Strasbourg, 21/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament has approved the new protocol to the fisheries agreement signed in February between the EU and Sao Tomé e Principe (see EUROPE of 16 February) with the adoption, on Wednesday in Strasbourg, of the report by Carlos Lage (PES, Portugal). The new fisheries protocol, which covers a three-year period (1 June 2002 to 31 May 2005), provides, for the first time, as an experiment, the possibility of catching crabs (for 3 vessels) in addition to the traditional tuna fishing rights (36 tuna seiners, 25 surface longliners and 2 port and line tuna vessels). The amount of financial compensation is EUR 2.25 million over three years, of which EUR 50,000 goes for financing the scientific study on crab fishing.