Brussels, 14/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European delegation to Morocco has just published a report reiterating the importance of cooperation between the EU and Morocco in fisheries matters.
The ambassador to Rabat, Rupert Joy, stressed that this is a time-honoured relationship dating back to the 1960s, and which is of “growing importance due to its economic, social and environmental dimensions”. It is also a relationship of considerable commercial reach, this special report stresses: “Morocco is the largest Euro-Mediterranean exporter of fisheries and aquaculture products to the EU”, itself “the largest fisheries market in the world”. Morocco, the “world's sixth-largest supplier in value (2011-2013 average)”, was, in 2013, the “EU's fifth-largest partner country for fishery and aquaculture products (in value), with 848 million euros of imports from Morocco”.
The New Fisheries Protocol entered into force in 2014 and covers the whole of the Atlantic coast, but not the Mediterranean, which is ringfenced for Moroccan operators. With a contribution of €40 million a year, it goes “beyond the framework of fishing activities”. Its content “reflects the joint desire to accompany the growth of the sector whilst responding to the need to preserve the resource”. It has been built around the concept of 'blue growth', which aims to “support sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors as a whole, recognising that the seas and oceans offer considerable potential in terms of innovation and growth”. “Since 2007, the EU has pledged 123.5 million euros in financial support to the Moroccan national strategy, Halieutis”, which has been devised along the same lines.
This relationship has allowed Morocco to grow its exports to the EU by nearly 20% in value terms between 2010 and 2013. According to the provisional data for 2014, growth in this field is 4%. These sales go mainly on to the Spanish and Italian markets, absorbing a third of Moroccan sales of cephalopods (octopus, cuttlefish and squid) in 2014 figures. The EU is also “an important market for Moroccan products not for food use, such as fishmeal and oils”. (Fathi B'Chir)