With the EU-Mauritania Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) set to expire in a week, on November 14, the future of the European fishing fleet operating in Mauritanian waters remains uncertain. Costas Kadis, the EU Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, had a meeting with Mauritania’s Fisheries Minister Aïssata Lam two weeks ago, but the talks yielded no significant breakthrough. Without a renewed agreement, EU tuna and other fishing vessels will soon have to leave the country’s waters.

With financial compensation emerging as the main sticking point, European shipowners have offered to increase their payments by 10 percent to Mauritania. However, they say there is little room for further trade-offs amid surging diesel prices and falling consumption, La Voz de Galicia reported. Under the existing 2021–2026 EU-Mauritania fisheries agreement, up to 44 EU tuna vessels (purse seiners, longliners, and pole-and-liners) are authorised to fish in Mauritanian waters.

A 55-year-old woman from the Isle of Man has pleaded guilty to defrauding victims of approximately GBP 830,000 (USD 1.12 million) through a fictitious tuna fishing and fish-processing business. Zarnie Abenojar Khan admitted charges including fraud, concealing criminal property, and acquiring criminal property, the Isle of Man Today reported.

The prosecutor said Khan had fraudulently obtained money from several individuals, between 2021 and 2023, by claiming to represent a tuna company, Goodwill Fish Processing, which did not exist. Khan, who appeared at the Court of General Gaol Delivery, a criminal court in the territory, last week, admitted the offenses. She was also charged with witness intimidation and an act against public justice, but pleaded not guilty to these offenses, stated the news site. Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown Dependency located in the Irish Sea.

Supermarket chains across several European countries were hit by a major cyberattack on Monday, disrupting freezer and refrigeration systems. Thousands of euros’ worth of chilled and frozen foods and seafood have been lost in the incident, although no reports have yet confirmed the destruction of frozen or chilled tuna. The temperature of freezers in some stores across Europe reportedly rose to as high as 50C (122F).

Beyond France, where retailers experienced a similar cyberattack in early October, supermarket freezers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, Germany and Portugal were also affected. Retailers including Ahold Delhaize, Carrefour, Coop, ICA Sweden and Ikea were among those impacted. Supermarket refrigeration systems across Europe are commonly connected to the internet, allowing maintenance and troubleshooting to be carried out remotely. The perpetrators have not been identified, and no group has claimed responsibility, according to international media reports.