Proposal for a Council Regulation on the allocation of the fishing opportunities under the Protocol setting out the fishing opportunities and financial contribution provided for in the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania for a period of four years

The Council authorised the European Commission to negotiate, on behalf of the European Union, the renewal of the Protocol setting out the fishing opportunities and financial contribution provided for in the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. At the end of those negotiations, a new Protocol was initialled by the negotiators on 10 July 2015. It covers a period of four years from the date of provisional application laid down in Article 14 – i.e. from the date of its signature.

The main aim of the Protocol is to grant fishing opportunities to European Union vessels in Mauritanian waters taking into account available scientific assessments, in particular those of the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF), and in accordance with scientific advice and the recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), within the limits of the available surplus. The Commission based its position in part on the results of a forward-looking assessment, carried out by external experts, of whether a new Protocol should be concluded.

The Protocol provides for fishing opportunities in the following categories:
Category 1 – Vessels fishing for crustaceans other than spiny lobster and crab: 5,000 tonnes and 25 vessels;
Category 2 - Black hake (non-freezer) trawlers and bottom longliners: 6,000 tonnes and 6 vessels;
Category 3 - Vessels fishing for demersal species other than black hake with gear other than trawls: 3,000 tonnes and 6 vessels;
Category 4 - Tuna seiners: 12,500 tonnes (reference tonnage) and 25 vessels;
Category 5 - Pole-and-line tuna vessels and longliners: 7,500 tonnes (reference tonnage) and 15 vessels;
Category 6 - Pelagic freezer trawlers: 247,500 and 19 vessels;
Category 7 - Non-freezer pelagic vessels: 15,000 tonnes (deducted from volume under category 6 if used) and 2 vessels.

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)474: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:474:FIN

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