06/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - Adopting two report by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (EPP, Spain), the European Parliament approved the concluding of the new fishing protocols with the Republic of Guinea and Mauritius. With regards to Guinea, the protocol foresees, for the period between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2001, financial compensation of EUR 2,960,000 per year and a substantial reduction in the gross tonnage authorised (from 4,000 to 2,500 tonnes) for the fish and cephalopod trawlers. In the agreement with Maurice, for the period from 3 December 1999 until 2 December 2002, the volume of catches authorised is lowered from 7,500 to 5,500 tonnes and the financial compensation is reduced from EUR 1,218,750 to 618,750 compared to the previous period (1996-1999). During the vote on these two reports, the Parliament rejected, by 170 for, 435 against and 8 abstentions, the amendments from the Danish Liberal Niels Busk and the British Liberal Elspeth Attwooll who called for the European Commission to recuperate from the ships fishing in these areas, proportionally to their catches, an amount corresponding to the total cost of each of these two agreements.