The EU is paying Morocco to fish in occupied Western Sahara

The current Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the EU and Morocco has been running since the 28th February 2007. The latest protocol annexed to the agreement ended on the 27th February 2011. This partnership has brought to Morocco a financial contribution of 36.1 million euros per year, including 13.5 million in support of the Moroccan fisheries policy "in order to promote the sustainable exploitation of its fish resources". Thanks to this agreement and to this protocol, Morocco has issued fishing licenses to vessels from eleven EU member States.

On the 25th February 2011, the parties to the protocol agreed to extend it for another year (28.2.2011-27.2.2012), but this decision is still pending for ratification. However, an issue has been raised by several European MEPs: the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement is both politically controversial and in violation of international law. The international ’Fish Elsewhere!’ campaign demands the EU to cancel its highly unethical operations, and go fishing somewhere else. No fishing in Western Sahara should take place until the conflict is solved.

Rapport Sahara Occidental

Trawlers in WS

Industrial fisheries destroy livelihood of northern and southern fishermen

At the fisheries conference of northern German states in Kiel last week, the development associations Protestant Development Service (EED) and Fair Oceans demanded from German ministers to press the EU to ensure sustainable fishing of European fishermen outside of European waters. “It is not acceptable that the recent proposals for a European fisheries reform lack solutions for the improvement of the situation for local fishermen,” says Andrea Müller-Frank from EED.

“More and more foreign trawlers are active in Senegalese waters. Licenses are attributed without consideration for environmental and social consequences. Many industrial trawlers illegally enter the zones reserved for small fisheries. This is how we small fishermen are deprived of our livelihood,” says Gaoussou Gueyse, secretary general of the West African Fisheries Federation. “Future EU fisheries agreements have to promote the development of our fisheries sector and not only deplete our fish stocks,” adds Gueye.

Since nowadays more than half of all European fisheries imports come from developing countries, Germany’s responsibility for the fisheries sector in target countries is growing. “The ministries assembled in Kiel have to push for an EU fisheries reform that reduces European dependency on imports and reestablishes fish stocks in the North Sea and Baltic Sea in an environmentally sustainable way,” says Fair Oceans’ Kai Kaschinski. Source: www.eed.de

Impact analysis of the Poly Hondone Pelagic Fishery-Mauritania Convention

Presented as a model for promoting high value-added activities in order to take advantage of abundant, low market value pelagic resources, the investment program, included in the June 2011 Convention between the Chinese group POLY-HONDONE PELAGIC FISHERY and Mauritania, mainly targets demersal species, especially octopus, which goes against the sectoral policy, focused on the reduction of fishing effort through its development plan.

This Convention with a Chinese group, which has been implemented as the EU-Mauritania Fisheries Partnership Agreement negotiations were starting, only reinforces the skepticism of some as regards our fishing policy. According to them, the possible withdrawal of European cephalopod trawlers will be followed by the introduction of other foreign fishing vessels, with little regard for the sustainability of fisheries. This feeling is reinforced by recent decisions, such as to allow pair trawling, which do not seem to reflect the interest for sound management which led to the prohibition of tickler chains used by EU shrimp trawlers.

Analyse de la Convention par Pêchecops

EU-Mauritania FPA: contribution of the Mauritanian NGO "Mer Bleue"

The Mauritanian NGO "Mer Bleue" congratulates the European Parliament for its resolution of May 14th on the new fisheries agreement. We are convinced that this resolution will be a crucial step in achieving sustainable and equitable fisheries in Mauritania and in the subregion. By this contribution, we wish to echo the MEPs’ call for FPA negotiations between the UE and Mauritania to be preceded by a broader debate allowing the participation of citizens, Civil Society organizations and national parliamentarians, in order to ensure democracy and transparency in fish resources management.

NGOs file complaint with the Commission for denying access to documents

Evaluations of fisheries agreements are kept secret. Following this refusal, TransparentSea and Client Earth sent a ‘confirmatory application’ to the Secretary General of the European Commission. NGOs consider taking the Commission to court.

Mauritania: Civil society and fishing professionals take position on fisheries agreements with the EU and with China

These last days, Mauritanian civil society and the professionals from the fishing sector took position the on-going negotiations between the European Union and Mauritania concerning the future fisheries partnership, as well as on the convention of investment in the fisheries sector just signed by Mauritania with a Chinese company, Poly-Hondone Pelagic Fishery. About thirty representatives of the civil society and fishing sector professionals met on June 12th in Nouakchott, at the invitation of the Mauritanian NGO Pêchecops, with the support of CFFA, to discuss issues arising from these agreements.

The participants first greeted the resolution taken, in May 2011, by the European Parliament, who, they emphasized, was a positive development for the North-South relations. The recommendations from the meeting echoed this resolution, demanding the reduction of the fishing effort in Mauritanian waters (in particular by limiting the exploitation of certain species like the cephalopods, to the local fleets), the effective implication of the Mauritanian civil society and the fishing sector professionals in the whole negotiation process and in the implementation of these agreements, the reinforcement of the dialogue and the co-operation between the European and Mauritanian stakeholders, etc.

The recent convention of establishment between Mauritania and the Chinese company Poly-Hondone Pelagic Fishery was also discussed, and the participants oiced their opposition to this convention. The representatives of the National Fishing Federation stated that this convention will worsen the already precarious economic situation of the national sector. The allocation, through this convention, of tens of fishing licences (trawlers, potters, longliners, gillnetters and various experimental fisheries - see agreement protocol here after) will dangerously increase the pressure on the fish resources and will put in danger the Mauritanian sector. They stressed that it is for this reason that the European Parliament asked that negotiations for the renewal of the fisheries partnership agreement with the EU relate to only cover surplus stocks which cannot be caught by the local fleets.

Sources Press article, Rejoprao,13 June Press release FNP, 12 June Copy investment Convention Mauritania - Poly-Hondone Pelagic Fishery Copy protocol fisheries agreement Mauritania-Poly-Hondone Pelagic Fishery

Atelier PECHECOPS/CAPE: recommandations

Atelier PECHECOPS/CAPE: communiqué

Mauritania-POLY HONDONE PELAGIC FISHERY CO. agreement: press release of the FNP

Mauritania professional fishermen, after having acknowledged the establishment contract signed between the Minister of Economic Affairs and Development and the company POLY HONDONE PELAGIC FISHERY CO., would like to call attention to the fact that this Convention is worsening the already precarious economic situation of national operators from the industrial and artisanal fisheries sector.

Read the press release here 

Historical resolution by the European Parliament on the future EU-Mauritania agreement

A resolution on the EU-Mauritania fisheries partnership agreement, jointly tabled by the five most important political groups of the European Parliament, has been adopted today in plenary, before the start of the negotiations for its renewal. This agreement is the most important agreement between the EU and an ACP country. The Parliament thus gives, for the first time since the Lisbon Treaty entered into force, a strong signal on what its priorities are for the negotiations of an FPA.

The resolution considers that "cooperation must be based on mutual interest and take the form of initiatives and measures which, whether taken jointly or separately, are complementary and ensure consistent policies". The resolution highlights that "the FPA has contributed to the overexploitation of some stocks, particularly octopus, and has therefore reduced fishing opportunities for Mauritanian fishermen and given the EU industry a competitive advantage as a result of subsidised access fees for EU vessels". The resolution therefore insists that "any and all access negotiated for EU-flagged vessels to fish in Mauritanian waters must be based on the principle of surplus stocks ... should effort reductions be necessary, those third-country (EU and other) fleets causing the most environmental damage must be the first to make reductions", and also insists "on receiving reliable data on fishing opportunities and catches by third countries in Mauritanian waters so as to be able to identify any surplus resources; believes that, in the case of those stocks shared with other West African states, levels of fishing access in Mauritania must be negotiated with due regard to fishing levels in the other states".

The resolution urges also the Commission to ensure "that fishing activities under the FPA meet the same sustainability criteria as fishing activities in EU waters, including those relating to selectivity; calls on Commission to ensure compliance with the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, especially as regards the recommendation to grant local artisanal fishers preferential access to resources in Mauritanian waters", and insists "that fisheries agreements between the EU and third countries should be preceded by a wide-ranging debate in the countries concerned, allowing participation by the public, civil society organisations and national parliaments, thereby promoting greater democracy and transparency".

Concerning the financial compensation, the resolution "believes that the money paid as compensation for access to fish stocks in Mauritanian waters must be clearly uncoupled from financial support for the Mauritanian multiannual fisheries programme, in that any reduction in fishing opportunities must not lead to a reduction in EU payments under the multiannual programme... financial support for the Mauritanian multiannual fisheries programme must be in line with Mauritania’s needs for sustainable fisheries development, in particular management (research, control, stakeholder participation mechanisms, infrastructure and so on), as expressed in the EU-Mauritania cooperation and development framework". It further "believes that... the EU should support the fastest possible construction of adequate facilities for landing fish along Mauritania’s central and southern coastlines, including – but not limited to – Nouakchott, so that fish caught in Mauritanian waters can be landed at national ports rather than outside the country, as is often the case at present; believes that this will increase local fish consumption and support local employment; takes the view that these improvements, combined with the removal of wrecks and the modernisation of the major port of Nouadhibou, would enable the EU fleet to operate more effectively, facilitate investment flows and boost the FPA’s impact on the local economy".

Finally, the resolution underlines "the need for Parliament to be wholly involved in both the negotiating process and the long-term monitoring of the functioning of the new protocol, and recalls its conviction that Parliament should be represented at the Joint Committee meetings envisaged in fisheries agreements, and insists that civil society, including both EU and Mauritanian fisheries representatives, also participate in those meetings".

Source

JOINT MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the EU-Mauritania Fisheries Partnership Agreement, 10.5.2011

CAOPA’s contribution to the first NEPAD/FAO consultation meeting

The first Stakeholder Consultation Meeting jointly organised by NEPAD (The New Partnership for Africa’s Development) and the FAO in support of the implementation of the FAO Strategy for Fisheries and Aquaculture in Africa will take place on 10-12 May 2011 in Midrand, South Africa. It will bring together participants from regional fisheries organisations, regional economic communities, donors as well as civil society. The three-day event will consist of a one-day plenary session and two days of consultation in working groups.

The aim is to strengthen and accelerate the fisheries and aquaculture sector in terms of their governance, management and adaptability to climate change. By doing this, the participants will address the rising importance of fisheries in meeting the MDG objectives; and the sector’s crucial role in economic development and poverty alleviation in Africa, in line with the CAADP targets.

The CAOPA (The African Confederation of Small-scale Fisheries Professional Organizations) will participate to the event, and has drafted a series of recommendations for African governments and for international, regional and national institutions. These include that:

 Access to resources should be conditional to sustainability criteria; 
 Priority should be given to local fleets, especially small-scale fisheries; 
 Fisheries agreements should be concluded on a scientific basis while respecting the precautionary approach; 
 Priority should be given to fishing for human consumption; Effective participation of local actors in co-management plans should be promoted by policy frameworks; 
 Decision-makers should be engaged in an integrated coastal planning strategy; 
 Parties of fisheries agreements should reinforce their actions towards a real partnership in order to develop efficient management systems and to avoid overexploitation; 
 Value-adding activities should be promoted by structural actions in order to give SSF priority access to markets; 
 International fish trade should be fair and equitable; 
 Standards and regulations should be introduced in a way that allows producers to comply with them; 
 A permanent participation mechanism should be established in order to inform and involve small-scale fisheries professionals.

The CAOPA also stresses that small-scale fisheries professional organizations should be strengthened by:

 Setting up an appropriate deliberative process in order to confront ideas and interests and take coherent and legitimate decisions; 
 Defining ways to formally identify and integrate actors; 
 Establishing an appropriate information sharing system; 
 Building capacity by education and awareness raising; 
 Making fishing communities aware of climate change impacts and how to mitigate related risks.

The full document is available here in French.

Réunion FAO/NEPAD: Recommandations de la CAOPA

Senegal: civil society and fishing sector unite against 22 Russian trawlers licensing

In a press conference held on March 17 in Dakar, representatives of professional organizations from the Senegalese industrial and small-scale fishing sector, as well trade unions and consumer organisations, denounced the presence in the Senegalese waters of Russian fishing vessels targeting small pelagics: "These vessels whose licences have been formally refused, are able to quietly operate, by day and by night, without be arrested...", says a press release from GAIPES (grouping of the shipowners and industrial fishing in Senegal).

Who should have the right to fish?

"Who should have the right to fish?" A question from the Greens in the European Parliament", new GREENS-EFA leaflet on the CFP reform.

Maria Damanaki’s letter on discards

In her letter dated February 15 2011, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki thanks the members of the OCEAN2012 coalition for their position on eliminating discards by EU fishing activities in EU and third country waters.

Transparency in FPAs

CFFA and its Kenyan partner, Transparent Sea, organized and facilitated a workshop in the European Parliament, on January 26th, on ’how to improve transparency in the future CFP external dimension’ (see article on the benefits and limits of transparency).

At this occasion, Gaoussou Gueye, Secretary of the African Confederation of Small-scale Fisheries Professional Organizations (CAOPA), raised the issue of transparency in the context of EU-ACP relations through two cases: the Fisheries Partnership Agreements and the implementation of EU financed support programmes to the fisheries sector.

La transparence dans la réforme de la dimension externe de la PCP

Experts: Denmark supports harmful EU fisheries in Africa

Reports conclude that the EU’s fisheries agreements with developing countries are socially, environmentally and economically harmful. By Michael Rothenborg, Politiken, 7 December 2010

“The EU gives us development aid with one hand, but takes away at least the same amount of money by over-fishing our oceans with the other “. Professor Ahmed Mahmoud Cherif is a former chief negotiator for Mauritania and has helped to conclude several fisheries agreements with the EU. Today he regrets having done so, and has therefore become president of the Mauritanian NGO, Pechecops.

A suffering population “Mauritania’s government is given millions to let Spanish and other European vessels fish for octopus, squid and other profitable species. But it is a short-sighted strategy and will not benefit the Mauritanian population. The people suffer because the overfishing of the European vessels leaves fewer fish for them to fish, and because the local fishing industry will lose jobs because of this, ” says Ahmed Mahmoud Cherif. He is in Denmark to participate in conference on the issue of overfishing. The conference that is to be held in the Danish parliament today has been organized by the Democracy in Europe (DEO) and the Danish Fishing Network. They point to reports from among others the UN and the World Bank, that indicate that fishing agreements with developing countries do more harm than good.

Read the full article in Danish. Or contact cp(at)afpl.dk for more information in English.

Policy Coherence for Development and Fisheries

The principle of coherence was introduced by the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. It introduced an obligation on the EC to consider the impact of all its policies (including fisheries) on the stated objectives of its development policy.

This notion has been mentionned several times during the parliamentary hearing on Fisheries Partnership Agreement, on November 17 in Brussels. We feel it is necessary to remind what is meant by policy coherence for development and how it is currently being applied in fisheries.

Policy Coherence for Development and Fisheries

Visit of a delegation of the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee in Mauritania

The issues at stake in the EU-Mauritania Fisheries Partnership Agreement were raised in a joint paper by Pêchecops and CFFA, at the occasion of the visit of a delegation of the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee in Mauritania. The paper will be distributed this week in Mauritania.

"In 2006, Mauritania and the European Union have signed a Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) for the period 2006-2012. The current protocol of this agreement, covering the period 2008-2012, provides a 4-year financial support of 305 million euros to the fishing sector, as a counterpart of the acces to Mauritanian fishing grounds. This FPA is the most important agreement between the EU and an ACP state, authorizing EU vessels from 12 member states to fish in the Mauritanian waters.

(...) Today, the CAF (Coastal Artisanal Fisheries) is the only national fishing fleet to remain viable."

Pêchecops-CFFA: Challenges for future EU-Mauritania FPA

Tuna Fisheries Management discussed at LDRAC meeting

The issue of RFMO management of tuna fisheries was raised at a LDRAC meeting attended by CFFA, last wednesday in Madrid. It provided an opportunity to present the points raised by Greenpeace and CFFA in June in Brisbane, Australia (see article).

Also see: 

Greenpeace Briefing on Overcapacity in Tuna Fisheries

Briefing Annex: Regional Examples

How Africa is feeding Europe: EU (over)fishing in West Africa

This Expedition Report provides a basic overview of the type of vessels encountered during the expedition, highlighting some of the problems of overfishing through specific examples. According to views expressed by local fishermen in Senegal and Mauritania, a consequence of foreign operations in West Africa, local fishing communities sees their own catch diminish and sees the destruction of local marine resources at the hands of foreign operators, while the communities themselves reap few if any of the benefits.

Sources: Greenpeace Expedition report , September 30, 2010

First Conference of African Ministers of Fisheries and Aquaculture in Banjul

NEPAD and African Union Fisheries Summit: Livelihoods should come first urge small-scale fishers and NGOs

Banjul, Gambia, 22 September 2010. Artisanal and small scale fishers and associated civil society representatives from seventeen African countries met in Banjul, Gambia on 21 September, 2010, in advance of the first NEPAD Conference of African Ministers on Fisheries and Aquaculture (CAMFA) to be held on 23 September 2010. The meeting was organized by the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, the African Confederation of Artisanal Fishery Professional Organizations and the Commonwealth Foundation, under the banner of "Our Fish, Our Future".

Following the meeting, participants issued the Banjul Civil Society Declaration on Sustainable Livelihoods in African Fisheries (http://www.camfa-cso.org). The declaration highlights key issues in African fisheries and provides recommendations on how the 2005 NEPAD Action Plan for Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture should be taken forward.

The declaration warns that a purely economic approach represents a threat to the sustainable development of fisheries resources and livelihoods of poor marginalized artisanal and small scale fishing communities. It emphasizes the importance and value of small-scale and artisanal fisheries in the African context towards providing food security for 200 million Africans and jobs for more than 10 million people engaged in fish production, processing and trade. It further highlights the negative impacts of climate change, industrial fishing and illegal unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), including dwindling catches, displacement of communities and the destruction of fishing grounds. In turn this affects the social stability of entire regions, the Declaration states.

The significance of IUU fishing in African waters was echoed by Tim Bostock, Fisheries advisor to United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) in the opening session of the CAMFA on Monday 20th September, who noted that illegal fishing alone accounts for removing fish valued at some $1billion from the waters of Sub-Saharan Africa every year.

The CAMFA is a follow-up to the 2005 Abuja "Fish for All" summit, and African fisheries ministers are expected to assess and validate a fisheries plan of action for the region.

The meeting of small scale and artisanal fishers and civil society organizations is also part of an ongoing process, which since 2006 has included a growing network of West African journalists for responsible fisheries (REJOPRAO). From 15-23 September, the REJOPRAO organized training workshop for journalists, with the objective of focusing on responsible fisheries and related topics and issues in West Africa. Following the training, the journalists from sub region will carry out the media coverage, as observers, of CAMFA.

Since 2005, organizations representing the professionals (fishers, traders, processors and fishmongers) from the artisanal fishing sector have worked to establish a regional body to represent their interests. Earlier this year, this initiative led to the founding of CAOPA - the African Confederation of Professional Artisanal Fishery Sector Organizations.

For more information: Béatrice Gorez, Coordinator CFFA cffa.cape@scarlet.be

Banjul Civil Society Declaration

OCEAN2012 Press Release

WWF/CFFA/Greenpeace Joint Statement on Solomon Islands FPA

Letter adressed to the PECH Committee on Fisheries, European Parliament:

Dear Member of the PECH Committee,

The Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements (CFFA), WWF and Greenpeace would like to express their support for the Committee’s Draft Recommendation regarding a Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) between the European Union and Solomon Islands that will be voted in Committee in September.

However, we urge the Committee to press the EC for higher standards in future FPAs. Improvements should focus on:

 Greater transparency; 
 Sustainability and equity of resource exploitation; 
 Coherence with development policy; 
 Integrating the regional dimension and 
 Phasing out subsidies.

It is essential that the EU show leadership in ensuring that its fishery agreements result in improved fishery management capacity for its partners. Therefore, we strongly recommend you to flag these crucial principles for coming FPA negotiations. (Our recommendations are spelled out in more detail in the attached document).

We would welcome the opportunity to discuss these recommendations with you.

Thank you very much in advance.

Sincerely,

Béatrice Gorez (CFFA) cffa.cape@scarlet.be,

Jessica Landman (WWF) jlandman@wwfepo.org and

Saskia Ritchartz (Greenpeace) saskia.richartz@greenpeace.org

EU-Solomon FPA Recommendations