Assessing the Impact of Coastal Upwelling on Fisheries: Insights from the Canary Current System

The EBUSs are among the most biologically productive ocean ecosystems in the world and provide more than 20% of the world catch of fish on <1% of the ocean surface. They include the California, Humboldt, Canary, and Benguela Current systems and provide critical ecosystem, economic, and recreational services for over 80 million people who either live along their coasts or near those coasts. This study deals with the analysis of relationships between the Canary Current System, coastal climatology, and fishing activity by adopting a climato-oceano-economic approach along the Moroccan coast. The study points out the phenomenan of upwelling within the Canary system, which have repercussions on peculiarities along the coast that impact marine resources and, hence, have implications for inhabitants of the coastal areas as well as for local economies. Data are from NOAA, chlorophyll, and sea surface temperature, while fisheries data were obtained from official reports provided by the National Fisheries Research Institute and National Fisheries Office. The analysis is then controlled using R and Python programming languages. In this work, one looks for evidence of relevance of the upwelling phenomenon for fisheries production but also forms strategies in the use of marine resources in a sustainable way.