In May 2017, the EAF Nansen Programme (2017-2021) initiated its first series of surveys, incorporating the scientific theme Nutrition and Food Safety as part of its Science Plan and since then the research vessel Dr Fridtjof Nansen has been surveying the Atlantic coast of Africa, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, sampling large numbers of fish for food safety and nutrition analysis.

In November 2018, the EAF-Nansen Programme organised a workshop at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen where 20 experts from 10 different countries attended. During this workshop, recommednations on follow up analysis were made and several scientific papers were planned by the regional groups from both Africa and Asia.

As a follow-up a workshop is now planned with participants from partner countries from Africa and Asia, to further plan and coordinate efforts on agreed follow up actions and to start write up of planned manuscripts/scientific papers.

The specific objectives of this workshop are to:

• Provide updates on the progress of manuscript preparation
• Outline and identify responsibilities for the preparation of the specific papers
• Organize write-up group work on specific papers (small groups)
• Plan progress and milestones for completing the first draft
• Identify journal outlets and planned submission dates
• Discuss required sampling and responsibilities for the "sardinella project"

Expected Outcomes/Outputs:

• Titles, outlines, text and respective responsibilities for the preparation of scientific papers.
• Plans and expected outputs for the "sardinella project"

Mozambique is witnessing substantial increases in investment and activity in its oil and gas sector. Large gas reserves are discovered in the Rovuma basin in the offshore waters of the Cabo Delgado province. This region is also known for its high biodiversity values with large coral reef systems and fish dependent communities in the area. Decision makers need access to reliable information on the environmental and social assets of the area in preparation for and during oil and gas operations, as well as other development activities in the area.

A capacity needs assessment was carried out in 2018 in the context of the Oil for Development Programme in Mozambique. This assessment highlighted the lack environmental surveys and accessible environmental data as a key constraint in environmental management of the oil and gas sector. While a number of data sources exist, it remains a challenge to ensure the data are accessible and used to inform key decisions. This could for example be:

• Allocation of contract blocks
• The approval of project environmental licenses
• Monitoring the implementation of environmental management plans
• Establishment of emergency response systems

A range of stakeholders are involved in these processes including government regulators, operating companies, and data holding institutions.

As part of the EAF-Nansen Programme, the Research Vessel Dr Fridtjof Nansen carried out a survey in April 2018 in the Cabo Delgado area (northern Mozambique). The purpose was to support environmental monitoring in relation to oil and gas activities, and to minimizing impacts on fisheries resources and associated fishing activities. The main objective was to develop a baseline report as a reference for monitoring the impacts of oil and gas extraction activities in northern Mozambique. Other surveys have been carried out in the past in support to fisheries management. A post-survey meeting involving representatives from fisheries and environmental management as well as stakeholders from the oil and gas industry was held in in August 2018. This meeting identified two activities for developing knowledge products for management purposes. These include:

• "Ecosystem characterization", that involves putting together existing knowledge and data to establish a comprehensive description of the ecological characteristics and human pressures in the region, and
• "Baseline report", an activity aiming specifically to the needs for environmental monitoring in the context of oil and gas activities.

Of high importance is the issue of availability and organization of available data, and the need to identify data gaps and develop expertise to manage and use data. Environmental data in their raw form can be difficult to understand and integrate into decision making processes, as it often involves a high degree of interpretation and understanding of the underlying ecological assets. Sensitivity atlases that integrate various environmental and social assets and highlight their sensitivity to a given pressure, such as oil and gas, are one such product that can assist with these challenges. A workshop has therefore been proposed to address how environmental data can be organised and integrated into knowledge products that can be used by management authorities, as part of the Oil-for-Development programme in Mozambique.

Given the strong linkages between the activities described above, and their relevance for different sectors operating in the marine environment, a workshop is proposed to address those jointly. Specifically, the workshop will address how environmental, resources and sectoral data can be organised and used to result in knowledge products required for environmental management.

The specific objectives of each session are presented below:

Day 1 - Ecosystem Characterization

• Discuss/review conservation objectives for the Cabo Delgado area at multisectoral level
• Identify main ecosystem features/ assets
• Identify/map expertise, stakeholders and relevant institutions
• Identify human activities that have a direct impact on the ecosystem
• Develop a first draft of a conceptual model of the Cabo Delgado ecosystem

Day 2 - Baseline report, sensitivity maps and other knowledge products for environmental impact of oil/gas activities in the Cabo Delgado area

• Taking into consideration the OSPAR guidelines for Monitoring the Environmental Impact of Offshore Oil and Gas Activities, discuss structure/contents for the baseline report for the Cabo Delgado area
• Discuss use and development of sensitivity maps
• To discuss elements for building a monitoring system in Mozambique in relation to the environmental impacts of offshore oil and gas activities;
• To identify responsibilities of different institutions/stakeholders.

Day 3 - Availability of marine data for environmental management of the oil and gas sector

• Assessment of data needs in the region in relation to environmental management of oil and gas.
• Making sure data being generated by the EAF-Nansen Programme and others in the region is accessible and provided as relevant products suitable for decision making processes.
• Identification of data management methods and standards (e.g. FAIR principles) to enable improved data sharing for the consideration by the EAF-Nansen Programme and other data providers.
• Identification of outstanding gaps in available data.

Day 4 - Knowledge products for environmental management of oil/gas activities

• Identify and agree on knowledge products that can be developed based on specific needs of and data availability in the Cabo Delgado area.
• Work plan and responsibilities for follow-up work identified and agreed.

The RV Dr Fridtjof Nansen carried out a survey on the Discovery and West Seamount complexes in Sub-Area D of the SEAFO Convention from 24 January to 24 February 2019. The survey was planned following recommendations by the SEAFO Scientific Committee that had set priorities for work in understudied areas and had welcomed the possibility of the RV Dr Fridtjof Nansen to carry out this study. It should be noted that despite a few surveys have been conducted earlier in this area, including in 20165 by the RV Dr Fridtjof Nansen, it remains a challenge to SEAFO that ecosystems and biodiversity in the vast areas beyond national jurisdictions in the Southeast Atlantic are severely understudied.

The overall objectives of the survey were to:

"further develop the databases and collections to benefit regional science and enhance the global understanding of the Southeast Atlantic ecosystems. More concrete objectives were to analyse occurrence and abundance of benthopelagic fish and sessile epibenthos, including indicators of VMEs, in selected 'existing fishing areas' and areas closed to fishing within the SEAFO Convention Area."

The survey was successfully completed despite challenging weather conditions and samples have been collected and delivered to the Iziko Museum (Cape Town).

Meeting objectives and expected outputs

The proposed meeting aims to:

• Finalise the survey report
• Discuss follow-up activity, including processing of the samples and data collected during the survey.
• Review organization, objectives and responsibilities for research projects, including deliverables to EAF-Nansen programme and regional authorities.
• Discuss needs for capacity development and identify opportunities

During acoustic trawl surveys of pelagic schooling species, the down-looking narrow beam echosounder is the standard tool used for estimation of fish abundance. An important bias in this method occurs when fish are distributed in the acoustic blind zone of the echosounder, i.e. between the sea surface and the far field of the transducer. When transducers are mounted in a drop keel below the vessel's hull, the blind zone can extend up to 15 m below sea surface. Avoidance of the approaching surveying vessel by fish schools is another source of bias. Omni directional fisheries sonar are multibeam acoustic systems using horizontal beams with a 360 deg fan around the vessel and are alternated with vertical beams in a 180 deg fan. These technical characteristics, together with the high availability of these instruments in many research and commercial fishing vessels, make omni sonars a potential tool to investigate the blind zone and avoidance bias of the echo sounder sampling. The objectives are to use vertical beams from omni sonars to investigate the presence of schools in the blind zone of echo sounders, and to compare sonar and echo sounder measurements in the blind zone, and use results as an indicator of bias in echo sounder estimates. Results are expected to inform on the reliability of a given survey biomass estimate, also in connection with their use as inputs to stock assessment models.

In connection with the meeting held in Cape Town in February 2018, a project addressing the issue of bias in acoustic survey estimates using fisheries sonar data together with acoustic data from the echosounder was identified as part of Theme 2.

This workshop is therefore intended to start the work on assessing the bias in small pelagic fish biomass estimates from the surveys with the RV Dr Fridtjof Nansen as part of Theme 2 of the EAF-Nansen Science Plan. Countries within highly productive upwelling regions off northwest and southwest Africa will be prioritized. These include Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Angola, Namibia and South Africa.

Purpose of meeting

Bring together the project participants to get acquainted with the methodology and prepare a plan for the progress of the project. Specifically, the meeting will:

• Make participants acquainted with the principles of operation of omni sonars with emphasis on the identification and quantification of bias in echo sounder acoustic surveys
• Make participants acquainted with using the post-processing system LSSS, in particular the module PROFOS (Processing system for omnidirectional fisheries sonar)
• Make an overview of the sonar data available from the 2017 survey with the RV Dr Fridtjof Nansen.
• Identify gaps in available data and suggest any additional sampling to be carried out in the 2019 surveys off Northwest Africa.
• Establish a team for management and analysis of the data and information.
• Make a detailed progress plan for the project including analyzes, meetings, reporting, publishing etc.