# EUR-Lex - 52014PC0547 - EN

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# 52014PC0547

**Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION concerning the allocation of fishing opportunities under the Implementation Protocol to the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Senegal /* COM/2014/0547 final - 2014/0253 (NLE) */**

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1.           CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

The Council authorised the European
Commission to negotiate, on behalf of the European Union, the renewal of the
Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Senegal and the European
Economic Community on fishing off the coast of Senegal, which entered into
force on 1 June 1981, and a Protocol setting out the fishing opportunities and
financial contribution. At the end of the negotiations a new draft Agreement
and Protocol were initialled by the negotiators on 25 April 2014. The new
Agreement repeals and replaces the existing Agreement; it covers a period of
five years from its entry into force, renewable by tacit agreement. The new
Protocol covers a period of five years from the date of provisional application
laid down in Article 12, that being the date on which it was signed by the
parties.

The main aim of the new Agreement is to provide
an updated framework taking into account the priorities of the reformed Common
Fisheries Policy and its external dimension, with a view to establishing a
strategic partnership between the European Union and the Republic of Senegal in the field of fisheries.

The aim of the Protocol is to grant fishing
opportunities to European Union vessels in Senegalese waters taking into
account available scientific assessments, in particular those of the Fishery
Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF), and in accordance with the
best available scientific advice and the recommendations of the International
Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), within the limits of
the available surplus. The Commission based its position in part on the results
of a forward-looking assessment, carried out by external experts, of whether a
new Agreement and Protocol should be concluded. The aim is also to enhance
cooperation between the European Union and the Republic of Senegal to promote a sustainable fisheries policy and sound exploitation of fisheries resources
in the Senegalese fishing zones, in the interests of both parties.

The Protocol provides for fishing
opportunities in the following categories:

-           28 tuna seiners;

-           8 pole-and-line vessels;

-           2 trawlers (targeting black
hake, a deep-sea demersal species).

The method for allocating fishing
opportunities among the Member States should be defined. The Commission
proposes, on this basis, that the Council adopt the Regulation.

2.           RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS
WITH INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

The interested parties were consulted as
part of the forward-looking assessment of whether a new Fisheries Partnership
Agreement should be entered into by the European Union and the Republic of Senegal. Experts from the Member States were also consulted in technical
meetings. These consultations led to the conclusion that it would be beneficial
to renew the Fisheries Agreement and conclude a Fisheries Protocol with the Republic of Senegal.

3.           LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE
PROPOSAL

This procedure is being initiated in
parallel with the procedures relating to the Council Decision authorising the
signature and provisional application of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership
Agreement and the Implementation Protocol thereto, and to the Council Decision
on the conclusion of a Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the
European Union and the Republic of Senegal and the Implementation Protocol
thereto.

4.           BUDGETARY IMPLICATION

The annual financial contribution has been
set at EUR 1 808 000 for the first year, EUR 1 738 000
for the second, third and fourth years and EUR 1 668 000 for the
fifth year, based on:

(a) a reference tonnage of 14 000
tonnes for tunas and a volume of authorised catches of 2 000 tonnes for
black hake, the amounts linked to such access having been set at EUR 1 058 000
for the first year, EUR 988 000 for the second, third and fourth
years, and at EUR 918 000 for the fifth year; and

(b) support for the development of the
sectoral fisheries policy of the Republic of Senegal amounting to EUR 750 000
per year. This support meets the objectives of the national fisheries policy
and in particular the needs of the Republic of Senegal in terms of support for
scientific research, for monitoring and fighting against illegal fishing, and
for small-scale fishing, including the rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems to
allow the recovery of juvenile stocks.

2014/0253 (NLE)

Proposal for a

COUNCIL REGULATION

concerning the allocation of fishing
opportunities under the Implementation Protocol to the Sustainable Fisheries
Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Senegal

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 43(3) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the
European Commission,

Whereas:

(1)       On 25 April 2014 the
European Union and the Republic of Senegal initialled a Sustainable Fisheries
Partnership Agreement (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Partnership Agreement’)
and an Implementation Protocol thereto granting EU vessels fishing
opportunities in waters in which the Republic of Senegal exercises its
sovereignty or jurisdiction with regard to fishing.

(2)       On [...] the Council adopted
decision 2014/.../UE[1]
on the signature and provisional application of the Partnership Agreement and
the Implementation Protocol thereto.

(3)       The method for allocating
the fishing opportunities among the Member States should be defined, both for
the period of provisional application and for the duration of the Protocol.

(4)       In order to ensure that
the fishing opportunities available to the European Union under the Protocol
are used in full, the Commission should be empowered to temporarily reallocate
fishing opportunities not used by one Member State to another Member State,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

(1) 
The fishing opportunities set out in the
Implementing Protocol to the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement
between the European Union and the Republic of Senegal (hereinafter referred to
as ‘the Protocol’) shall be allocated among the Member States as follows:

(a) 
(a)      tuna seiners:

Spain ||                   16   vessels

France ||                   12   vessels

(b) 
(b)     pole-and-line vessels:

Spain ||                     7   vessels

France ||                     1   vessel

(c) 
(c)      trawlers:

Spain ||                     2   vessels

(2) 
The time limit within which the Member States
must confirm that they are not fully exhausting the fishing opportunities
granted to them under the Agreement, as provided by Article 10(1) of Regulation
(EC) No 1006/2008, is set at ten working days as from the date on which the
Commission communicates this information to them.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on
the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of
the European Union.

It shall apply from the date of signature
of the Protocol.

This Regulation shall be binding
in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels,

For
the Council

The
President

[1]               OJ L of , p. .