Brussels, 20/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 19 July, the European Commission adopted a proposal to update the fisheries agreement between the EU and the Republic of Madagascar. A first proposal was brought forward at the end of January (following a first compromise initialled on 21 June 2006, see EUROPE 9354), but it will all have to be done again, since technical and financial arrangements were renegotiated on 16 March 2007. Requests for additional fishing opportunities for longliners from the outermost regions were agreed. The reference tonnage and the financial contribution have been adjusted accordingly.
The requests for additional fishing possibilities resulted from an extension of public funding for the renewal of fleets in the outermost regions. The requests were also in line with Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) recommendations, authorising island or developing countries to submit a development plan for their fleets.
The fisheries agreement, now due to be adopted by the Council (after receiving the Parliament's opinion) covers the period 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2012. The new financial compensation to be paid by the EU to Madagascar will be €1.197 per year for a reference tonnage of 13,300 tonnes of tuna and tuna-like fish (bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna, swordfish and marlin). 80% of the financial contribution will be used to support a sectoral fisheries policy in Madagascar. The new fishing possibilities are:
Tuna fishery: 43 freezer tuna vessels (23 from Spain, 19 from France and one from Italy), 50 surface longliners over 100 GT (25 from Spain, 13 from France, 7 from Portugal and 5 from the United Kingdom) and 26 surface longliners of 100 GT or below (all from France).
Demersal fishery: Five French vessels may carry out exploratory line or bottom line fishing for demersal species over two six-month periods
EU shipowners' fees could provide Madagascar with an additional annual income of around €465,000. (lc)