EU In New Fishing Agreements With Senegal And Angolaff
2 October 2002
European Union The European Commission will formally adopt two new fisheries agreements with Senegal and Angola at its weekly meeting on October 2.
These deals give European Union (EU) vessels access to fishing grounds in the South Atlantic ocean where tuna and shrimp are just some of the species caught, adding that the agreement with former war-torn state Angola runs from 2002 until 2004 while an extra two years were added for Senegal.
The EU has agreed to pay Angola 15.5 million Euro (about 15.4 million U.S. dollars) a year while the figure of 16 million Euro ( about 15.9 million dollars) was settled with the West African state of Senegal. Both these amounts represent increases on the previous agreements and specific funds are being devoted to monitoring stocks and developing local fish processing industries.
Such agreements are vital for the EU fish processing industry where 50 percent of the fish it uses are caught in waters outside the EU. However, the agreements have been criticized by environmental groups for giving European fishermen the right to plunder the valuable resources of poor developing countries.
