At the meeting of the CECAF Ad hoc Working Group on Coastal Pelagic Stocks (Northern part of CECAF area), held in Dakar in June 1978, USSR scientists confirmed that the bulk of their catches on the Sahara coast (mainly in fishing Zone C, CECAF Division 34.1.3) reported in earlier years as Sardinella spp. were actually S. pilchardus. Data on total catches of S. pilchardus for 1975 and 1976 were supplied by the Soviet scientists, and also on the total catches of Sardinella spp. for 1965-1976. Estimates of the sardine catches in the period 1970-1974 have been obtained by subtracting the new figures of the Sardinella catches in these years from the figures of catches of Sardinella spp. in these years as reported by the USSR to FAO and included in the FAO Yearbook of Fishery Statistics.
This information arrived when the present report was in press. It has been possible to include the new values for the USSR catches in Annex III of this report, Table 4 and Table 6. These new values are considerably higher than the estimates of the USSR catches available to the Ad hoc Working Group on Sardine at its meeting in Casablanca. They will, therefore, substantially modify the analysis of stock biomass and potential yield in fishing Zone C carried out by the working group and given in the present report. It should thus be noted that those sections dealing with fishing Zone C and with the various fishing zones together, including the tables in these sections, require revision in view of the new information. It would be most desirable to have such revision carried out before the next meeting of CECAF.
