9. Consensus on limiting the number of hooks for longline fishing through participatory research
Most of the groupers caught at Joal on Petite Côte are fished by longlines. The JICA COGEPAS project organised participatory research with ‘Centre de Recherches Océanographiques de Dakar-Thiaroye (Oceanographic Research Center of Dakar – Thiaroye)’ (CRODT) and fishermen to provide a common platform for fishermen, CRODT researchers, and administrators from the Fisheries Directorate to discuss how to manage the grouper resource.
Thus, it was agreed that (1) the number of hooks would be reduced and (2) the proportion of small fish caught would be reduced by mixing hooks of different sizes. This fisheries resource management plan was signed by the parties involved and came into force in May 2012. This was the first fisheries resource management activity targeting Senegal’s national fish, the grouper.