Madar (Nouakchott) - The regional government of Andalusia in Spain has voiced "concern" over the end of the protocol implementing the sustainable fisheries partnership agreement between the European Union and Mauritania, after the European Commission officially notified that it expires at midnight on 14 November, according to a statement issued by the regional government on Friday, 6 November.
According to the statement, the expiry will suspend the licences of 60 European vessels, 25 of them based in Andalusian ports, which will no longer be able to fish in Mauritanian waters from 15 November unless a solution is found.
Initial sector estimates cited in the statement suggest that around 500 workers across the value chain could be affected. The impact would fall first on the port of Cadiz, which handles a large share of Mauritanian fish landings and auctions, as well as on Algeciras, Seville and Huelva.
"We cannot allow the lack of a timely solution to leave our boats moored," said Ramon Fernandez-Pacheco, Andalusia's regional minister for agriculture, fisheries, water and rural development, adding that "Spain and Europe cannot abandon a sector that needs certainty to keep working".
He urged the Spanish government and the EU to explore "all possible avenues" to avoid the fleet being idled, either through the provisional application of a new protocol or through a transitional arrangement, noting that the regional government had already raised the issue with the Spanish ministry in the Advisory Council on Fisheries Policy.
Mauritania's Minister of Fisheries and Maritime and Port Infrastructure, Aissata Lam, discussed with EU Fisheries and Oceans Commissioner Costas Kadis on 22 October ways to narrow the gaps in the talks to renew the protocol before it expires on 14 November.
