The "Pelago18" campaign, with IPMA researchers and technicians on board the research vessel Norway, started on the 26th of April, is still in the Algarve and will only end in the first week of June, announced the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).
«Pelago» is an acoustic screening campaign and takes place every year in spring, covering the Portuguese continental shelf and the Gulf of Cádiz.
The objectives are to determine the abundance and spatial distribution of coastal pelagic fish, in particular sardines and anchovy, assess their status and analyze the environmental factors that affect their survival and determine recruitment to predict the biomass that will reach adulthood, next year.
Data obtained from the 'Pelago18' campaign, to estimate the biomass of sardines and anchovies, 'contribute to substantiating the measures to be adopted by the management bodies that establish the fishing quotas for the next year», stresses the IPMA.
This year, the NI Norway is being accompanied by a siege vessel in each sector of the continental coast. “God is not lacking”, “Secrets of the Sea”, “Mario Luís” and “Flor da Beira” are the vessels that complement the sampling carried out by the NI Norway, helping to identify the schools quantified by acoustic tracking by scientists. In each seiner bid, species are identified and measured by an IPMA sampler.
«On board the NI Norway, fishing masters from various producer organizations from north to south and the IPMA scientific team have shared knowledge and experience with the common objective of contributing to the recovery of the sardine stock and boosting the sustainability of the seine fishing", adds that institute .
The “Pelago” campaigns are part of IPMA's National Biological Sampling Program and are financed by IPMA, the European Commission and MAR2020.
Its results are analyzed annually within the scope of ICES to make recommendations on the allowable catches of sardines and anchovies.
Although the campaign is still ongoing, sample processing and data analysis from the west coast is already at a high pace at IPMA in Algés.
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