Shark heads drying. Malian workers cut up small sharks and rays to dry on the edge of Nouadhibou Harbor. I was told the fins are sent to China for soup, and the meat is sold to Nigeria and Spain.
The official annual catch in Mauritania is 900,000 tons, but reconstructed catch estimates are more than 2M tons. Some 400,000 tons are landed overseas by foreign vessels, 380,000 tons are landed in Nouadhibou, 120,000 tons are landed at other Mauritanian ports.
Of the 380,000 landed here, some 300,000 are small pelagic fish converted to fish meal, and 80,000 are small octopus and other (sharks, etc.).
The small pelagic fishery has been migrating northward some 5° (300NM) every 10 years for the past few decades due to changing sea temperatures and increased fishing pressure.
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- Global Fisheries