On Tuesday 13 August 2024, the Algerian Minister of Fisheries and Fisheries Productions, Mr Ahmed Badani, launched the assessment campaign for demersal fishery resources along the Algerian coast for the year 2024 at the port of Algiers.
This assessment campaign, entitled “ALDEM 2024”, will be carried out by the research vessel “BELKACEM GRINE” and will last thirty (30) days. A team of 13 marine scientists from the Centre National de Recherche et de Développement de la Pêche et de l’Aquaculture (CNRDPA) will take part in the operation. Their task will be to study more than 40 species of fish by carrying out some 80 fishing operations using trawls at depths of between 20 and 800 metres along the Algerian coast.
In his speech, the Algerian Minister of Fisheries and Fishery Productions stated that “this operation aims to evaluate the stock of biological resources and update the maps of the existence and distribution of demersal fishery resources with a high market value, noting that it will also enable researchers to understand the demographic components of marine biological resources and their distribution in the different fishing zones, as well as to know the biological stock of fish, crustaceans and molluscs existing in national waters.
The at-sea assessment campaigns scheduled each year since 2012 are one of the scientific methods applied in fisheries science to learn about biological stocks, collect and analyse data on marine biological resources and compare them with the scientific results obtained through monthly monitoring of biological data and daily inspections of professional fishing vessels, in order to formulate scientific advice for better management, protection and conservation of marine stocks, the expected results of which are mainly:
- calculating abundance indicators for fish, crustaceans and molluscs in waters under national jurisdiction;
- calculating indices of abundance of target demersal fish by geographical area and depth;
- providing information on water temperature and salinity data;
- collecting the necessary cetacean observations; and
- the qualitative and quantitative estimation of total waste.
It is important to note that the campaign to assess demersal fishery resources is subject to the “MEDITS” study protocol in force in all the countries of the Mediterranean basin, which enables the results to be unified and examined as part of international cooperation with regional organisations such as the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), part of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).