Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 5 • Number 22 • 9th December 2005

Gabon and Comoros Sign New Fisheries Agreement with EU

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Comoros and Gabon signed new fisheries partnership agreements with the EU on 1 and 3 December respectively that will last for six years and aim to promote sustainable fisheries and policy cooperation under the EU Common Fisheries Policy. While the Comoros deal decreases the number of foreign vessels allowed to fish by 12 percent, the Gabon accord reduces the number of licences to fish by 40 percent. The EU fishing industry’s financial participation in the Gabon agreement also increased as license fees paid by EU vessel owners has increased by almost 50 percent since the last agreement, from EUR 25 to EUR 35 per tonne of tuna caught, whilst the European Union’s contribution has decreased correspondingly from EUR 75 to EUR 65, reflecting decreasing subsidisation of access. Gabon, signatory of the Community’s most important Atlantic tuna agreement in terms of catch volume, will thus receive EUR 860,000 per year from the EU instead of EUR 1,262,500 under the previous agreement. In both agreements, 60 percent of the financial contribution is earmarked for defining and implementing national fisheries policies that can include support for scientific research, surveillance of fisheries activities as well as food security and poverty reduction. Moreover, both pacts have requirements for EU vessels to comply with measures and recommendations by regional management organisations, such as the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), and the inclusion of concrete control and monitoring measures. They also allow for regional observers to be present on EU vessels.

Some observers have criticised the agreements for not setting total catch quotas. Thus, although the number of fishing licenses and boats has been reduced, the use of large-scale, modernised vessels might lead to the same amount of tuna being caught as before. Furthermore, some fear that the fact that the level of financial contribution is still directly linked to the allowable volume of fish catches continues to exert financial pressure on ACP countries to give EU boats unsustainable levels of access to their resources.

ICTSD Reporting; “Comoros, EU sign fisheries agreement”, AFROL NEWS, 1 December; “EU, Gabon sign new fisheries agreement”, EU PRESS RELEASE, 1 December 2005; “New EU-Comoros fisheries agreement signed”, EU PRESS RELEASE, 29 November 2005; “Brussels: New fisheries partnership agreement and protocol between the EU and the Comoros”, FISH UPDATE, 1 December 2005; “EU Comoros fisheries partnership agreement”, AGRITRADE, June 2005.