PROSPECTIVE Mauritania octopus - bottom trawl, jig & pot/trap

The Global Octopus Supply chain roundtable (GO SR) and the Association Mauritanienne the Producteurs et Exportateurs de Poulpe (AMPEP) are developing a Fishery Improvement Project for the octopus fishery operating with pots and traps within Mauritanian waters. During the development stage, the consultants will conduct an MSC pre-assessment, provide improvement recommendations, and develop a FIP workplan to address key issues.

Octopus is a widely distributed species, mainly exploited at depths of up to 150 meters. It is one of the most important harvested cephalopods around the world which corresponds with several small–scale fisheries that have an enormous social and economic impact. Octopus vulgaris is the most abundant and ubiquitous cephalopod species occurring on the Saharan Bank (northwest Africa, from 21oN to 26oN).

Besides, in Mauritania waters there is also an important industrial fishery targeting this species. Upwelling conditions are related to the strong recruitment of Octopus vulgaris in Mauritanian, Moroccan, and Galician (northwest Spain) waters. The Mauritanian octopus fishery operates through three distinguished types of segments: 
- the pirogues (small open boats) and boats of less than 14 meters in the artisanal fishing segment
artisanal, fishing mainly with pots and jigs 
- inshore fishing boats ranging from 15 to 26 meters, mainly using traps  and 
- deep-sea fishing vessels that use bottom trawls to target cephalopods, which differ mainly in the way they preserve their products (freezing or ice).