Report of the fourth meeting of the Planning Group for the Coordination of Acoustic Surveys off Northwest Africa, Dakar, Senegal, 27-29 October 2005

The general objective of the Planning Group is to plan the coordination of acoustic surveys in the region including intercalibration of research vessels and to act as a forum for discussion on issues important to acoustic surveys such as standardization of methods, acoustic research and training. A total of nine scientists from the Gambia, Mauritania, Morocco, Norway, Senegal and FAO participated in the meeting. All of the local research vessels conducted acoustic surveys in 2005 and major improvements have been made in standardization of procedures and the processing of data. The results of the 2004 parallel survey between the three local vessels and the R/V DR. FRIDTJOF NANSEN showed that the four vessels have almost the same acoustic response. Although major improvements have been achieved, some problems still persist, e.g. problems with trawling using the pelagic trawl and problems related to noise levels. These issues are now being addressed. Plans were made for a second parallel survey and intercalibration exercise in October-December 2005. The survey will follow a similar strategy as the 2004 survey and all three local vessels will participate. Special attention will be given to address the difficulties experienced during the 2004 survey, such as speed, communication between vessels and turning. It was recommended that the countries in the Northwest African region, Senegal, the Gambia, Mauritania and Morocco should coordinate their survey effort to conduct two annual regional acoustic surveys, during the cold and warm seasons respectively. Should it not be possible to conduct two complete coverages during one year, priority should be given to the October-December survey. Training of technical personnel to solve problems related to the acoustic equipment and computer networks onboard local vessels was considered a priority to ensure smooth running of these surveys. A proposal on a common strategy for collection and storage of pelagic survey data in the region is under development.Original Abstract: Le Groupe de planification a pour objectif general d'organiser la coordination des campagnes acoustiques dans la region, y compris l'intercalibration des navires de recherche, et de jouer un role de forum de discussion sur des questions importantes pour les campagnes acoustiques telles que la standardisation des methodes, la recherche acoustique et la formation. En tout, neuf chercheurs de la Gambie, de la Mauritanie, du Maroc, de la Norvege et du Senegal