COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION Accompanying the document Reccomendation for a Council Decision to authorise the Commission to open negotiations on behalf of the European Union for the conclusion of a Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement and protocol with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Date: 2019-06-04
Institutions: Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission
Subjects: European Commission, Mauritania, fishing agreement, fishing area, negotiation of an agreement (EU), powers of the institutions (EU), protocol to an agreement, sea fishing, sustainable fisheries

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 4.6.2019  SWD(2019) 195 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION Accompanying the document Reccomendation for a Council Decision  to authorise the Commission to open negotiations on behalf of the European Union for the conclusion of a Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement and protocol with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania {COM(2019) 248 final} - {SWD(2019) 196 final}  
 
 
The Council Conclusions on the external dimension of the Common Fisheries Policy adopted 
on  19  March  2012,  calls  for  an  ex-post  and  ex-ante  evaluation  to  be  carried  out  by  the 
Commission before negotiating a new protocol to the SFPA1 This stems from Article 31(10) 
of  the  Basic  CFP  Regulation.  Ex-ante  and  ex-post  valuation  studies  aim  to  inform  decision 
makers,  before  the  negotiation  directives  by  the  Council  are  adopted.  The  fishing 
opportunities negotiated under the SFPAs are in line with the best available scientific advice, 
and  there  is  no  negative  impact  on  fish  stocks,  neither  competition  with  the  local  artisanal 
fishermen.      

Under the existing Protocol between EU and Mauritania, that expires on 15 November 2019 
and  thus  has  to  be  renegotiated,  the  EU  fleet  is  allowed  to  fish  in  Mauritanian  waters  for 
shrimp, demersal fish, tuna and some pelagic fish, up to a total of 287 050 tonnes a year. In 
addition  to  the  fees  paid  by  the  European  fleet  (tonnage  fees  and  para-fiscal  taxes),  the  EU 
pays  a  financial  contribution  of  (EUR)  61,625  million  per  year  for  this  partnership, 
comprising  (EUR)  59,125  million  for  access  to  waters  and  (EUR)  4,125  million  for 
supporting local fishing in Mauritania and improving fisheries governance. 

In accordance with the Better Regulation guidelines, the Staff Working Document (SWD) and 
its executive summary present the results of a retrospective (ex-post- evaluation carried out by 
an  independent  contractor  and  a  forward-looking  (ex-ante)  evaluation  in  view  of  a  possible 
renewal of the Protocol. 

The  contractor  has  fully  addressed  the  evaluation  questions  and  provided  the  Commission 
with  concrete,  reliable  and  credible  results.  Based  on  these  observations,  the  contractor  has 
drawn  conclusions  based  on  objective  analysis  and  made  specific  and  relevant 
recommendations for future negotiations on the new protocol between the EU and Mauritania.    

Therefore,  from  all  options  considered  the  renewal  of  the  Protocol  at  the  end  of  its 
implementation period (15 November 2019) clearly appears as the preferred option. Any other 
option would not bring the same benefits, including the option of not renewing the Protocol. 
A future Protocol should retain a similar technical and financial approach with some technical 
adaptations aimed at improving the implementing conditions of its access and sectoral support 
components.  The  Protocol  can  be  broadly  described  as  a  positive  agreement  addressing  the 
identified needs of the different stakeholders. 

To sum up, the Commission generally supports the conclusions of the assessment made by the 
contractor. 

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Doc. 7086/12 PECHE 66. 

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