Spain has asked this Monday the European Commission to intensify negotiations for the renewal of the fishing agreement with Mauritania, which expires in mid-November, due to fears that the European fleet, and in particular the Spanish one, will be excluded from that fishing ground.
For the Canarian fleet and even more so the Lanzarotean fleet, the Mauritanian fishing grounds represent one of its main historical alternatives in international fishing grounds, directly affecting about 20 tuna and artisanal or pole-and-line fishing vessels based in the islands and generating employment for about 200 direct fishermen, to whom hundreds of indirect jobs in auxiliary industries are added.
This was indicated by the Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, in statements to the press upon his arrival at a European Council of Ministers.
"A particular reference I will make is the conclusion of the agreement with Mauritania," Planas said.
He indicated that the protocol expires next November 15 and Spain wants the Commission to "intensify its contacts, because we would not want the European and particularly Spanish fleet to be forced to leave that fishing ground."
In this regard, the Spanish minister indicated that he will address the issue both "publicly" and privately, with the European Commissioner for Fisheries, Kostas Cadis.
"The Commissioner knows. I have spoken with him on several occasions about this agreement. It is not the only one we have in sight (...), but it seems key to me from the point of view of interest in the resources and also of Mauritanian interest in fishing," he added.
In that context, he explained that this protocol is not an issue that exclusively interests Spain, but that "there is a majority" of Member States in favor of concluding the fisheries protocol, and he mentioned the Baltic countries as an example, "who are also interested because, let's say, they fish in different fleet segments than ours."
"These agreements are very important for us, but also for the beneficiary countries, because we are not only talking about sustainable fishing, but also about financial aid and elements that are, I believe, very important," he concluded.
Last week, the European fishing employers' association, Europêche, and the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF), which represents fishermen, demanded that the European Union urgently renew the fishing agreement with Mauritania to prevent the paralysis of European fleet access to those waters, which includes vessels from Andalusia, Galicia, the Canary Islands, and the Basque Country.
Vessels from ten Member States, including Spain, benefit from this 1987 protocol, which allows the capture of up to 280,050 tons per year of shellfish, demersal species, tuna, and small pelagics.
Employers and fishermen are asking that if it is not possible to conclude the negotiations for renewal before the expiration, there be an immediate one-year extension of the current agreement, to ensure the continuity of fishing activities and avoid any interruption for the European fleet.
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