Brussels, 02/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - In the next few weeks, Morocco and the European Union will be entering exploratory talks over a new fisheries partnership, announced the country's ambassador to the EU, Menouar Alem, last week in a statement to Moroccan press agency MAP. He said that European Maritime and Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki said during a visit to Rabat last week that the EU wants to sign a new fisheries agreement with Morocco, that Morocco is aware of this and is, as usual, very open to the idea. MAP says that the ambassador said a deal could only be reached if there were sufficient fish stocks and therefore enough fish left over to allow partner countries, headed by the EU (one of Morocco's strategic partners), to partake of the stocks.
The ambassador explained that Moroccan fishermen are divided over whether the fisheries agreement with the EU should be renewed. The secretary general of Morocco's sea fishing federation, Mohamed Alalou, is reported by MAP as saying that any renewal of the EU-Morocco fisheries deal would damage the Moroccan fishing industry. MAP explains that Alalou is not happy about the talks currently underway between Spanish and Moroccan fisheries organisations in a joint committee comprising the secretary general of the Spanish fisheries federation, the head of the Andalusian fishermen's federation and the vice-president of the Moroccan fishermen's federation, which Alalou says is unrepresentative. He said that the Moroccan members of the committee only represent themselves and their action is motivated by personal interest. Morover, their involvement in the talks will weaken Morocco's hand in the negotiations, if it is decided that there should be an EU-Morocco fisheries agreement. Alalou says that people working in the fisheries industry in Morocco are all opposed to a continuation of the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement in the current form because it has been undermining the country's fish resources and what the industry needed instead was a proper management plan for all types of fishing (at sea, on the shoreline and small, traditional fishermen). Kamal Sabri, head of the North Atlantic Fisheries Chamber, also opposes the signing of a deal. He says the past five years have seen a slump in catches and the current overfishing will mean that fish could well run out within a decade. If a new EU-Moroccan deal is signed, then Sabri says it should include greater EU cooperation in the renewal of the Moroccan fleet and infrastructure.
The Spanish and Moroccan fishermen's committee regrets the accusation of political motivations that is hampering renewal of the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement, calling for it to be re-examined solely from the technical and economic viewpoint. The committee says it is prepared to work together with fishermen from both countries, blaming the breakdown in negotiations on members of the European Commission, along with member of the European Parliament, who voted against a one-year extension of the current deal. Rabat had been calling for the EU fishing fleet (most of which is Spanish) to stop fishing in Moroccan waters. (FB/transl.fl)