Brussels, 10/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament gave the go-ahead on Tuesday 10 May to conclusion of the new fisheries agreement between the EU and Mauritania when it adopted the report by Gabriel Mato (EPP, Spain), which welcomed the arrangements (see EUROPE 11532 and 11356).
After lengthy negotiations, the European Union and Mauritania initialled a new protocol on 10 July 2015 that will enable EU vessels to fish in Mauritanian waters for a period of four years. The protocol, which has been provisionally applied since 16 November 2015, provides fishing opportunities for: vessels fishing for crustaceans other than spiny lobster and crab; black hake non-freezer trawlers and bottom longliners; vessels fishing for demersal species; tuna seiners; pole-and-line tuna vessels and longliners; pelagic freezer trawlers and non-freezer pelagic vessels. The main category is pelagic freezer trawlers, which is to be allocated a quota of 247,000 tonnes out of a total of 281,500 tonnes set for the fleet as a whole. Mauritania has undertaken to revise the quotas allocated to the European fleet within the Joint Committee set up under the agreement, so that further fishing opportunities for demersal species may be allocated to freezer trawlers on condition that there is a surplus, which would enable this category of vessel, which had already operated in the same waters in the past, to return to Mauritania.
The annual financial contribution to be paid by the European Union to allow its vessels access to Mauritania's exclusive fishing zone is €55 million (compared with €67 million under the previous protocol). An additional sum of €16.5 million for the period covered by the protocol (€4.125 million per year) will be paid in the form of financial support to promote the sustainable development of the fishing sector and environmental protection in protected marine and coastal areas.
“The new agreement has remedied some of the shortcomings that undermined the usefulness of the previous protocol”, said the rapporteur. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)