Black Hake Fishing

Hake are shoal fish which are found in large groups close to the sea bottom (depths of between 150 and 550 m, but sometimes as much as 1 000 m) during day time.

During the night, the shoals rise to the surface looking for food and have a tendency to migrate to different depths during the course of the day.

The fishery of blackhake (Merluccius) in the Mauritanian EEZ is performed by highly specialised trawlers, mostly Spanish.

Annual landings have remained stable, not exceeding 12 000 t. In the total annual catch, individuals measuring less than 30 cm do not represent more than 10 % (with the exceptions of 1992 and 1993, when the highest catch was recorded), although this percentage is higher during the cold season.

The evolution of both the yields and the average sizes of the landed black hakes (which have regularly increased since the nineties) do not show an overexploited resource.

The potential for hake exploitation off Mauritania has been estimated at some 133 000 tons annually.

Black hake commercial fishing belong to the “special fishing” category and calls for a dedicated license.