Protocol defining, for the period 3 December 2003 to 2 December 2007, the fishing opportunities and the financial compensation provided for by the Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Government of Mauritius on fishing in Mauritian waters
Date: 2004-11-15
Institutions: European Community, Mauritius
Subjects: Mauritius, financial compensation of an agreement, fishing agreement, fishing area, fishing rights, protocol to an agreement

24.11.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 348/3

defining, for the period 3 December 2003 to 2 December 2007, the fishing opportunities and the
financial compensation provided for by the Agreement between the European Economic
Community and the Government of Mauritius on fishing in Mauritian waters

PROTOCOL

Article 1

Article 3

1.
Pursuant to Article 2 of the Agreement, and for a period
of four years from 3 December 2003, the following fishing
possibilities shall be accorded:

— tuna seiners: licences for 41 vessels;

— surface long-liners: licences for 49 vessels;

— vessels fishing by line:

licences for 25 GRT/month on an

annual average.

2.
issued
Only Community vessels having a valid licence,
under this Protocol and according to the formalities described
in the Annex, shall be authorised to conduct fishing in the
Mauritius fishing zone.

Article 2

The financial compensation referred to in Article 6 of the
for the abovementioned period is fixed at EUR

1.
Agreement
487 500 per year.

2.
This compensation shall cover a catch weight in waters of
Mauritius of 6 500 tonnes of catches per year. If the annual
amount of catches by Community vessels in the waters of
Mauritius exceeds this quantity, the above mentioned compen-
sation shall be increased proportionately at the rate of EUR 75
per additional tonne caught. However, the total amount of the
financial compensation to be paid by the Community for tuna
and tuna-like species cannot exceed the double of the amount
referred to in paragraph 1.

A first part of the financial compensation equivalent to
3.
EUR 292 500 per year shall be paid into an account in the
name of the public Treasury, which will be communicated to
the Delegation of the Commission of the European Commu-
nities in Mauritius after the entry into force of this Protocol. The
first instalment shall be payable not later than 1 June 2004 and
the others in equal annual instalments by the anniversary date
of the Protocol. The use to which this compensation is put shall
be of the sole competence of Mauritius.

4.
A second part of the financial compensation equivalent to
EUR 195 000 per year shall be earmarked to the financing of
the measures referred to in Article 3 of this Protocol.

1. With a view to ensuring the development of sustainable
in their mutual
and responsible fishing the two parties will,
interest, promote a partnership for the purpose of encouraging,
in particular better knowledge of
fishery and biological
resources, fisheries control, the development of non-industrial
fishing, fishing communities, and training.

2.
The measures set out below shall be financed from the
second part of the financial compensation, to the amount of
EUR 195 000 per year, broken down as follows:

(a) EUR 150 000 for scientific and technical programmes to
of

and management
promote
fisheries and living resources in Mauritius' fishing zone;

understanding

better

(b) EUR 30 000 for study grants and practical training courses
in the various scientific, technical and economic fields linked
to fishing and participation to international meetings
relating to fisheries;

(c) EUR 15 000 for monitoring, control and surveillance,

including the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS).

3.
The amounts mentioned in paragraph 2, subparagraphs (a)
and (c) shall be made available to the Mauritian Ministry
responsible for fisheries after submission to the Commission
including a schedule, and
of a detailed annual programming,
the expected objectives of specific actions to be undertaken for
each measure and no later than 1 June 2004 for the first year
and by 1 April for the following years. They shall be paid into
an account in the name of the public Treasury, which will be
the Commission in
communicated to the Delegation of
Mauritius after the entry into force of this Protocol.

The amount mentioned under point (b) of paragraph 2
4.
shall be made available to the Mauritian Ministry responsible for
fisheries and paid as it is used to the bank accounts of the
Mauritian competent authorities.

fisheries

The Mauritian Ministry responsible for

5.
shall
transmit a detailed annual report on the implementation of
these measures and the results achieved to the Delegation of
the Commission in Mauritius, no later than three months after
the anniversary date of the protocol. The Commission reserves
the right to request additional information on these results from
the Mauritian authority responsible for fisheries and to review
the payments concerned in the light of the actual implemen-
tation of the measures.

L 348/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

24.11.2004

Article 4

Should the European Community fail
the
payments specified in Articles 2 and 3 in due time, Mauritius
may suspend the application of this Protocol.

to make any of

The validity of the licences granted to Community vessels under
Article 4 of the Agreement shall be extended by a period equal
to that during which fishing activities were suspended.

Article 5

severe

attributable

circumstances not

Where
to natural
fishing
fishing activities
phenomena prevent
zone, the European Community may suspend payment of the
financial contribution following prior consultations, where
possible, between the two Parties in the framework of
the
Joint Committee provided for in Article 8 of the Agreement.

in Mauritius'

Payment of the financial contribution shall recommence once
the situation returns to normal and following consultation
the Joint
between the two Parties
Committee provided for
the Agreement,
confirming that
the situation is likely to allow a return to
normal fishing activities.

in the framework of
in Article 8 of

Article 6

The Annex to the Agreement between the European Economic
Community and the Government of Mauritius on fishing in
Mauritian waters
is hereby repealed and replaced by the
Annex to this Protocol.

Article 7

This Protocol and the Annex thereto shall enter into force on
the date of its signature.

It shall apply from 3 December 2003.

24.11.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 348/5

ANNEX

Conditions for the pursuit of fishing activities by Community vessels in the waters of Mauritius

1. Licence application and issuing formalities

The application procedure for, and issue of, the licences enabling Community vessels to fish in the waters of
Mauritius shall be as follows:

(a) The Commission shall present to the Mauritian authority via the Delegation of the European Commission in
Mauritius an application, made by the ship-owner, for each vessel that wishes to fish under this Agreement, at
least 20 days before the date of commencement of the period of validity requested. The application shall be made
on the forms provided for that purpose by Mauritius, a specimen of which is attached as Appendix 1.

(b) Every licence shall be issued to the ship-owner for one designated vessel. At the request of the Commission the
licence for a vessel may and in cases of force majeure, shall be replaced by a licence for another Community
vessel.

(c) The licences shall be delivered by the authorities of Mauritius to the Delegation of the Commission in Mauritius.

(d) The licence document must be held on board at all times. However, on receipt of the notification of the advance
payment sent by the Commission to the Mauritian authority, the vessel will be included on a list, to be notified to
the Mauritian fisheries control authorities. Whilst awaiting receipt of the licence document, a fax copy of this
licence document may be obtained and shall be kept on board, which will authorise the vessel to fish, pending
delivery on board of the licence document.

(e) The Mauritian authority shall communicate before the date of entry into force of the Protocol the arrangements
for payments of the licence fees, and in particular the details of the bank account and the currency to be used.

(f) Ship-owners shall nominate and appoint an agent who shall be resident in Mauritius and whose powers shall
include representation of the ship-owners in any legal process. The ship-owners shall notify to the Mauritian
authorities the name and address of his agent.

2. Validity of licences and payment of fees

1. Advance payments

For tuna seiners and surface long-liners, licences shall be valid for a period of one year. They are renewable.

The fee shall be set at EUR 25 per tonne caught in the waters of Mauritius.

For tuna seiners, licences shall be issued on advance payment of an annual sum of EUR 2 000 per tuna seiner,
equivalent to the fees for 80 tonnes of annual catches within the waters of Mauritius.

For surface long-liners, licences shall be issued on advance payment to Mauritius of an annual sum of EUR 1 550
for surface long-liner of more than 150 GRT and EUR 1 100 for surface long-liners of 150 GRT or less. These
amounts correspond respectively to the fees due for 62 tonnes and for 44 tonnes of annual catches in Mauritian
waters.

For vessels fishing by line, licences shall be valid for three, six or twelve months. The fee shall be fixed in relation
to the GRT as follows: EUR 80 per year per GRT pro rata temporis.

2. Final statement

For tuna seiners and surface long-liners, a final statement of the fees due for the fishing year shall be drawn up by
the European Commission at the end of each calendar year on the basis of the catch statements made by the ship-
owners and confirmed by the scientific institutes competent for verifying catch statistics such as IRD (Office for
Research and Development), IFREMER (Institut Français de Recherche et d’Exploitation de la Mer), IEO (Spanish
Oceanographic Institute), IPIMAR (Instituto Nacional das Pescas e do Mar) or any international fishing organi-
sation in the Indian Ocean, as may be designated by the Mauritian authority.

L 348/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

24.11.2004

The statement shall be notified to the Mauritian authorities not later than 15 March of the following year. The
Mauritian authority shall react within 30 days after this notification. The statement shall then be notified to the
ship-owners.

The ship-owners shall meet their financial obligations within 30 days of the receipt of the statement.

If the amount of the sum due for actual fishing operations is less than the advance payment, the corresponding
outstanding sum shall not be recoverable by the ship-owner.

3. Transhipment

Vessels may tranship their catches in Mauritius according to their interests.

All transhipments taking place in Mauritian ports shall be notified to the authorities of Mauritius 48 hours in
advance.

4. Declarations of catches

Vessels authorised to fish in the waters of Mauritius under the Agreement shall notify their catch statistics to the
in accordance with the
Mauritian authority, with a copy for the Delegation of the Commission in Mauritius,
following procedure.

Tuna seiners shall complete a fishing logbook corresponding to the specimen in Appendix 2. Surface long-liners shall
complete a fishing logbook corresponding to the specimen in Appendix 3. Vessels fishing by line shall complete a
fishing logbook corresponding to the specimen in Appendix 4.

Fishing logbooks must be completed legibly and be signed by the master of the vessel or by the representative of the
ship-owner's association. In addition, they must be completed by all vessels which have obtained a licence, even if
they have not fished.

The fishing logbooks shall be forwarded to the Mauritian authority not later than 45 days after each fishing
campaign.

5. Communication

Vessels above 50 GRT shall communicate, at least one hour before entering and/or leaving Mauritian waters, and
every three days, while fishing in Mauritian waters, to a radio station (the name, call sign and frequency of which
shall be specified in the licence) or by fax (No 230-208-1929) or by e-mail (fish@intnet.mu), their position and the
volume of catches on board.

6. Observers

Any vessel above 50 GRT shall, at the request of the authorities of Mauritius, take on board an observer designated
by these authorities. The observer shall have all facilities necessary for the performance of his duties, as set out below,
including access to places and documents. He must not be present for longer than the time required to fulfil his
duties. He shall be granted officer status while on board.

He shall be provided with suitable food and accommodation while on board. The salary and social contributions of
the observer shall be borne by the authorities of Mauritius.

The embarkation port as well as the conditions governing his embarkation shall be fixed by common agreement
between the ship-owner or his agent and the authorities of Mauritius.

Should a vessel with a Mauritian observer on board leave the waters of Mauritius, every step will be taken to ensure
that the observer returns to Mauritius as soon as possible, at the ship-owner's expense.

The ship-owner shall, via his agent, make a payment of EUR 14 to the Mauritian government of each day spent by
an observer on board a vessel in the Mauritius' fishing zone.

Once on board the observer shall:

— observe the fishing activities of the vessels,

— verify the position of vessels engaged in fishing operations,

— note the fishing gear used,

24.11.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 348/7

— verify the catch data for Mauritius’ fishing zone recorded in the logbook,

— draw an activity report to be transmitted to the Mauritian authority.

While on board, the observer:

— must take all appropriate steps to ensure that the conditions under which he is taken on board and his presence

on board do not interrupt or hamper fishing activities,

— must respect the material and equipment on board and the confidentiality of all documents belonging to the

vessel.

7. Inspection

Vessels shall also allow on board and assist in the accomplishment of their duties, any other Mauritian official
responsible for inspection and monitoring.

8. Employment of seamen

10 Mauritian seamen shall embark on the EC fleet.

For local seamen embarked to EC vessels, an employment contract shall be established between the owner of the
vessel or his agent and the seaman and/or his labour union or his representative in liaison with the competent
authorities of Mauritius. These contracts shall guarantee to the seamen the benefit of their social security regime,
including a life, health and accident insurance. The local seamen remuneration conditions cannot be inferior of those
applicable to the local crews and in any case not inferior to the ILO standards.

Copy of the contract shall be given to the signatories thereof and to the authorities of Mauritius.

In case the employment contract is established with a vessel owner's agent, it shall specify the name of the owner of
the vessel and the flag State.

The owner of the vessel shall guarantee to the local seamen embarked life and work conditions aboard similar to
those that the EC seamen benefit.

In case of non-embarkation, the ship-owners shall pay a lump-sum equivalent to the salary of the seamen non-
embarked for the duration for the fishing campaign in the waters of Mauritius. In case the fishing campaign lasts less
than one month, ship-owners shall be required to pay the sum corresponding to one month's salary.

9. Fishing zones

To avoid any adverse effect to small-scale fisheries in Mauritius, fishing by Community tuna seiners and surface long-
liners shall not be authorised within a distance of 15 nautical miles measured from the baseline nor within a three
nautical miles radius around any fish-aggregating device placed by Mauritius, the geographical position of which shall
be communicated to the ship-owners representatives or agents.

Vessels fishing by line are only authorised to fish in their traditional grounds, namely Soudan Bank and East Soudan
Bank.

10. Supply to the tuna canning industry

Community tuna vessels shall endeavour to sell part of their catch to the Mauritian tuna canning industry at a price
to be fixed in common agreement between Community ship-owners and the owners of the Mauritian tuna canning
industry.

11. Sanctions

Notwithstanding any sanction provided for in Mauritian law, failure to observe any of the conditions of the Protocol
and this Annex or any relevant Mauritian legislation may be dealt with by suspension, revocation or non-renewal of
the fishing licences of the vessel in question. Before taking any of these sanctions, the Mauritian authorities shall give
due regard to the gravity of the failure and apply the principle of proportionality. Suspension or revocation of a
fishing licence shall be regarded as force majeure for the purpose of paragraph 1(b).

L 348/8

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

24.11.2004

The Delegation of the Commission and the ship-owner's agent in Mauritius shall be notified in writing within 24
hours of any suspension, revocation or non-renewal of a licence with a brief report of the relevant facts.

12. Procedure in case of boarding

1. Transmission of information

The Mauritian authority responsible for fisheries shall inform the Delegation of the Commission in Mauritius and
the flag State in writing, within 48 hours, of the boarding of any fishing vessel flying the flag of a Member State
of the Community fishing under the Fisheries Agreement in Mauritius's fishing zone and shall transmit a brief
report of the circumstances and reasons leading to such boarding. The Delegation and the flag State shall be kept
informed of any proceedings initiated and penalties imposed.

2. Settlement of boarding

In accordance with the law on fisheries and the relevant regulations, infringements may be settled:

(a) either by composition, in which case the amount of the fine shall be determined in accordance with the

Mauritian legislation laying down minimum and maximum figures;

(b) or by legal proceedings, if no composition is possible, in accordance with the Mauritian law.

3. The vessel shall be released and its crew authorised to leave the port:

(a) either as soon as the obligation imposed by the composition procedure have been completed on presentation

of the receipt for the settlement, or

(b) on presentation of proof that a bank security has been lodged, pending completion of the legal proceedings.

24.11.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 348/9

Appendix 1

APPLICATION FOR A FOREIGN FISHING VESSEL LICENCE

Name of applicant:

...............................................................................................................................................................................................

Address of applicant:

...........................................................................................................................................................................................

Name and address of charterers of vessels if different from above: ....................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Name and address of agent in Mauritius:

.....................................................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Name of vessel:

.....................................................................................................................................................................................................

Type of vessel:

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................

Country of registry:

..............................................................................................................................................................................................

Port and registration number: ...........................................................................................................................................................................

Fishing vessel external identification:

..............................................................................................................................................................

Radio call sign and frequency:

.........................................................................................................................................................................

Fax number of vessel: ..........................................................................................................................................................................................

Length of vessel:

....................................................................................................................................................................................................

Width of vessel:

.....................................................................................................................................................................................................

Engine type and power:

......................................................................................................................................................................................

Gross registered tonnage of vessel:

.................................................................................................................................................................

Net registered tonnage of vessel:

.....................................................................................................................................................................

Minimum crew complement:

............................................................................................................................................................................

Type of fishing practised:

...................................................................................................................................................................................

Proposed species of fish:

....................................................................................................................................................................................

Period of validity requested:

..............................................................................................................................................................................

I certify that the above particulars are correct.

Date:

................................................................................................. Signature:

.................................................................................................

L 348/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

24.11.2004

2

x
i
d
n
e
p
p
A

24.11.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 348/11

Appendix 3

L 348/12

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

24.11.2004

24.11.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 348/13

l
a
t
o
T

s
e
i
c
e
p
s

h
s
i
F

r
a
e
Y

:

d
o
h
t
e
m

i

g
n
h
s
i
F

h
t
n
o
M

4

x
i
d
n
e
p
p
A

E
N
I
L

Y
B

Y
R
E
H
S
I
F

:

i

g
n
d
n
a
l

f
o

t
r
o
P

:
r
e
w
o
p

e
n
i
g
n
E

:
e
g
a
n
n
o
t

s
s
o
r
G

:
l
e
s
s
e
v

f
o

e
m
a
N

:
)
g
a
l
f
(

y
t
i
l
a
n
o
i
t
a
N

f
o

r
e
b
m
u
N

i

g
n
h
s
i
f

s
r
u
o
h

f
o

r
e
b
m
u
N

s
r
u
o
h

a
e
r
a

i

g
n
h
s
i
F

e
d
u
t
i
t
a
L

e
d
u
t
i
g
n
o
L

e
t
a
D

L
A
T
O
T

/
1

/
2

/
3

/
4

/
5

/
6

/
7

/
8

/
9

/
0
1

/
1
1

/
2
1

/
3
1

/
4
1

/
5
1

/
6
1

/
7
1

/
8
1

/
9
1

/
0
2

/
1
2

/
2
2

/
3
2

/
4
2

/
5
2

/
6
2

/
7
2

/
8
2

/
9
2

/
0
3

/
1
3