Brussels, 28/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - In the context of the presentation, on Tuesday in Council, of the Communication by Commissioner Franz Fischler (dated 23 December 2002) on the setting in place of a sustainable fisheries policy outside Community waters, the WWF approves the idea of transforming commercial fisheries agreements with developing countries into partnership agreements. It also welcomes the Commission's intention to carry out an environmental sustainability impact assessment before signing a new fisheries agreement. Believing that some EU countries are purely and simply seeking to improve their access to fisheries, the WWF insists on the following requirements: - there should be no new or renewed access agreement without a sustainability impact assessment; - the Commission must implement the Communication immediately with every new or renewed access agreement with third countries; - new or renewed fishing agreements should not lead to overfishing or overcapacity in the region; - the EU must assist partner countries to develop national, or regional, fisheries policy and management plans that include the ecosystem as a whole, not just individual commercial stocks. The WWF regrets that these fisheries agreements often contribute to overfishing of developing countries' resources but do not ensure adequate income and represent unfair competition for local fisheries. These agreements are "in conflict with EU development policies", he said, recalling that the EU has signed such fisheries agreements with fifteen developing countries, in Africa and in the Indian Ocean as well as in the Pacific, and that it pays anywhere between 0.4 and 80 million euro annually to be able to fish in their waters. (In 2000, the amount of financial compensation under the agreements cost the EU 137 million euro).