Fisheries Research 186 (2017) 328–336 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Fisheries Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fishres The development of a fishmeal industry in Mauritania and its impact on the regional stocks of sardinella and other small pelagics in Northwest Africa Ad Corten a,* , Cheikh-Baye Braham b , Ahmed Sidi Sadegh b a Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Netherlands b Mauritanian institute for oceanography and fisheries IMROP, Nouadhibou, Mauritania a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 20 April 2015 Received in revised form 9 October 2016 Accepted 19 October 2016 a b s t r a c t Mauritania has recently developed a fishmeal industry based on small pelagics. The fish are caught by Senegalese canoes that work under charter for the fishmeal factories, most of which are situated in the northern port of Nouadhibou. After a slow start in 2005–2010, the industry showed a strong development after 2010 as the result of high prices for fishmeal and oil. Catches of small pelagics landed for fishmeal increased from 50,000 t in 2011 to 240,000 t in 2014. Because new factories were still being built by the end of 2014, a further expansion of the catches used for fishmeal is expected. Data are presented on the species composition of the catches for fishmeal, and the length distribution of the individual species. It is shown that the catches consist of round sardinella (Sardinella aurita), flat sardinella (S. maderensis), and bonga (Ethmalosa fimbriata). Changes in species composition and length composition from 2012 to 2014 may indicate different responses of the coastal stocks of small pelagics to the increased fishing pressure. Some of the species exploited for fishmeal belong to regional stocks that are shared with neighbouring countries. The paper discusses the potential effects of the expanding fishmeal industry in Mauritania on these regional stocks. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction 1.1. The history of fishmeal in Mauritania The first attempts to use small pelagics for fishmeal in Mauri- tania date back to 1965 when the first shore-based fishmeal plant (SOMIP) was opened in Nouadhibou (IMROP, 2011). Due to high production costs and low fishmeal prices, this operation was not successful and the plant was closed in 1974. Other plants that were opened in the early 1970s were not successful either, and all shore- based fishmeal plants were closed by the end of the 1970s (Ould Tarbiya and Ould Mohamedou, 2012). After a lapse of 25 years, the shore-based production of fishmeal in Nouadhibou was resumed in 2005 by the construction of the RIM fishmeal plant. This plant used offal from a local factory that pro- cessed sardinella for human consumption. Until the opening of the fishmeal plant, the offal from this processing had been dumped in the desert outside the town, where it constituted a breeding place * Corresponding author. E-mail address: adcorten@gmail.com (A. Corten). for flies. The opening of the first fishmeal plant in 2005 was there- fore welcomed by the inhabitants of Nouadhibou as a contribution to a cleaner and healthier environment. When it turned out that the first fishmeal plant made a nice profit, other investors followed suit and the number of fishmeal plants in Nouadhibou gradually increased. The real growth of the fishmeal industry started in 2011 when the city council allocated a new area (“El Bountiya”) to industrial developments in the fishery sector. As a result of high prices for fishmeal and oil, the interest from investors was large and within a short time some 20 new authorisations for the construction of fishmeal plants were issued. The offal from the only local processing plant was of course not sufficient to provide raw material to all the new fishmeal factories, so artisanal fishermen from Senegal were contracted to come to Nouadhibou and catch fresh fish for the fishmeal factories. 1.2. Development of the fishmeal industry in line with government policy The Mauritanian government put no restrictions on the expand- ing fishmeal industry because the development of a shore based industry was in line with the government policy of “domestica- http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2016.10.009 0165-7836/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.