Report on the success of the self-sampling programme in the FarFish project

The overarching objective of the FarFish project is to provide knowledge, tools and methods to support responsible, sustainable and profitable EU fisheries outside European waters, both within the jurisdiction of non-EU nations as well as international waters. In order to achieve this, the FarFish project has explored the applicability of implementing self-sampling programmes within EU long-distance fisheries and initiated a pilot self-sampling program as “proof of concept”.

The pilot self-sampling programme was implemented on board three Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) trawlers fishing for black hake (Merluccius poli and Merluccius senegalensis) in Mauritanian waters and Senegalese national vessels (Industrial and Artisanal). Sampling protocols and kits were provided by FarFish. The data collected includes fishing locations, dates, depth, visual identification of the species, sex and length. Fin clips were taken and stored in 100% ethanol. A total of 867samples were obtained from three SFPA trawlers belonging to OPROMAR, the fishing vessel Kanbal of the SOPERCA company in Senegal, and artisanal longline vessels from Senegal. DNA analysis was carried out at the University of Oviedo.

Self-sampling was successfully carried out for all the fleets. However, results of the DNA analysis showed that mislabelling (misidentification) of black hake species is significant and variable, with differences between vessels of the same fleet (SFPA) and between the different sampled fleets (SFPA, Senegal Industrial and Senegal Artisanal). These differences may be explained in part by the geographic area and depth of the sampling location, with higher probabilities of misidentification in areas and depths where both species co-exist and are found together in the catches.

These preliminary results, along with the results of a follow-up questionnaire to eight self-samplers from Senegal suggest that self-sampling on board SFPA vessels is viable, cost-effective and can provide valuable data for improving stock assessment and management. However, in the case of the black hakes, training of self-samplers in morphological identification is essential if reliable fisheries and biological data is to be collected by self-samplers.