Brussels, 25/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 18 September, the European Commission adopted detailed proposals on the new fisheries partnership agreement between the EU and Mauritania (see EUROPE 9238 on July's compromise between the sides). Lasting six years from 1st August 2006, the new agreement provides for fishing possibilities for tuna, crustaceans (especially prawns), hake and other species in Mauritanian waters for 200 EU vessels. The Council has been called on to adopt these regulations rapidly (following the Parliament's opinion) in order not to delay the protocol's coming into force.
Fishing possibilities provided for in the first two-year protocol (1st August 2006 to 31 July 2008), which can be renewed twice, are as follows: - fishing vessels specialising in crustaceans other than crawfish and crab: permitted maximum of 9,440 gross tonnage (GT) (7,183 GT for Spain, 1,371 GT for Italy and 886 GT for Portugal); - black hake trawlers and bottom longliners: 3,600 GT for Spain; - vessels fishing for demersal species other than black hake with gear other than trawls: 2,324 GT (1,500 GT for Spain, 800GT for United Kingdom, 24 GT for Malta); - pelagic freezer trawlers fishing for demersal species: 750 GT for Greece; - cephalopods: 18,600 GT for 43 licences (39 licences for Spain, 4 for Italy); - crawfish: 300 GT for Portugal; - crab: 300 GT for Spain; - freezer tuna seiners: 36 licences (20 for France, 15 for Spain, 1 for Malta); - pole-and-line tuna vessels and surface longliners: 31 licences (23 for Spain, 5 for France and 3 for Portugal); - pelagic freezer trawlers: 22 licences for a maximum ceiling of 440,000 tonnes (194,000t for Netherlands, 128,000t for Lithuania, 77,000t for Latvia, 15,000t for Germany, 8,000t for United Kingdom, 6,000t for Portugal, 6,000t for France, 6,000t for Poland); - non-freezers pelagic vessels: 15,000t per month averaged over the year.
The financial compensation paid by the EU to Mauritania is €86 million per year (€11 million of which is for local fishing improvement and €1 million per year to help the Banc d'Arguin national park). To be added to this sum is €22 million per year (the amount paid by Community vessels owners for the purchase of licences).