Brussels, 06/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - Last Thursday, the European Commission and Guinea Bissau concluded an agreement on a five-year renewal of the fisheries protocol between the two parties to take effect from 16 June. The vessels concerned by the fisheries agreement come from Spain, France, Italy and Portugal, to which will be added certain Greek vessels. The financial compensation will be 51 million euro over five years. In the first three years, the compensation paid to Guinea Bissau will amount to 10 million euro, one million euro having to be allocated to specific measures providing for aid to, notably, the local artisanal sector, as well as scientific and technical programmes and training. Compensation will be 10.5 million euros over the following two years. This protocol has a provision regarding the maximum level of by-catches permitted for shrimp vessels, limiting the level of cephalopods and fish allowed on board at 50% of the catches of these vessels. The level of fishing possibilities remains the same for shrimp vessels at 9,600 GRT (Gross Registered Tonnes) a year. There will be a slight decrease of 200 GRT per year for vessels catching fish and cephalopods from 3,000 to 2,8000 GRT. The number of tuna seiners will go up from 37 to 40, while that of tuna pole-line vessels and long-liners will go down from 52 to 36. The financial contribution paid to the owners of the vessels concerned has been increased by 5%. There will also be an increase from 20 to 25 euro per tonne of tuna caught.
Implementation of the current protocol was characterized by the suspension of fishing activities between June 1998 and April 1999 due to the outbreak of an armed conflict in Guinea Bissau that did not allow for safe carrying out of fishing activities by EU vessels. The EU withheld the financial compensation corresponding to this period which represented some 6.5 million. When peace returned, the EU decided to allocate this amount to Guinea Bissau for the restoration of facilities supporting the fishing sector in the country.