| Upwellings off the coasts of western Africa provide abundant but fluctuating marine resources. Sea surface temperature and wind stress, monitored by the ship-of-opportunity observation network, are compared to fishery statistics from 1964 onwards. In the Canary Current, off Sahara and Mauritania, upwellings are mostly wind driven. In the Guinea Current, off Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, the link with local wind is very weak. In the southern Canary Current, two wind-intensification periods occurred in the early 1970s and from 1986 onwards. On each occasion, Sardina pilchardus landings were multiplied approximately threefold. During the first event, catches of species living at the periphery of the upwelling, Sardinella, Trachurus, Decapterus and Scomber,... |
