Increasing the availability of West African Grey Literature to improve marine fisheries management

Abstract

The Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF) seeks to promote the sustainable utilization of the living marine resources across the Eastern Central Atlantic between Cape Spartel and the Congo river through informed development of fisheries management actions. Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) is contributing to the CECAF-PESCAO project “Improved Regional Fisheries Governance in Western Africa”, by developing a comprehensive inventory of marine fisheries research covering both primary literature (available online on both commercial and free to use platforms) and grey literature available at institutions holdings and not always accessible online. This assessment of fisheries management research in the region will enable CECAF, ASFA and, critically, member countries the means to access relevant contextual and discernible science-based materials and publications. Cataloguing and subsequent bibliometric analysis of large amounts of information specific to regional fisheries management will encourage solid research-based fisheries management recommendations at the national level by highlighting areas of fisheries management to investigate. This paper presents the preliminary results of the research inventory and bibliometric analysis, comparing the amount and type of information available in primary and grey literature collections for the region and at individual country level.