MEP: Fishing deal contravenes UN Convention

Date: 08/11/01

THE European Commission has been accused of flouting international law by allowing fishermen to exploit depleted stocks.

Dutch Socialist MEP Margrietus van den Berg contends that the recent fisheries agreement signed between the EU and Mauritania contravenes the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. While the convention states that countries should only conclude deals if there is an abundance of stocks, the €400-million Mauritania accord allows for an increase in octopus catches despite research findings that the number of the species in West African waters has been severely reduced due to over-fishing.

Van den Berg has cited a warning by Mauritania's National Oceanographic and Fisheries Research Centre to support his case. In 1998 it recommended a 25 cut in allowable catches for certain stocks to replenish."Despite these figures, the Commission still thinks we can allow 50 more boats to fish for octopus in Mauritania," he complained.

He also contends that the Union is ignoring the 'precautionary principle', which allows measures to be taken to avoid harmful activity even in the absence of proof. EU fisheries chief Franz Fischler recently replied to a query from van den Berg by stating the Commission had studied "appropriate scientific advice reports ... some of which point to a certain recovery of some stocks, particularly cephalopods [the family to which octopus belong]".

However, Fischler did not specify which reports had reached that conclusion. The EU fleet, particularly Spanish and Portuguese vessels, dominates the waters off Mauritania. Local fishermen are heavily dependent on cephalopod varieties as they account for 80 of exports from the sector.

The European Commission has been accused of flouting international law by allowing fishermen to exploit depleted stocks. Dutch Socialist MEP Margrietus van den Berg contends that the recent fisheries agreement signed between the EU and Mauritania contravenes the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

http://www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm http://www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm

---