MEPs have been urged to support a fisheries agreement between the EU and Mauritania, despite the Fisheries Committee recommending that it be rejected.
The initial terms of the agreement would allow EU vessels to fish in waters of Mauritania for a two year period in return for financial assistance of 70m.
On 7 October 2013, Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki said the agreement had faced six rounds of negotiations, and fulfilled the three key criteria of “sustainability, value-for-money, and fairness”.
The agreement would allow a set number of fishing fleets – 112 vessels from 12 EU countries – to fish in Mauritanian waters in exchange for an EU payment of 70m a year.
However the committee chair, Spanish centre-right MEP Gabriel Mato Adrover, said the agreement was a “bad deal for fishing fleets and a bad deal for taxpayers”.
He said it would lead to higher licence fees for vessels, and reduced fisheries opportunities.
There was particular concern over the decision to exclude Mauritania’s cephalopod species – mainly octopus and squid.
But Ms Damanaki said that this was a decision by the Mauritanian government and said it was wrong for the EU to say that it cannot respect this decision.
She said the cost of the agreement would help the global battle against terrorism and people trafficking.
Mauritania is a key battleground in tackling al-Qaeda training camps in the Sahel region, and Ms Damanaki said the funding would represent 15% of the country’s national revenues.
Mr Mato Adrover said that although the economic assistance was important, “this is above all a trade agreement”.
Despite the committee chair’s opposition, MEPs backed the agreement by 467 votes to 154 during the daily voting session on 8 October 2013.
BBC © 2013