Brussels, 13/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - By adopting (640 votes in favour, 26 against and 12 abstentions) on Tuesday 12 April in Strasbourg, the report by Ms Linnéa Engström (Greens/EFA, Sweden,) on common rules in respect of application of the external dimension of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the European Parliament warmly welcomes the transparency provisions of the most recent protocol with Mauritania (see EUROPE 11492).
According to the provisions contained in the agreement, the latter undertakes to publish all agreements with states or private entities granting foreign vessels access to its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). MEPs are requesting that similar transparency provisions are included in other partnership agreements in the area of sustainable fishing. The protocol with Mauritania grants the EU fleet priority access to "fishing surpluses" in that country, and encourages the Commission to follow this example in negotiating protocols with other third countries "taking into account the strict sustainability requirements which the EU fleet must meet". The EP also calls for information on the aggregated catches of vessels from all fleets allowed to fish in Mauritanian waters, and the associated conditions of access, to be publicly available. The EP will soon approve the conclusion of the new EU/Mauritania fishing agreement.
Trade agreements. The EP believes that bilateral and multilateral trade agreements negotiated by the EU should promote environmentally sustainable and socially just conditions for the production of fisheries products in the third countries concerned "through the use of appropriate quantitative and qualitative restrictions on access to the EU market, so as to not undermine the progress being made in combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing IUU". It also believes that these conditions should be a requirement for placing any fish or fishing-derived product on the European market, and "that any fish or fishing-derived product not guaranteed to comply with these conditions or with consumer protection requirements should be barred from the European market".
Withdrawal of fishing authorisation. The EP considers that vessels fishing under the provisions of agreements with third countries but which do not fulfil their obligations (such as that of supplying their member state with the data required under the terms of their fishing authorisation) should be "subject to the penalties provided for" in the Control Regulation and the IUU Regulation, including, where appropriate, denial of a fishing authorisation.
Private agreements. The Commission is called on to improve transparency by setting up a database covering all private agreements between or on behalf of EU ship-owners and local or regional bodies or authorities or third countries that involve access to third-country fisheries, including conditions for access, allowable fleet capacity, the identity of the vessels and the resulting fishing activities, and that this database should be in the public domain "with the exception of those parts which contain commercially sensitive information". (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)