The new fishing agreement between the European Union (EU) and Seychelles increases the fishing possibilities for the communitarian fleet by 55,000 tons of tuna per annum, which is currently 45,000 tons. However, it also reduces the number of EU longliners operating in waters of the Seychelles islands.
EU sources indicated that the new fishing agreement will be effective from January 17th 2005 -which is the expiry date of the previous accord- until January 17th 2011 and will benefit vessels from Spain, France, Portugal, Italy and United Kingdom.
The agreement increases the tonnage of tuna which can be caught by the EU fleet within Seychelles waters, maintaining the same number of licenses for tuna purseseiners as in the current agreement, which totals 40, but reducing the number of longliners, which will drop from 27 to 12 boats. The Seychelles will also reduce the tuna catch for longliners by 15% in 2006.
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery, the Spanish boatowners have obtained the requested fishery permits, which total 21 licenses for tuna purseseiners (3 more than in previous agreement) and 2 licenses for tuna longliners. The financial contribution paid by the EU to Seychelles will be of 4,125,000 Euros per year. This represents 665,000 euros more than in the previous agreement; about 40% of which will be destined to the this compensation it will be destined to promote responsible fishing, most especially to reinforce fishery management and monitoring.
Tuna boatowners make an annual contribution of between 10,000 and 15,000 Euros for purseseiners and about 2,250 to 3,000 Euros for longliners, indicate sources.
The Seychelles agreement is the most important of the pacts accomplished by the EU for purseseiners so far. The new agreement “reflects the changes the EU is experiences in the line of traditional fishing agreements based on cooperation and dialogs to reach sustainable fishing in waters of the affected country.