As of February 1, exports of Moroccan frozen sardines will be suspended. This measure was announced on January 6 by the Secretary of State for Maritime Fisheries, Zakia Driouich, with the aim of stabilizing prices on the local market. The objective is to secure domestic supply in a context of a drastic decline in sardine volumes in Moroccan waters.

Regarding Moroccan sardine production, a downward trend has been observed for more than three years. Victims of overfishing and climate change, sardine schools have deserted Moroccan coasts, and the resource has become increasingly scarce.

A “dangerous” technology

Artisanal Fisheries in Morocco (CNPAM), first points to the arrival, ten years ago, of a “dangerous” technology. “RSW vessels (for Refrigerated Sea Water, with fish stored in tanks filled with chilled seawater, Ed.) have wreaked havoc. These pelagic trawlers are highly sophisticated, notably equipped with drifting purse seines (surface encircling nets that drift with the currents, Ed.),” he explains to TelQuel.

Mohamed Naji, a lecturer-researcher at the Hassan II Agronomic and Veterinary Institute (IAV), also highlights the development of an “RSW” trawler fleet in the Dakhla region, a stronghold of sardine fishing. “The increase in fishing effort has been excessive, disproportionate to the stock’s capacity to regenerate, and this has been going on for several years,” he stresses. Given the initial abundance of resources, the effects of overexploitation were not observed immediately.

But stock depletion is compounded by the impact of climate change. The lecturer-researcher thus mentions the phenomenon of upwelling, the rise of cold, nutrient-rich waters from ocean depths. “This is a specific feature of Moroccan waters, which largely explains their richness in fish. In recent years, these upwellings have weakened due to climate change, which has drastically reduced our natural production potential,” he explains.

El Blihi also notes that sardines are sensitive to water temperature. “Sardines live between 17 and 18 degrees. If the water temperature rises or falls, sardines disappear,” he adds. He specifies that with the disappearance of the resource, even the more sophisticated RSW-type trawlers have nothing left to catch.

Drop in production

Between 2024 and 2025, according to data from the National Fisheries Office (ONP), sardine volumes fell from 543,782 tonnes to 419,474 tonnes, a decline of 23%.

The shrinking supply has driven sardine prices sharply higher. Sur le marché local, un kilo de sardines coûte désormais 20 dirhams au moins, “une aberration dans un pays comme le Maroc”, commente Mohamed Naji. “Il y a trois ou cinq ans, les prix fluctuaient entre 10 et 13 dirhams le kilo en temps normal », se souvient-il.

When sardines were still abundant, two-thirds of landings were exported. Thus, in 2022, 600,000 tonnes were exported in various forms, out of a total production of one million tonnes, including the informal sector, the lecturer-researcher recalls. This compares with 400,000 to 450,000 tonnes exported currently, all categories combined.

What’s happening downstream

In light of this situation, understanding the sardine distribution chain helps clarify the stakes of the government’s decision. Once caught, sardines are either sold fresh on the local market or sent to industry: canning, freezing, or processing into fishmeal.

As for the freezing industry, Mohamed Naji notes that it developed in Morocco about ten years ago, and did so very rapidly. The main importers of Moroccan frozen sardines are European. “Industrial plants in Spain, Portugal, and France use frozen small pelagics as raw material. Other volumes are shipped to Turkey (tuna farming), Egypt (fresh consumption after thawing), and Brazil (canning),” Mohamed Naji explains.

Why target frozen sardines?

The suspension of exports is expected to slow down the freezing industry and allow other sardine sectors to develop. “Operators could stop freezing them and market them as they are, which would open the door to other outlets, notably canning and the fresh fish market,” explains Mohamed Naji. This is because the canning industry remains an important sector for Morocco. “This sector employs more than 35,000 people and adds value to sardines up to 25 dirhams per kilo,” the lecturer-researcher notes.

He nonetheless regrets that fishmeal was not targeted by this measure. “It is a low-value-added industry, and here too, more than 90% of what we produce is exported. Why spare a sector that ‘burns’ fish to feed animals?” he asks. He specifies that this industry, which originally aimed to make use of fish waste, now processes good-quality fish in order to sustain its activity.

Next up: mackerel

Other measures have been taken to address the sardine shortage. Fishing ban zones and biological rest periods have been established in certain areas, notably due to the sardine spawning season, Mohamed Naji explains. “It is currently forbidden to fish sardines, and this until February 15,” confirms Abdallah El Blihi.

As for climate change, while it penalizes sardines, it benefits other species, Mohamed Naji points out. “A warming of a few degrees favors other pelagic fish, such as mackerel and anchovy,” he explains. The problem is that the same causes produce the same effects. “Many fishermen are surviving thanks to switching to mackerel. But they are in the process of depleting it, since most of the fishing effort is now shifting to this species, and mackerel stocks are also beginning to collapse,” he warns. A real vicious circle.

Written in French by Salomé Krumenacher, edited in English by Eric Nielson