Poorer states net fairer fishing deals

By David Cronin

Date: 28/07/05

Over the next few years the European Commission will be negotiating a series of deals aimed at getting EU fishing vessels access to the waters of poor countries, mainly in Africa.

These talks will be a litmus test for the revamped Common Fisheries Policy, which contains a commitment to environmentally sustainable activities both in Europe and the wider world. They will also prove a challenge for what development aid analysts call 'coherence' - the desire that EU efforts to ease poverty are not undermined by trade, agriculture or fisheries policies that have the opposite effect.

The Commission acknowledges that its fisheries agreements have in the past been motivated mainly by the commercial interests of EU states with large fleets, such as Spain and Portugal. While financial compensation has been paid into the national coffers of the countries that have signed accords, their authorities have generally lacked the wherewithal to monitor the impact which foreign boats have had on fish stocks.

New agreements, the Commission says, will earmark specific sums for research as well as provide money for training local fishermen. To underline how they should bring tangible benefits to both sides, 'access agreements' have been refashioned into 'fisheries partnership agreements'.

"Undeniably, there is a move away from old-style 'fish, pay and go'," says Mireille Thom, the Commission's spokeswoman on fisheries. "Now there is a genuine desire to not only get fishing possibilities - as provided for by international law - but also to co-operate with the states concerned to develop their local fishing sectors and their capacity for scientific research."

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, which has been harshly critical of the EU's past fishing policies, the EU gains almost €800 million a year from fisheries accords with other countries, while those other countries receive €162m. Most of the accords in place are with African nations, including Senegal, Mauritania, Mozambique, Gabon and Guinea Bissau. Talks aimed at concluding a new deal with Morocco took place in Brussels this week, while the Union is also discussing or planning possible accords with Tanzania, Kenya, Libya and Gambia.

Mauritania and Senegal are the two largest African recipients of EU finance from fisheries agreements - at €86m and €16m per year respectively. Mauritania's agreement with the EU expires at the end of 2007, while Senegal's expires on 30 June next year.

Yet there are indications that the two neighbours have paid a heavy price for opening their waters. The UN's Environment Programme has reported that employment in traditional octopus fishing in Mauritania dropped from 5,000 in 1996 to 1,800 in 2002 because foreign vessels were depleting stocks.

Similarly, the Dakar government has registered concern about how high catches of juvenile fish can make it difficult for stocks to replenish themselves. Earlier this year, Senegal imposed a longer period of restrictions on fishing than those already foreseen under its 2002-06 agreement with the EU. Documents obtained by European Voice show that the Commission accepted the extra restrictions as an emergency measure, on the grounds that "vessels will get a much higher yield" at the end of the 'rest period'.

Senegal belongs to a group of 40 poor countries - with a combined population of one billion - where fish is one of the top sources of protein. The fishing industry accounts for 15% of total employment in Senegal.

Béatrice Gorez from the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Agreements in Brussels says: "The setting up of fisheries partnership agreements with West African countries such as Senegal and Mauritania will certainly be the key test. If the EU is serious about sustainable fisheries, access will have to be reduced or stopped for sensitive species, while there should be substantial financial support for research and MCS [monitoring, control and surveillance]."

There is a degree of self-interest in this. The threat to African fish stocks comes not just from Europe. The fleets of Japan, China and other Asian countries also operate around the world and better surveillance might keep them at bay.

Gaoussaou Gueye, a representative of the Senegalese artisanal fisheries organisation CONIPAS, is perturbed that EU-owned trawlers are circumventing the obligations of the formal EU-Senegal agreement by entering into private deals with the authorities. "We cannot sign agreements with Europeans and then have other Europeans coming in and seeking other things," he says.

Thom says that any evidence that the terms of agreements are being flouted should be passed to the EU member state authorities, which bear primary responsibility for enforcing fishing rules. But if there is evidence that they are remiss in doing so, the Commission could take action. France, she points out, was fined a record €20 million by the European Court of Justice earlier this month, after the Commission sued it for defying EU law by allowing the sale of immature fish. "We will fight illegal fishing, no matter where it comes from," she says. The extent of this proclaimed resolve will be tested in the waters of the developing world.

Article takes a look at the European Commission's plans over the next few years to negotiate a series of agreements aimed at getting EU fishing vessels access to the waters of poorer countries, mainly in Africa.