE, K., SREBOTNJAK, T. & ABHOLD, K. 2014. Marine resource management and coastal livelihoods: an Atlantic perspective. Atlantic Future, Scientific Paper, 15, 1-66.; Cassamá, 2017CASSAMÁ, J. B. F. 2017. Análise do setor da pesca artesanal em Guiné Bissau: impactos e perspectivas. BSc. Florianópolis: UFSC (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina).). The fisheries sector also makes significant contributions to food security and employment (Cassamá, 2017CASSAMÁ, J. B. F. 2017. Análise do setor da pesca artesanal em Guiné Bissau: impactos e perspectivas. BSc. Florianópolis: UFSC (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina).). In 2015, one in two persons lived on less than USD 1 per day, and approximately 55% of the population lived below the poverty line (SRFC, 2016). In 2016, annual per capita fish consumption was low, at an estimated 9.8 kg (FAO, 2019aFAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2019a. Profils de la pêche et de l'aquaculture par pays Guinée. Fiches d’information Profils de pays [online]. Rome: FAO Publishing. Available at: https://www.fao.org/fishery/countryprofiles/search/en [Accessed: 15 Mar 2021].
https://www.fao.org/fishery/countryprofi...
). Nevertheless, the fisheries sector is one of the major providers of direct and indirect employment to an estimated 150,000 people (FAO, 2019aFAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2019a. Profils de la pêche et de l'aquaculture par pays Guinée. Fiches d’information Profils de pays [online]. Rome: FAO Publishing. Available at: https://www.fao.org/fishery/countryprofiles/search/en [Accessed: 15 Mar 2021].
https://www.fao.org/fishery/countryprofi...
). According to the SRFC (2016), fisheries represent approximately 2% of GDP because of artisanal fisheries and the aforementioned employment levels.

In the CCLME, as in other LMEs, illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing, sometimes known as pirate fishing, is a major concern (Diop et al., 2011DIOP, S., ARTHURTON, R., SCHEREN, P., KITHEKA, J., KORANTENG, K. & PAYET, R. 2011. The coastal and marine environment of western and eastern Africa: challenges to sustainable management and socioeconomic development. In: WOLANSKI, e. & MCLUSKY, D. S. (eds.). Treatise on estuarine and coastal science. Waltham: Academic Press, pp. 315-335.; Martini, 2013MARTINI, M. 2013. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and corruption. U4 Expert Answer, 392(9), 1-9.; Watkins, 2014WATKINS, K. 2014. Grain, fish money: financing Africa’s green and blue revolutions. Nigeria: Africa Progress Panel.; Daniels et al., 2016DANIELS, A., GUTIÉRREZ, M., FANJUL, G., GUEREÑA, A., MATHESON, I. & WATKINS, K. 2016. Western Africa’s missing fish: the impacts of unreported and unregulated fishing and under-reporting catches by foreign fleets. London: Overseas Development Institute.). Developing countries with weak governance are the most vulnerable to IUU fishing by both domestic and international fishers. IUU is inversely proportional to governance indicators, i.e., nations in Africa and Asia with the worst governance indicators have the largest IUU (Childs and Hicks, 2019CHILDS, J. R. & HICKS, C. C. 2019. Securing the blue: political ecologies of the blue economy in Africa. Journal of Political Ecology, 26(1), 323-340.). When combined with weak governance, corruption in the form of bribery, favouritism, political influence, and other conflicts of interest (common in IUU fishing in Africa) facilitate illegal activities (Martini, 2013MARTINI, M. 2013. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and corruption. U4 Expert Answer, 392(9), 1-9.). Illegal fishing offences include fishing in protected or prohibited territorial waters, fishing without a licence or with a fraudulent licence, using prohibited gear, catching beyond legal limits, under-reporting catch, and harvesting protected species (Daniels et al., 2016DANIELS, A., GUTIÉRREZ, M., FANJUL, G., GUEREÑA, A., MATHESON, I. & WATKINS, K. 2016. Western Africa’s missing fish: the impacts of unreported and unregulated fishing and under-reporting catches by foreign fleets. London: Overseas Development Institute.; Standing, 2017STANDING, A. 2017. Criminality in Africa’s fishing industry: a threat to human security. Africa Security Briefs, (33), 1.). The incursion of foreign industrial fleets into waters reserved for artisanal small-scale fisheries fleets could be a potential source of conflict between artisanal fishers, industrial domestic, and foreign fleets (Belhabib et al., 2020BELHABIB, D., CHEUNG, W. W., KROODSMA, D., LAM, V. W. Y., UNDERWOOD, P. J. & VIRDIN, J. 2020. Catching industrial fishing incursions into inshore waters of Africa from space. Fish and Fisheries, 21(2), 379-392.).

To mitigate conflicts and competition between industrial fleets and artisanal fisheries, some countries have designated complete or partial inshore fishing areas with widths between 11-22 km from the coastline to the sea. In Cabo Verde, for instance, fishing by industrial foreign fleets is entirely prohibited in territorial waters (Belhabib et al., 2020BELHABIB, D., CHEUNG, W. W., KROODSMA, D., LAM, V. W. Y., UNDERWOOD, P. J. & VIRDIN, J. 2020. Catching industrial fishing incursions into inshore waters of Africa from space. Fish and Fisheries, 21(2), 379-392.). However, monitoring, controlling, and surveillance (MCS) of these areas is inadequate in most countries; foreign incursions persist (Belhabib et al., 2020BELHABIB, D., CHEUNG, W. W., KROODSMA, D., LAM, V. W. Y., UNDERWOOD, P. J. & VIRDIN, J. 2020. Catching industrial fishing incursions into inshore waters of Africa from space. Fish and Fisheries, 21(2), 379-392.). Though Guinea Bissau has a heavy presence of foreign fleets, the majority is unaccounted for in the official registry (Intchama et al., 2018INTCHAMA, J. F., BELHABIB, D. & JUMPE, R. J. T. 2018. Assessing Guinea Bissau’s legal and illegal unreported and unregulated fisheries and the surveillance efforts to tackle them. Frontiers in Marine Science, 5, 79.).

West Africa has some of the world’s highest rates of IUU fishery activity (Watkins, 2014WATKINS, K. 2014. Grain, fish money: financing Africa’s green and blue revolutions. Nigeria: Africa Progress Panel.). In the region, fish catches are up to 40% higher than reported (Agnew et al., 2009AGNEW, D. J., PEARCE, J., PRAMOD, G., PEATMAN, T., WATSON, R., BEDDINGTON, J. R. & PITCHER, T. J. 2009. Estimating the worldwide extent of illegal fishing. PloS One, 4(2), e4570.; Watkins, 2014WATKINS, K. 2014. Grain, fish money: financing Africa’s green and blue revolutions. Nigeria: Africa Progress Panel.). In Mauritania, the lack of data on traditional artisanal fishing is a barrier to the sector’s growth (Niang, 2009NIANG, N. A. 2009. Dynamique socio-environnementale et développement local des régions côtières du Sénégal: l’exemple de la pêche artisanale. DSc. Rouen: Université de Rouen.). In Cabo Verde, long-term data on fisheries catch is lacking, as is the availability of effective monitoring and surveillance systems (Lopes et al., 2019LOPES, F., CALADO, H. & VERGILLO, M. 2019. Stakeholder perceptions on the maritime economy and planning in Cabo Verde. LEMAR [online]. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333321326_Stakeholder_perceptions_on_the_maritime_economy_and_planning_in_Cabo_Verde [Accessed: 17 Oct 2021].
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). In Senegal, IUU loss in 2012 was estimated at USD 300 million, equivalent to 2% of GDP (Koutob et al., 2013), and artisanal fishing is significantly underreported. Unreported stocks have reached four times the official data, though this has recently improved to approximately 1.6 times (Belhabib et al., 2014BELHABIB, D., KOUTOB, V., SALL, A., LAM, V. W. Y. & PAULY, D. 2014. Fisheries catch misreporting and its implications: the case of Senegal. Fisheries Research, 151, 1-11.). In The Gambia, local fish catches were also underreported to the FAO; fish catches were actually twice the reported values (Belhabib et al., 2014BELHABIB, D., KOUTOB, V., SALL, A., LAM, V. W. Y. & PAULY, D. 2014. Fisheries catch misreporting and its implications: the case of Senegal. Fisheries Research, 151, 1-11., 2016). In particular, there is a current lack of knowledge on the state of fish stocks in The Gambia (NDP, 2018), where fishery statistics are outdated and an institutional reappraisal to stem fish stock underreporting is needed (Belhabib et al., 2015BELHABIB, D., SUMAILA, U. R. & PAULY, D. 2015. Feeding the poor: contribution of West African fisheries to employment and food security. Ocean & Coastal Management, 111, 72-81., 2016BELHABIB, D., MENDY, A., SUBAH, Y., BROH, N. T., JUESEAH, A. S., NIPEY, N., BOEH, W. W., WILLEMSE, N., ZELLER, D. & PAULY, D. 2016a. Fisheries catch under-reporting in The Gambia, Liberia and Namibia and the three large marine ecosystems which they represent. Environmental Development, 17, 157-174.). Furthermore, records are sparse from the equally important post-harvest sector including unloading, processing, and marketing (Sambe et al., 2011SAMBE, B., LYMER, B. L., CARAMELO, A. M. & TANDSTAD, M. 2011. Reversing the degradation of the Canary current large marine ecosystem. In: ICES Annual Science Conference, 20-24 Sep 2010, Gdańsk, Poland. Gdańsk: ICES, pp. 19-23.). In Guinea Bissau, industrial fisheries generated over USD 458 million from its EEZ, of which USD 75 million was taken illegally and only 40% of catches were reported (Intchama et al., 2018INTCHAMA, J. F., BELHABIB, D. & JUMPE, R. J. T. 2018. Assessing Guinea Bissau’s legal and illegal unreported and unregulated fisheries and the surveillance efforts to tackle them. Frontiers in Marine Science, 5, 79.). In 2017, total catch was 370,000 tonnes/year. However, less than 2% was reported to the FAO (Intchama et al., 2018INTCHAMA, J. F., BELHABIB, D. & JUMPE, R. J. T. 2018. Assessing Guinea Bissau’s legal and illegal unreported and unregulated fisheries and the surveillance efforts to tackle them. Frontiers in Marine Science, 5, 79.). Knowledge gaps on fishery resources in Guinea Bissau can be attributed to political instability, lack of good socioeconomic governance, and resource management (Cabral, 2015CABRAL, J. P. 2015. El sector pesquero artesanal de Guiné- Bissau. MSc. Alacant: Universitat d’Alacant. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10045/52771 [Accessed: 30 Dec 2020].
http://hdl.handle.net/10045/52771...
). Pandemics have also hampered conservation efforts. The annual regional cost of illegal fishing in West Africa was estimated at USD 2.3 billion during 2010-2016 (Doumbouya et al., 2017DOUMBOUYA, A., CAMARA, O. T., MAMIE, J., INTCHAMA, J. F., JARRA, A., CEESAY, S., GUÈYE, A., NDIAYE, D., BEIBOU, E., PADILLA, A. & BELHABIB, D. 2017. Assessing the effectiveness of monitoring control and surveillance of illegal fishing: the case of West Africa. Frontiers in Marine Science, 4, 50.; Bähr, 2018BÄHR, U. 2018. Atlas de L’Océan Faits et chiffres sur les menaces qui pèsent sur nos écosystèmes marins. Paris: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Schleswig-Holstein.), but at that time the loss was particularly high in Guinea, one of the countries affected by the Ebola crisis (Doumbouya et al., 2017DOUMBOUYA, A., CAMARA, O. T., MAMIE, J., INTCHAMA, J. F., JARRA, A., CEESAY, S., GUÈYE, A., NDIAYE, D., BEIBOU, E., PADILLA, A. & BELHABIB, D. 2017. Assessing the effectiveness of monitoring control and surveillance of illegal fishing: the case of West Africa. Frontiers in Marine Science, 4, 50.).

In addition, recreational fishing (for leisure) in West Africa has expanded over the years, with annual unreported catches reaching 34,000 tonnes, equivalent to USD 152 million in revenue (Belhabib et al., 2016aBELHABIB, D., MENDY, A., SUBAH, Y., BROH, N. T., JUESEAH, A. S., NIPEY, N., BOEH, W. W., WILLEMSE, N., ZELLER, D. & PAULY, D. 2016a. Fisheries catch under-reporting in The Gambia, Liberia and Namibia and the three large marine ecosystems which they represent. Environmental Development, 17, 157-174.). This sector is often assumed to have an insignificant impact on fisheries. However, it accounts for 1%, 141%, 17%, 278%, and 25% of artisanal fishers in Mauritania, Cabo Verde, Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea Bissau, respectively. Nevertheless, the accounting of fish stocks has improved in general across the CCLME countries. For example, the total landings reported to the FAO by these countries has increased from 22% to 69% between 1970 and 2008 (Caramelo, 2010CARAMELO, A. 2010. Resources and fisheries in the CCLME - some perspectives of management. In: Report of the CCLME Inception Workshop, 2-3 Nov 2010, Dakar, Senegal. Dakar: CCLME, pp. 1-34.; FAO, 2010FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2010. FishStat Plus - Universal software for fishery statistical time series highlights [online]. Dakar: FAO Publishing. Available at: http://www.fao.org/fishery/statistics/software/fishstat/en [Accessed: 15 Mar 2021].
http://www.fao.org/fishery/statistics/so...
).

3.2. Management frameworks and policy instruments governing access to the CCLME, its uses and its conservation

In these West African countries, there are international (conventions on biodiversity, pollution, and fishing agreements), national (laws, decrees, and orders), and even local (co-management agreements, such as of artisanal fisheries) laws governing the management of the coastal and marine environment (Le Tixerant et al., 2020LE TIXERANT, M., BONNIN, M., GOURMELON, F., RAGUENEAU, O., ROUAN, M., LY, I., OULD ZEIN, A., NDIAYE, F., DIEDHIOU, M., NDAO, S. & NDIAYE, M. B. 2020. Atlas cartographiques du droit de l’environnement marin en Afrique de l’Ouest. Méthodologie et usage pour la planification spatiale. European Journal of Geography, 112.). At the international level, the UNCLOS provides an overarching legal framework for ocean governance. Given the interconnectedness of the ocean, appropriate regional governance frameworks have been created to address its sustainability and that of its resources. At a regional level, in the CCLME, all the focus countries, including Cabo Verde in 2019, are signatories to regional conventions and agreements, including the Convention for Cooperation in the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Atlantic Coast of the West, Central and Southern Africa Region, and a protocol for cooperation in combating pollution in cases of emergency (the Abidjan Convention). The Abidjan Convention provides a regional framework for combating pollution as well as for protecting and developing the marine environment and coastal areas. Other regional conventions include the Regional Partnership for Coastal and Marine Conservation, a sub-regional coalition of actors (including Mauritania, Cabo Verde, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, and Sierra Leone) working on the problems of the West African coastline. In addition, the focus countries have adopted other regional management tools including marine protected areas (MPAs).

Consistent with the requirements of overlapping conservation objectives in international agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, 2010CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity). 2010. Strategic plan for biodiversity 2011-2020, including Aichi biodiversity targets. Montreal: CBD Secretariat.) Aichi biodiversity target, goal 11, which states that ‘by 2020, […] at least 10% of marine and coastal areas […] are conserved through ecologically representative and well-connected networks of protected areas managed efficiently and equitably and other effective conservation measures by zone,’ and the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14.5, which is to ‘conserve at least 10% of coastal and marine areas […],’ governments are now designating protected areas (defined as a ‘geographically defined area, which is designated or regulated and managed to achieve conservation objectives’ (Article 2 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD)). Area-based conservation will likely remain the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation long into the 21st century (Maxwell et al., 2020MAXWELL, S. L., CAZALIS, V., DUDLEY, N., HOFFMANN, M., RODRIGUES, A. S., STOLTON, S., VISCONTI, P., WOODLEY, S., KINGSTON, N., LEWIS, E. & MARON, M. 2020. Area-based conservation in the twenty-first century. Nature, 586(7828), 217-227.). The metric of compliance is marine protected area (MPA) coverage. The Banc d’Arguin National Park in Mauritania is Africa’s largest marine park, covering 5,600 km2 of the 150,000 km2 EEZ (Binet et al., 2013BINET, T., FAILLER, P., CHAVANCE, P. N. & MAYIF, M. A. 2013. First international payment for marine ecosystem services: the case of the Banc d’Arguin National Park, Mauritania. Global Environmental Change, 23(6), 1434-1443, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.09.015
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013...
). Guinea Bissau is a net GHG sink, with MPAs covering 12.6% of the country’s land area (INDC, 2015bREPUBLIC OF GUINEA-BISSAU. Ministério do Ambiente e Biodiversidade. 2015b. Intended nationally determined contribution of Guinea-Bissau [online]. Guinea-Bissau: Ministério do Ambiente e Biodiversidade. Available at: https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/submissions/INDC/Published%20Documents/Guinea%20Bissau/1/GUINEA-BISSAU_INDC_Version%20to%20the%20UNFCCC%20(eng).pdf [Accessed: 31 Dec 2020].
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). Rio Cacheu, considered one of Guinea Bissau’s richest fishing regions, is home to the Mangrove National Park (Fernandes, 2012FERNANDES, R. 2012. Job satisfaction in the marine and estuarine fisheries of Guinea-Bissau. Social Indicators Research, 109(1), 11-23.). Protected areas are used as policy instruments to preserve biological resources and are strongly supported by governments. Indeed, close to 13% of the area under national jurisdiction is under conservation to protect biodiversity, including the Bolama-Bijagós islands, a UNESCO Man and Biosphere site, and several other islands, which are RAMSAR sites (NBSAP Guinea Bissau, 2015). The government also promotes local conservation efforts (customary laws). For example, in the coastal communities of Felupe and Bijagós’, oysters are only harvested during the dry season, and cutting down mangrove roots is forbidden (NBSAP Guinea Bissau, 2015). Studies of the CCLME countries (Failler et al., 2018FAILLER, P., SADIO, O. & TOURON-GARDIC, G., 2018. État de référence des aires marines protégées du RAMPAO. Dakar, Senegal. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337679230_Etat_de_reference_des_aires_marines_protegees_du_RAMPAO [Accessed: 30 Dec 2020].
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, 2020FAILLER, P. 2020. Fisheries of the canary current large marine ecosystem: from capture to trade with a consideration of migratory fisheries. Environmental Development, 17, 100573.) have found that, although progress has been made, none of the countries has yet reached the 10% Aichi target. Cabo Verde, which has the most MPAs in the region at 29, but only 1% coverage, would need to increase MPA area by 70 times to meet this goal (Failler, 2020FAILLER, P. 2020. Fisheries of the canary current large marine ecosystem: from capture to trade with a consideration of migratory fisheries. Environmental Development, 17, 100573.), which is understandable given that marine areas constitute up to 90% of its national jurisdiction. For other countries to meet the target, Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Guinea must increase their MPAs by 3.0, 6.2, 100, 4.7, and 10.0 times, respectively (Failler, 2020FAILLER, P. 2020. Fisheries of the canary current large marine ecosystem: from capture to trade with a consideration of migratory fisheries. Environmental Development, 17, 100573.).

The bilateral and multilateral fishing agreement protocol of the studied CCLME countries are presented in Figure 4. Although controversial (Nagel et al., 2012NAGEL, P. & GRAY, T. 2012. Is the EU’s Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) with Mauritania a genuine partnership or exploitation by the EU?. Ocean & Coastal Management, 56, 26-34.), the Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) between the European Union and Mauritania is by far the largest worldwide in terms of financial value (€305 million from 2008 to 2012) (European Commission, 2006 in Binet et al., 2013BINET, T., FAILLER, P., CHAVANCE, P. N. & MAYIF, M. A. 2013. First international payment for marine ecosystem services: the case of the Banc d’Arguin National Park, Mauritania. Global Environmental Change, 23(6), 1434-1443, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.09.015
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013...
). Since 2008, a trust fund has been active as part of FPA reforms to ensure the sustainable management of fisheries in the Banc d’Arguin National Park by allocating <1% of total financial compensation for EU-flagged vessels in Mauritanian waters. Per the terms of this payment, it was classified as for ecosystem services (Binet et al., 2013BINET, T., FAILLER, P., CHAVANCE, P. N. & MAYIF, M. A. 2013. First international payment for marine ecosystem services: the case of the Banc d’Arguin National Park, Mauritania. Global Environmental Change, 23(6), 1434-1443, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.09.015
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013...
). Details of FPA of EU with other countries are reported in EC (2015)EC (European Commission). 2015. “EU SFPAs: sustainable fisheries partnership agreements”, infographic [online]. Brussels: EU Publications Office. Available at: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/1356ec43-99b7-11ea-aac4-01aa75ed71a1 [Accessed: 22 Dec 2020].
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-deta...
.

Cabo Verde is a member of several international and regional organisations including the FAO, the SRFC, and the International Commission for Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (Varela et al., 2011VARELA, A., DELGADO, A., CRUZ, E., LOPES, I., CORREIA, M. A., DUARTE, O. & CORREIA, S. 2011. Análise das instituições e políticas de pesca em Cabo Verde. Mindelo: Réseau sur les Politiques de Pêche en Afrique de l’Ouest.). It also has several cooperative fisheries in place with other West African countries, the European Union, China, and Japan among other countries (Figure 4). The fisheries agreement between Cabo Verde and the European Union between 2014 and 2018 allows a fleet of 71 French, Spanish, and Portuguese vessels to develop tuna fisheries in the country (Lopes et al., 2019LOPES, F., CALADO, H. & VERGILLO, M. 2019. Stakeholder perceptions on the maritime economy and planning in Cabo Verde. LEMAR [online]. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333321326_Stakeholder_perceptions_on_the_maritime_economy_and_planning_in_Cabo_Verde [Accessed: 17 Oct 2021].
https://www.researchgate.net/publication...
; González et al., 2020GONZÁLEZ, J. A., MONTEIRO, C. A., CORREIA, S., LOPES, E., ALMEIDA, N., MARTINS, A., GAZTANAGA, I., GONZALEZ-LORENZO, G., ARENAS-RUIZ, R., TEJERA, G. & LORENZO, J. M. 2020. Current and emerging small-scale fisheries and target species in Cabo Verde, with recommendations for pilot actions favouring sustainable development. Cybium, 44(4), 355-371.). However, a new Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) was signed in 2019 (González et al., 2020GONZÁLEZ, J. A., MONTEIRO, C. A., CORREIA, S., LOPES, E., ALMEIDA, N., MARTINS, A., GAZTANAGA, I., GONZALEZ-LORENZO, G., ARENAS-RUIZ, R., TEJERA, G. & LORENZO, J. M. 2020. Current and emerging small-scale fisheries and target species in Cabo Verde, with recommendations for pilot actions favouring sustainable development. Cybium, 44(4), 355-371.). Furthermore, Cabo Verde has ratified several international and regional agreements relating to environmental and biodiversity conservation. The fishery sector in Cabo Verde is currently under the authority of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Maritime Economy, but under the administrative responsibility of the Directorate General of Fisheries. The Institute of Maritime Economy and the Captaincies of Ports and the National Coast Guards are in charge of the surveillance of the EEZ and maritime registration supervision, and the National Institute for Fisheries Development (INDP) (Varela et al., 2011VARELA, A., DELGADO, A., CRUZ, E., LOPES, I., CORREIA, M. A., DUARTE, O. & CORREIA, S. 2011. Análise das instituições e políticas de pesca em Cabo Verde. Mindelo: Réseau sur les Politiques de Pêche en Afrique de l’Ouest.). The INDP is now known as Instituto do Mar I.P. (IMar) (González et al., 2020GONZÁLEZ, J. A., MONTEIRO, C. A., CORREIA, S., LOPES, E., ALMEIDA, N., MARTINS, A., GAZTANAGA, I., GONZALEZ-LORENZO, G., ARENAS-RUIZ, R., TEJERA, G. & LORENZO, J. M. 2020. Current and emerging small-scale fisheries and target species in Cabo Verde, with recommendations for pilot actions favouring sustainable development. Cybium, 44(4), 355-371.), created through Decree-Law No. 40/2019, of September 24 to promote and coordinate scientific research applied to the sea and its resources, ensuring the implementation of national strategies and policies in its areas of activity, and contributing to scientific, economic, and social development (circular No 1/2019, https://www.facebook.com/INDP.CV/photos/a.199495866805880/2450080691747375/?type=3&theater) The first set of 31 MPAs was created in 2010. According to the Directorate General for the Environment, one of the main drivers of continued biodiversity loss in Cabo Verde is poor management and weak legislative enforcement (Ministério do Ambiente, Habitação e Ordenamento do Território, MAHOT, 2014). Due to financial and human resource constraints, efficient administrative cooperation is a challenge across the country’s nine habitable islands. Indeed, environment, tourism, and fishery sectors are not represented on all the islands (MAHOT, 2014). Consequently, there is little cross-sectoral cooperation, and mandates often conflict (MAHOT, 2014); there is a need to minimise sectoral barriers. In the official bulletin for resolution N° 95/2020, fishing nets and gear were regulated: encircling net fishing was approved for tuna, small pelagics (mackerel and whiting) fishing for industrial and semi-industrial longline fishing, and deep-water crawfish fishing for pink lobster, crab, shrimp and shark fishing. For artisanal fisheries, hand line fishing for tuna and demersals have been approved. Encircling nets and gillnets have been approved for small pelagics, and snorkelling is deemed acceptable for coastal lobster, whelk, and demersal fishing. Other approved fishing methods include live bait, sea cucumber, foreign licensed fisheries, amateur fishing, and sport fishing. Fishing effort regulation is enforced by permits, minimum catch size, and minimum mesh size of nets to monitor catches.

Senegal, similar to the other countries, is a party to various regional and international environmental treaties. Senegal was the first African country to sign a fishing agreement with the European Union in 1979 (Belhabib et al., 2013). Since 1982, a reciprocal fishing agreement between Senegal and The Gambia has been in force (United Nations Conference on Trade and development, UNCTAD, 2014UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development). 2014. The fisheries sector in the Gambia: trade, value addition and social inclusiveness, with a focus on women. Geneva: UNCTAD.). The Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development and its directorates are in charge of the conservation of the country’s biological resources (NBSAP Senegal, 2015). The country promotes both in situ conservation measures, such as MPAs, agroforestry parks and customary laws (sacred forests), and ex situ conservation measures, such as private parks and ‘totems,’ which prohibit the consumption of certain species (NBSAP Senegal, 2015). However, existing barriers to biological resource conservation include a lack of regulatory enforcement by the government and of public environmental awareness, not to mention a lack of synergy between research institutions, human and financial capacity constraints, and a lack of knowledge of resources (especially in relation to marine invertebrates) (NBSAP Senegal, 2015).

The Gambia has adopted a cross-sectoral approach to fisheries management. The institution responsible for the management, development, and conservation of the marine and inland fisheries resources is the Ministry of Fisheries and Water Resources. The policy, legal, and management framework for the fisheries in The Gambia is dictated by the Fisheries Policy 2007, the Fish Act 2007, and its associated 2008 Fisheries Regulation. The Ministry of Fisheries and Water Resources, in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, has developed a working fisheries strategy (2012-2015) (Ragusa, 2014RAGUSA, G. 2014. Overview of the fisheries sector in the Gambia. Fisheries and Aquaculture Journal, 5(3), 1-4.). In total, 155 fish landing sites exist across the country, fifteen of which are on the coast with the rest inland. In cooperation with the Gambian Navy, a fisheries MCS unit coordinates all fish landing sites and takes stock of the fisheries. The MCS unit enforces existing management processes and protects the country’s resources from IUU fishing (ME and A, 2013). However, there are concerns regarding capacity constraints. Nominal roles of the fisheries department call for 72 technical staff, but 19 of these technical positions remain vacant (Department of Fisheries, 2013 in Ragusa, 2014RAGUSA, G. 2014. Overview of the fisheries sector in the Gambia. Fisheries and Aquaculture Journal, 5(3), 1-4.).

In 2018, Guinea Bissau and the European Commission signed a new Sustainable Fishing Partnership Agreement (EU Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries; https://ec.europa.eu/oceans-and-fisheries/fisheries/international-agreements/sustainable-fisheries-partnership-agreements-sfpas_en) This agreement, which focuses on catch limits rather than vessel capacity, allows for 50 EU vessels to target tuna, small pelagic species, and demersal such as cephalopods and crustaceans. Institutional instability and weak regulations are the main causes of marine resource overexploitation; the election of a new national government leads to changes in institutional heads and service personnel (NBSAP Guinea Bissau, 2015). Hence, a lack of convergence on fishery catches (artisanal or industrial) has been observed, with the consequent conflicting reports on fish stocks. Guinea fisheries are regulated by various laws based on the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCPR, 1995) and on international conventions for sustainable management of resources, such as Law N° 2015/026/AN on the Code of Maritime Fishing, Law N° 2015/027/AN on the Code of Continental Fishing, and Law N° 2015/028/AN on the Aquaculture Code (SRFC, 2016). The country has a decentralised system of biological resource management (NBSAP Guinea, 2016), and the root causes of fishery decline are IUU fishing, pollution, poverty, demographic growth, institutional/human/financial capacity constraints, poor governance (lack of a fisheries management strategy and collaboration among sectors). and illiteracy, which applies to approximately 55.2% of the population (NBSAP Guinea, 2016).

Governments face the challenge of dovetailing long-term national socioeconomic and sustainability interests with relatively brief political tenures. Good political governance, however, is required for responsible governance of resources (Musah, 2009MUSAH, A. F. 2009. West Africa: governance and security in a changing region. New York: IPI (International Peace Institute).). To assess national government performance, we focused on two composite governance indicators, reported in standard normal units ranging from -2.5 (low) to 2.5 (high) as proposed by Kaufmann et al. (2010)KAUFMANN, D., KRAAY, A. & MASTRUZZI, M. 2010. The worldwide governance indicators: methodology and analytical issues [online]. Pretoria: World Bank. Available at: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/3913 [Accessed: Day Mo YEAR].
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/hand...
: 1) government effectiveness and 2) regulatory quality. Government effectiveness includes the perception of quality of public and civil services and the degree of independence from political pressures, while regulatory quality refers to the perception of quality of policy formulation and implementation and the credibility of the government’s commitment to such policies. Over the last decade (2009-2019), the first indicator improved in four of the CCLME countries (above the 45-degree line, Figure 5), stagnated in The Gambia (close to the line), and deteriorated in Guinea Bissau (below the line). Regulatory quality deteriorated in all countries except Senegal and Guinea.

In the wider context of Africa, the blue economy covers both coastal and marine spaces and encompasses a range of productive sectors including fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, maritime transportation, shipbuilding, energy, bioprospecting and underwater mining industries, as well as other related activities (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, UNECA, 2016UNECA (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa). 2016. Africa’s blue economy [online]. Geneva: UNECA. Available at: https://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/PublicationFiles/blue-eco-policy-handbook_eng_1nov.pdf [Accessed: 30 Dec 2020].
https://www.uneca.org/sites/default/file...
). The Africa Blue Economy development strategy, an integral part of the African Agenda 2063, is a blueprint that emphasises cross-sectoral interconnectedness, strong regional cooperation, and support for social considerations such as gender mainstreaming, food and water security, poverty alleviation. and jobs creation. Thus, this strategy could play a major role in the structural transformation, sustainable economic growth, and enduring societal progress of Africa (UNECA, 2016UNECA (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa). 2016. Africa’s blue economy [online]. Geneva: UNECA. Available at: https://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/PublicationFiles/blue-eco-policy-handbook_eng_1nov.pdf [Accessed: 30 Dec 2020].
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). Furthermore, the implementation of ecosystem-based Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) in the region is needed. MSP is an integrated and coordinated approach to ocean management that aims to balance development objectives and conservation goals (Santos et al., 2019SANTOS, C. F., EHLER, C. N., AGARDY, T., ANDRADE, F., ORBACH, M. K. & CROWDER, L. B. 2019. Marine spatial planning. In: SHEPPARD, C. (ed.). World seas: an environmental evaluation. Cambridge: Academic Press, pp. 571-592.). However, as of 2017, all of the focused CCLME countries except for Mauritania had yet to initiate the MSP (Santos et al., 2019SANTOS, C. F., EHLER, C. N., AGARDY, T., ANDRADE, F., ORBACH, M. K. & CROWDER, L. B. 2019. Marine spatial planning. In: SHEPPARD, C. (ed.). World seas: an environmental evaluation. Cambridge: Academic Press, pp. 571-592.). In 2012, with a view to support the MSP process, spatial maps were developed in line with regulations within the framework of the joint SRFC - IUCN, CARTOREG project for Mauritania, Senegal, and Guinea (Bonnin et al., 2013BONNIN, M., LE TIXERANT, M., LY, I. & OULD ZEIN, A. 2013. Atlas cartographique du droit de l’environnement marin en Afrique de l’Ouest. European Journal of Geography, 112.), and in 2016 for Cabo Verde (Bonnin et al., 2016BONNIN, M., LE TIXERANT, M., SILVA, M., NASCIMENTO, J., FERNANDEZ, F., SANTOS, E. & DANCETTE, R. 2016. Atlas cartographique du droit de l’environnement marin et côtier au Cap-Vert. Paris: Institut de Recherche Pour in Développement.). During this mapping exercise, issues in the legal texts of protected areas were identified, including typographical errors for geographic coordinates. For example, in Decree No. 2013/037/PRG/SGG creating the Tristao MPA of Guinea, the designated position was in fact in Guinea Bissau. The official park delimitation (Décret n° 76-16 du 9 janvier 1976) for the Langue de Barbarie National Park in Senegal is no longer appropriate due to significant climate change (Le Tixerant et al., 2020LE TIXERANT, M., BONNIN, M., GOURMELON, F., RAGUENEAU, O., ROUAN, M., LY, I., OULD ZEIN, A., NDIAYE, F., DIEDHIOU, M., NDAO, S. & NDIAYE, M. B. 2020. Atlas cartographiques du droit de l’environnement marin en Afrique de l’Ouest. Méthodologie et usage pour la planification spatiale. European Journal of Geography, 112.). There were also legal inconsistencies in the demarcation of the EEZ borders between Cabo Verde, the Gambia, and Senegal, and between Guinea and Sierra Leone (Le Tixerant et al., 2020LE TIXERANT, M., BONNIN, M., GOURMELON, F., RAGUENEAU, O., ROUAN, M., LY, I., OULD ZEIN, A., NDIAYE, F., DIEDHIOU, M., NDAO, S. & NDIAYE, M. B. 2020. Atlas cartographiques du droit de l’environnement marin en Afrique de l’Ouest. Méthodologie et usage pour la planification spatiale. European Journal of Geography, 112.). In addition, discrepancies in some legal texts in Mauritania advocated for in-country cross-sectoral collaboration. The Bay of Greyhound, a large marine area and key economic zone located in the northwest of the country, is home to the ports of Nouadhibou (mineral, hydrocarbon, and fishing port) as well as artisanal fishing and aquaculture area (Le Tixerant et al., 2020LE TIXERANT, M., BONNIN, M., GOURMELON, F., RAGUENEAU, O., ROUAN, M., LY, I., OULD ZEIN, A., NDIAYE, F., DIEDHIOU, M., NDAO, S. & NDIAYE, M. B. 2020. Atlas cartographiques du droit de l’environnement marin en Afrique de l’Ouest. Méthodologie et usage pour la planification spatiale. European Journal of Geography, 112.). Its location between the Cap Blanc reserve, the Bay of Etoile, and the Banc d’Arguin National Park poses a significant conservation challenge (Le Tixerant et al., 2020LE TIXERANT, M., BONNIN, M., GOURMELON, F., RAGUENEAU, O., ROUAN, M., LY, I., OULD ZEIN, A., NDIAYE, F., DIEDHIOU, M., NDAO, S. & NDIAYE, M. B. 2020. Atlas cartographiques du droit de l’environnement marin en Afrique de l’Ouest. Méthodologie et usage pour la planification spatiale. European Journal of Geography, 112.). The Ministry of Fisheries issued Decree n° 2010-15318 to prohibit fishing within a one-mile radius of the central point of the ore wharf in the port of Nouadhibou, while the Ministry of National Defense (maritime safety) issued Decree n° 2010-01019 to prohibit the navigation of coastal and artisanal fishing boats in a much larger area. Such incoherences in sectoral regulations are systemic barriers to regulatory implementation and compliance (Le Tixerant et al., 2020LE TIXERANT, M., BONNIN, M., GOURMELON, F., RAGUENEAU, O., ROUAN, M., LY, I., OULD ZEIN, A., NDIAYE, F., DIEDHIOU, M., NDAO, S. & NDIAYE, M. B. 2020. Atlas cartographiques du droit de l’environnement marin en Afrique de l’Ouest. Méthodologie et usage pour la planification spatiale. European Journal of Geography, 112.).

4. The levers are required to drive the sustainability of the CCLME: recommended future research directions

The examined literature included many papers that focused on selected themes on the CCLME over the last decade (2009-2020). However, the lack of data, as well as the inconsistency of available data in terms of study time frames, methodological approaches, and geographic coverage provide challenges when assessing the knowledge base of the CCLME, leading to difficulties in making accurate comparisons. The majority of the research was centred on the socioeconomic aspects of the CCLME, whereas pollution and ecosystem health received the least attention. A few academic thesis documents indicated that a small number of ocean scientists were active in the region. In 2017, Mauritania had 68 ocean science researchers (17.86% female), while Guinea had 156 (26.28% female) (IOC-UNESCO, 2020). Data was unavailable for the other focus countries. A 2019/20 survey of university programmes on ocean science in Northwest Africa countries identified up to 20 university programmes in Senegal, as well as a few others in Cabo Verde (including a German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF)-funded WASCAL Master’s Program in Climate Change and Marine Sciences Programme, recently endorsed by United Nations in the framework of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development; https://wascal.org/united-nations-endorses-wascal-cabo-verdes-ocean-science-for-sustainable-development-project/) and Guinea (IOC-UNESCO, 2020). Thus, the establishment of a fully-equipped (in terms of human capacity and field/laboratory materials/equipment) marine research institution that can promote ocean research and educate nationals is a recommended course of action. In addition, the research results of new and existing programmes should be made widely available; there is a need for interdisciplinary study reinforcing the scientific outputs of this complex system.

In the CCLME, primary productivity, along with phytoplankton and zooplankton abundances, fluctuates with the seasonal ocean upwelling cycles. In general, productivity has declined, but the primary productivity of the EEZs has not been sufficiently studied nor is well understood. At the sub-LME level, there is a significant knowledge gap between marine organisms and biotic interactions; most of the available are outdated. The majority of published studies have concentrated on specific sections of the EEZ, whereas other studies that are over a decade old no longer represent the current state of this dynamic system. These issues highlight the need for a standardised method of data collection as well as for analyses of the phytoplankton and zooplankton, dominant species, and existing biotic relationships.

In the CCLME, climate change and human factors are inextricably linked as drivers of change. As presented in Figure 6, strong inter-linkages exist between ocean health, sustainable societies, and economy. The key underlying causes of CCLME productivity and fish stocks loss include land-based pollution, coastal habitat degradation, overfishing, and climate change. However, the core causes of these can be linked to poor management, institutional and human capacity constraints, and poverty. This is consistent with the findings of the CCLME project (CCLME, 2016). Although the effects of climate change are already being observed in this marine ecosystem, decoupling anthropogenic influences can help maintain and strengthen the ecosystem’s resilience.

Past studies (Tedsen et al., 2014TEDSEN, E., BOTELER, B., MCGLADE, K., SREBOTNJAK, T. & ABHOLD, K. 2014. Marine resource management and coastal livelihoods: an Atlantic perspective. Atlantic Future, Scientific Paper, 15, 1-66.; Watkins et al., 2014WATKINS, K. 2014. Grain, fish money: financing Africa’s green and blue revolutions. Nigeria: Africa Progress Panel.) have reported overfishing as the greatest threat to marine biodiversity and continued sustainability of the CCLME. An exponential decline in fish has been reported across multiple trophic levels. Additionally, asymmetry in the access to and exploitation of fishery resources was noted in the CCLME countries. However, there is no comprehensive and up-to-date database or national registry for reporting of the fishery sector, including the post-harvest sector (unloading, processing, and marketing). The post-harvest sector is economically important because it drives the sustainability of the fishery sector and minimises bycatch and post-harvest losses. However, data on the economic contribution of this sector (e.g. the number of people employed) is nearly non-existent (Sambe et al., 2011SAMBE, B., LYMER, B. L., CARAMELO, A. M. & TANDSTAD, M. 2011. Reversing the degradation of the Canary current large marine ecosystem. In: ICES Annual Science Conference, 20-24 Sep 2010, Gdańsk, Poland. Gdańsk: ICES, pp. 19-23.).

Overall, the present diagnostic study highlights the need to strengthen the capacity for institutions and individuals to respond to accountability needs in relation to national fishery data. In addition, proper accounting could be strengthened by using standardised methods of catch assessment and by developing the ability of participants to conduct surveys, assessments, and unified approaches to reporting. Overexploitation of fish stocks is already a challenge for most of these countries with strong dependence on small pelagics. The importance of small pelagics to local food security is gradually being compromised by their use as raw materials in the production of fish meal (Palomares et al., 2020PALOMARES, M. L. D., KHALFALLAH, M., WORONIAK, J. & PAULY, D. 2020b. Assessment of 14 species of small pelagic fish caught along the coast of Northwest African countries. Fisheries Centre Research Reports, 28(4), 1-28.). The livelihoods, food security, and nutritional state of local fishing communities, as well as the post-harvest processing subsector largely employing women, are at risk. Fisherfolk are migrating to adapt to declining fish stocks. However, the magnitude of the societal impact of migration remains unclear due to the lack of data, IUU fishing potential arising from these migrations, and conflicts between migrant fishers and local fishers in foreign EEZs (Binet and Failler, 2011; Binet et al., 2012BINET, T., FAILLER, P. & THORPE, A. 2012. Migration of Senegalese fishers: a case for regional approach to management. Maritime Studies, 11(1), 1-14, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/2212-9790-11-1
https://doi.org/10.1186/2212-9790-11-1...
). Therefore, there is an urgent need for increased and effective monitoring and surveillance of EEZs, as well as reductions in fishing efforts in areas where stocks are rapidly declining, until signs of recovery arise.

Currently, there is a clear knowledge gap in the literature in terms of land-based contaminant exports originating from diffuse or point sources to the CCLME. Most of the CCLME countries have inappropriate urban waste disposal mechanisms that are potential sources of ocean fertilisation. To tackle the problem of pollution, these sources must be identified and controlled at the source. Based on available data, coastal land use is unequal across the countries. Between 2009 and 2013, mangrove regeneration was ongoing across the countries, with the highest levels of regeneration occurring in The Gambia. Despite having the highest mangrove regeneration rate, a closer look at local ecological conditions shows that climate-induced hydrological changes have stunted the growth of mangroves in the River Gambia estuary (Ceesay et al., 2017CEESAY, A., DIBI, H., NJIE, E., WOLFF, M. & KONÉ, T. 2017. Mangrove vegetation dynamics of the Tanbi wetland national park in the Gambia. Environment and Ecology Research, 5(2), 145-160.). The small woods, which have a maximum height of 4 m, are of no economic value to the local communities (Ceesay et al., 2017CEESAY, A., DIBI, H., NJIE, E., WOLFF, M. & KONÉ, T. 2017. Mangrove vegetation dynamics of the Tanbi wetland national park in the Gambia. Environment and Ecology Research, 5(2), 145-160.). The degradation and loss of blue forests (mangroves, seagrass beds, and coral reefs) appear to be the shared drivers of both climate change and biodiversity loss, though there is sparse coverage on these issues in the literature. These blue forests provide high value ecosystem services in the CCLME region (Interwies and Görlitz, 2013INTERWIES, E. & GÖRLITZ, S. 2013. Economic and social valuation of the CCLME ecosystem services. Rapport au Groupe de travail socioéconomie et commerce du CCLME, 50. Available at: https://iwlearn.net/resolveuid/1f49c47a-54e7-4e7b-bdfb-56c723379537 [Accessed: 12 Dec 2021]
https://iwlearn.net/resolveuid/1f49c47a-...
) as well as carbon sequestration potential, fishery nursery grounds, refugia for migratory marine wildlife species, and coastal protection. Moreover, they are a tourist attraction and provide opportunities for recreational activities such as hiking and boating centred around bird watching and recreational fishing (Spalding and Parrett, 2019SPALDING, M. & PARRETT, C. L. 2019. Global patterns in mangrove recreation and tourism. Marine Policy, 110, 103540.). Considering their importance, all aspects of these blue forests, specifically their uses, benefits, carbon sequestration potential, floristic inventory, and ecological conditions, should be priority focus areas for scientific research in the next decade. For mangrove reforestation programmes to be successful, ecological conditions along with the interests and needs of resource users must be taken into account (Osemwegie et al., 2016OSEMWEGIE, I., N’DA HYPPOLITE, D., STUMPP, C., REICHERT, B. & BIEMI, J. 2016. Mangrove forest characterization in Southeast Côte d’Ivoire. Open Journal of Ecology, 6(3), 138-150.). Breaking the vicious cycle of decline in coastal and marine biological resources requires effective management, but local realities and human interests must be considered when setting management goals for the long-term survival of the CCLME. This should be top priority. An exemplary win-win initiative for humanity and nature was the 7-year (2013 to 2019) oyster aquaculture project in Casamance, Senegal that benefitted from a USD 44 million World Bank loan (World Bank, 2014WORLD BANK. 2014. The pearls of casamance: women-led oyster farms foster sustainable development in Senegal [online]. Pretoria: World Bank. Available from: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2014/04/22/the-pearls-of-casamance-women-led-oyster-farms-foster-sustainable-development-in-senegal [Accessed: 17 Oct 2021].
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). This women-led initiative responded to the community’s food security and livelihood support needs, while stimulating mangrove ecosystem conservation.

As EEZs are nested systems within the CCLME, the Atlantic Ocean basin and the interconnected ocean, the effects of a country’s activities are not constrained to national boundaries. Therefore, there is the need for cross-sectoral collaboration and consolidation of regional conservation efforts, especially with regards to pollution control, MCS of the EEZ, human and institutional capacity development, and the implementation of the ecosystem-based MSP.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was conducted within the framework of the WABES project (www.wabes.org) sponsored by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The authors are grateful to the staff of the Instituto do MAR that provided relevant documentation for this paper. The authors are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticisms and suggestions. Editorial support, in the form of substantive editing funded by the University of Bonn, Germany was provided by Enago, Crimson Interactive Inc.

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Edited by

Associate Editor: Alexander Turra

Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    08 Apr 2022
  • Date of issue
    2021

History

  • Received
    15 Mar 2021
  • Accepted
    30 Nov 2021
Instituto Oceanográfico da Universidade de São Paulo Praça do Oceanográfico 191, CEP: 05508-120, São Paulo, SP - Brasil, Tel.: (11) 3091-6501 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: diretoria.io@usp.br