WRITTEN QUESTION P-3962/00

by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission

(8 December 2000)

Subject: Fisheries agreement between the European Union and Senegal

In the light of the forthcoming re-negotiation of the agreement between the Government of the Republic of Senegal and the European Union on fishing off the coast of Senegal, can the Commission confirm its awareness that local fishermen in Senegal and other West African states have expressed strong concerns over the negative impact of European fisheries upon their livelihoods?

Specific complaints have centred around the fact that illegal fishing has taken place, local fishing gear has been damaged with fatal consequences and little compensation from the fishing agreements accrues to the local fishermen and the surrounding communities.

Can the Commission outline what action it will take when re-negotiating the agreement with Senegal to ensure that local fisheries communities benefit more substantially from compensation provided by the European Union? Will contacts be made with local fisheries organisations to establish their needs, as well as official contact at governmental level?

Finally, can the Commission provide a provisional timetable for the negotiations and a provisional date by which the European Parliament will be consulted on the outcome of the negotiations?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(16 January 2001)

The Commission thanks the Honourable Member for her question and wishes to recall the longstanding relations between the Community and Senegal on fisheries issues. The fisheries agreement that was signed in 1978 with Senegal was in fact the first agreement in this field concluded between the Community and an African, Carribean and Pacific (ACP) country.

The Commission is aware of the concerns expressed by local fishermen on the negative impact that foreign vessels or local industrial vessels fishing with private licenses or chartered agreements may have on their livelihoods.

In this context, it should be noted that the fishing possibilities in the Community/Senegal fisheries agreement has been reduced over the years and the present Protocol only includes 10 000 gross registered tonnage (GRT), which represents approximately 6,5 % of the fishing carried out in Senegalese waters.

The Commission is also aware of illegal fishing activities in the area, mainly carried out by pirate vessels or by vessels flying flags of convenience.

Although the surveillance of the territorial waters and of those of the Exclusive Economic Zone is the responsibility of the Coastal state, the Commission does whatever it can to assist the third countries in combating these illegal practices. To this end, Senegal has committed itself to use a part of the financial compensation for actions that aim at improving the monitoring and surveillance capabilities of the Senegalese authorities. During the forthcoming negotiations, the Commission shall endeavour to further strengthen this part of the financial compensation.

Moreover, the Commission is totally committed towards the development of the food and agriculture organization (FAO) International Plan of Action to curb illegal unregulated and unreported fishing (IUU). In this plan, the main objectives of the Community are to implement the existing international legal instrument, such as the Compliance Agreement, and to fill the loopholes in international law, in particular concerning the access to port. This plan should be presented to the FAO committee of fisheries (COFI) in February 2001.

Preliminary contacts between the Commission and other parties concerned (Fishermen and industry) have recently taken place in Dakar.

The interests of traditional fishermen will be taken into due account, in coherence with the Community policies and with other actions undertaken by the Commission in this context. In fact, out of the resources of the eighth European Development Fund, a multiannual co-operation project for the support to traditional fishermen, for an amount of 5 million has been recently approved. The relevant financing agreement between the Commission and Senegalese authorities has been signed on 29 June 2000.

Alongside the evaluation exercise of the current protocol, carried out between the Commission and Senegalese authorities in December 2000, contacts have been made to schedule the negotiations for the renewal of the Protocol, which expires on 30 April 2001.

It has been agreed that the first round of negotiations will take place in Brussels during the third week of January 2001 and that, if need be, other negotiation rounds will be held every month.

The Commission hopes that these discussions will be concluded before the expiry of the current protocol.

The Parliament will be supplied with all relevant information on the outcome of the negotiation as soon as possible.