The European Commission, on behalf of the European Union, and Kiribati have initialed a 6-year fisheries partnership agreement (FPA). The new agreement, which provides fishing possibilities exclusively on tuna, will come into force on 16 September 2006. The new protocol will continue to provide fishing possibilities for 16 vessels. The annual EU financial contribution will amount to € 478,000, representing the same amount of compensation as under the current protocol: € 416,000 compensation for a reference tonnage of 6,400 tonnes of tuna catches per year, plus a specific allocation of € 62,400 to support the application of Kiribati's national fisheries policy. The contribution by vessel owners will amount, as now, to € 35 per ton, and the EU’s to € 65.
The current protocol comes to an end on 15 September 2006. The 16 vessels will include 12 long liners and 4 purse seiners. The technical conditions governing tuna fishing have been revised to take account of the practices specific to highly-migratory species fisheries. These include the placing of observers on board EU vessels and the obligation to employ fishermen from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states. Pending the creation of a regional observers' scheme within the framework of the West Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), Kiribati will appoint the observers. The Fisheries Partnership Agreement also includes a vessel monitoring system (VMS) protocol.
30 % of the total financial contribution has been earmarked for the promotion of sustainability through Kiribati’s national fisheries policy. The second year, this percentage will increase to 40%, and to 60% the following years.
The current fisheries agreement with Kiribati, which entered into force in 2003 for a period of three years, was the first such agreement between the EU and a Pacific Ocean country. The new agreement, which is founded on the partnership approach, puts increased emphasis on the promotion of sustainable and responsible fisheries in Kiribati's waters.
This agreement occupies a key position in the future network of tuna agreements to be set up in the Pacific Ocean, together with the agreements with the Solomon Islands and Micronesia, which have been initialled and are now awaiting formal ratification.
Both Parties will now initiate the procedures for final adoption of the EU/Kiribati FPA. The vessels fishing under this agreement come from Spain...