According to FAO/CECAC (FAO 2016) the population of Octopus vulgaris in Western Africa, based on political or geographic limits rather than on biological reasons, is divided into 3 main units: Dakhla, in Morocco (26 °N-21 °N), Cape Blanc (21°N-16 °N) and Senegal-Gambia (16 °N-12 °N). Even though there were claims of more than one stock being present in Mauritanian waters, genetic analysis, fishery data, and VMS information have been used to identify one single stock in Mauritania (FAO 2020)(Kiwa España 2023).