The European Parliament has approved three advisory reports endorsing the renewal of the International Fishery Agreements, which affect tuna fishing in the areas of Madagascar (until December 2006), Cape Verde (until May 2005) and Mauritius (December 2007).
This type of agreement allows the Communitarian fleet to catch certain species in territorial waters of third countries, generally in Africa, Asia and north of Europe, aiming at the development of fishing activities in the coastal areas of the developing countries.
The three agreements mainly affect the Spanish fleet and will be included within a series of agreements that allow the catch of this migratory species such as tuna in various coastal regions.
Madagascar
The European Union (EU) will extend the agreement with Madagascar for three years (2004-2006), under the same conditions as previous commitment. This way, the EU will pay the region 2,475 million Euros in exchange for a fishing permit enabling the Communitarian fleet to catch up to 11,000 tons of tuna annually.
The previous agreement with Madagascar allowed, between 2001 and 2004, EU vessels to catch tuna in its water: Spain with 18 purseseiners and 20 longliners; France with 20 purseseiners and 10 longliners; Italy with 2 purseseiners and Portugal with 7 longliners.
Mauritius
The current agreement will be prolonged under the same conditions from December 2003 until December 2007. The EU will pay 1,950 million Euros to be able to catch 6,400 tons of tuna annually. The French fleet benefits most as far as catch figures are concerned. The Communitarian fleet fishing in Mauritius waters will be from Spain with 22 purseseiners and 19 longliners, France with 16 purseseiners, 23 longliners and 25 pole and line boats, Italy with 2 purseseiners, Portugal with 7 longliners and England with 1 purseseiner.
Cape Verde
The agreement expired earlier this year, in June, and will be extended for another year –until June 2005- without any further changes. The EU will pay 1,200 million Euros to catch 7,000 tons of tuna per year. This agreement’s extension is more limited than the others because the Government of Cape Verde has not given sufficient proof of its capacity to absorb and correctly use the European funds, according to data provided by EU sources.
Source: European Parliament