The fishery research vessel "Dr. Fridtjof Nansen" belongs to the Norwegian Agency for International Development (NORAD). It was designed and built for scientific and exploratory investigations of fishery resources of developing countries, under a joint plan with the Fisheries Department of FAO based on funding of operation to be shared by UNDP/FAO and Norway.
The fish resources surveys conducted in West-African waters during 1981 and -82 formed part of the project UNDP/FAO GLO/79/011.
The Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, is under a sub-contract with NORAD and FAO responsible for the operation of the vessel and the scientific programme. This was planned and conducted in close cooperation with FAO, the CECAF Secretariat and the relevant fisheries research organizations in the countries concerned.
Ten cruises have been carried out with R/V "Dr. Fridtjof Nansen" in West-African waters in 1981-82. These are as follows:
1. Survey of the pelagic community from Cape Blanc to Cape Verga, May 1981A preliminary report with limited distribution has been prepared from the results from the first, second and fourth survey above in connection with the CECAF resource evaluation meeting in Dakar 2-6 February 1982.2. Survey of the pelagic community from Cape Verga to Cape St. Paul, June 1981.
3. Survey of the small pelagic and demersal fish resources from Togo to Point Noire, August 1981.
4. Survey of the pelagic community from Bissagos Islands to Cape Blanc, September 1981.
5. Survey of the small pelagic and demersal fish resources in the coastal waters of the Republic of Cape Verde, November 1981.
6. Survey of the small pelagic fish resources in the coastal waters of Mauritania, December 1981.
7. Acoustic survey of the fish resources in the coastal waters outside 12 nm limit in Western Sahara, December 1981.
8. Survey of the pelagic community from Freetown to Cape Blanc February-March 1982.
9. Acoustic survey of the fish resources in the coastal waters outside 12 nm limit in Western Sahara, March 1982.
10. Survey of the small pelagic fish resources between Cape Juby and Agadir,. March 1982.
The present report deals with the fish resources off Togo - Congo and is thus the final report on the third survey above.
The acoustic/exploratory fishing survey which is here made use of includes the following observations:
Acoustic system observing depth, bottom type, and fish biomass by categories.The analysis and processing of these data provide information on the quantity and distribution of the fish resources, their composition and aspects of their behaviour and their environment. The survey system has certain limitations particularly as regards the interpretation of the acoustic observations. These will be discussed later. Similar work in other areas has, however, demonstrated that findings from these types of surveys can provide good but often conservative indications of the availability of fish resources.Fishing system observing catch, its amount and composition, biological data of fish, fishability.
Oceanographical observations of ambient characteristics (temperature, salinity, oxygen).
The participating scientific and technical staff were:
From the Institute of Marine Research, Bergen:
Lars Føyn (cruise leader), Alvaro Abella (biologist), Bjørn Bakken (instrument chief), Kjell Seglem (research technician) and Egil Øvretveit (instrument technician).From Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, Nigeria:
Ako AmadiFrom Directory of Fisheries, Benin:
Coffi Severin AssogbaFrom Directory of Fisheries, Republic of Congo:
Paul MongoFrom Directory of Industrial Fisheries and Aquaculture, Gabon:
Jean Alogho NangThe preliminary results were presented in a short cruise report. This report was prepared at the Institute of Marine Research, Bergen.
