The FAO Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish off Northwest Africa met in the Centre national de recherches océanographiques et des pêches (CNROP), Nouadhibou, Mauritania, from 24 to 31 March 2001. The working area was defined as the waters between the southern border of Senegal and the northern border of Morocco and the main groups of species defined as sardine, sardinellas, horse mackerels and mackerel. The overall objective of the Working Group is to contribute to the imp roved assessment of small pelagic resources in Northwest Africa and the analysis of fisheries management and exploitation options aimed at ensuring optimal and sustainable use of small pelagic fish resources for the benefit of coastal countries. The existing acoustic data series evidentiate that the main stocks have shown strong fluctuations during the last 9 years (particularly sardine and sardinella), but it is difficult to detect a long-term trend. On the other hand, CPUE data for horse mackerel and sardinella generally show a declining trend over the last few years. Although the group is not yet in a position to make detailed stock projections, it is expected that stocks will decline further in case of a further expansion of the (industrial) fishing effort in the area. As a general recommendation the group therefore suggests to adopt a precautionary approach, and not to increase the combined catch of small pelagic species above the average level attained during the most recent 5 years (1995-1999).