Brussels, 24/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament (EP) gave its approval on Wednesday 23 May to the EU-Mozambique fisheries agreement in adopting, by 566 votes to 89, with 17 abstentions, the report by Dolores Garcia-Hierro Caraballo (S&D, Spain) endorsing, though with some amendments, the text of the agreement.
The EP gave the go-ahead to the agreement, repeating its call to be more closely involved in the monitoring and implementation phases of the new protocol. The agreement, which has, in fact, been operating provisionally since 1 February 2012, will run until 31 January 2015.
The reference tonnage used to calculate access rights has been set at 8,000 tonnes per year, which represents a reduction in relation to the previous protocol (10,000 tonnes), in terms of the catch figures for the previous season. Access has been authorised for a total of 75 EU vessels: 43 tuna seiners and 32 surface long-liners. The member states concerned by these fishing opportunities are Spain, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
In accordance with the Council's mandate, the protocol now includes a number of conditionality clauses applied to the annual financial contribution, with particular reference to respect for the sectoral support programme and human rights, non-compliance with which may lead to its suspension.
The technical annex to the protocol has been considerably improved, mainly to reflect the latest changes in Mozambique's national fisheries legislation and the outcome of the negotiations on aspects with financial implications for ship owners.
The changes specifically include: - an increase of 20-25 % in the payments made by ship owners (under the new Protocol, the fees are set at €5,100 for tuna seiners, €4,100 for large long-liners and €2,500 for long-liners under 250 GT); - the terms for licensing support vessels (US$3,580 per year per vessel); - an annual contribution of €300 to be made by ship owners towards the creation of a fund for the observers programme; - the requirement that European vessels sign on Mozambican seamen (two per seiner and one per long-liner), with a penalty (fine) of €30 per day per vessel if they fail to do so; - the requirement that a third of the vessels authorised to fish undergo an annual inspection in a Mozambican port before commencing their fishing activities: the vessels concerned will, however, be entitled to choose the date and place of the inspection, informing the Mozambican authorities 72 hours in advance; - the fact that the inspection in port is to be carried out within 24 hours of arrival; - the introduction, from 1 July 2012, of an electronic logbook system for recording and transmitting catch reports, and the involvement of the Mozambican Scientific Institute in the administrative process of verifying catch data.
These are significant changes, which aim to improve the way that fishing activities in the Mozambique fishing zone are monitored and controlled. Other measures, such as the requirement to hire Mozambican seamen, aim to increase the direct economic benefits for the country.
Under the terms of the new protocol, the EU will pay Mozambique an annual contribution of €980,000 from the EU budget - €520,000 for access to the fishing zone and €460,000 to assist Mozambique's fisheries policy. (LC/transl.rt)