COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION du protocole à l'accord de partenariat dans le domaine de la pêche durable entre l'Union européenne et la République islamique de Mauritanie accompagnant le document: [Mandatory element] [Mandatory element]
Date: 2025-12-01
Institutions: Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission
Subjects: Mauritania, fishing agreement, fishing area, fishing rights, negotiation of an agreement (EU), protocol to an agreement, ratification of an agreement, sea fishing, sustainable fisheries

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 1.12.2025  SWD(2025) 387 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION  of the protocol to the partnership agreement in the field of sustainable fisheries between the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania accompanying the document Recommendation for a Council Decision  authorising the opening of negotiations on a new implementing protocol to the          Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania                                 {COM(2025) 734 final} - {SWD(2025) 386 final}  
 
 
The Commission is responsible for negotiating implementing protocols to sustainable fisheries 
partnership agreements (SFPAs) with non-EU countries, and for implementing them, as part of 
the external dimension of the EU’s common fisheries policy (CFP)1.  

SFPAs create a legal, environmental, economic and social governance framework for fishing 
activities carried out by EU fishing vessels in non-EU waters. In return, the EU pays financial 
compensation to the partner country for access to its waters and provides financial support for 
its  implementation  of  a  national  strategy  on  fisheries  and  the  blue  economy.  The  EU 
contribution is supplemented by fees payable by EU vessel owners. 

Before  submitting  a  recommendation  to  the  Council  asking  it  to  authorise  the  opening  of 
negotiations  for  a  new  protocol  to  a  sustainable  fisheries  partnership  agreement,  the 
Commission  ensures  that  independent  ex  ante  and  ex  post  evaluations  are  carried  out  in 
accordance with Article 31(10) of the CFP Basic Regulation1.  

This staff working document (SWD) contains an ex post evaluation and ex ante evaluation of 
the current implementing protocol (‘the implementing protocol’) to the Sustainable Fisheries 
Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania 
(‘the Agreement’).  These  are  mainly  based  on  an  independent  evaluation  carried  out  by  an 
external  consultant2. The  external  consultant  carried  out  extensive  stakeholder  consultations 
both in the EU and in Mauritania. During the evaluation process, the consultant exchanged with 
the EU and Mauritanian authorities to collect their views on the implementation of the 2021-
2026 protocol and ion how they envisage the future of the partnership. 

The period of application of the current implementing protocol runs from 15 November 2021 
to  14 November 2026,  and  the  ex  post  evaluation  covers  most  of  that  period  (up  to 
September 2025).  It  provides  an  overall  assessment  of  the  implementing  protocol,  drawing 
conclusions on its effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and acceptance and on the EU 
added value of the intervention. These evaluation criteria led to specific questions which are set 
out in Annex III. Further details are provided in Section 4 of the evaluation report.  

The ex ante evaluation analyses the relevant objectives of the agreement and its implementing 
protocol, taking into account the current and future needs of the intervention. It examines the 
lessons learned from previous implementing protocols and the results of the ex post evaluation 
of  the  current  protocol.  Finally,  the  evaluation  considers,  and  draws  conclusions  on,  the 
potential  impacts  of  two  main  policy  options:  the  negotiation  or  non-negotiation  of  a  new 
implementing protocol.   

The ex ante evaluation favours the option of negotiating a new sustainable fisheries partnership 
agreement and an implementing protocol thereto, with some structural adjustments: 

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in terms of access, the aim should be to negotiate fishing opportunities that better reflect 
their probable use by EU vessels, based on the EU fleet’s current and past catches;  

the  possibility  of  integrating  measures  to  automatically  adjust  the  EU’s  financial 
contribution for access where the negotiated fishing opportunities are under-used was one 
of the options examined; 

1Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on the Common 
Fisheries Policy (OJ L 354, 28.12.2013, p. 22). 
2 European Commission: Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Fisheries Maritime Affairs, Poseidon, 
Caillart, B., Guerin, B. et al., Évaluation rétrospective et prospective du Protocole 2021-2026 à l’accord de partenariat dans 
le domaine de la pêche durable entre l’Union européenne et la République Islamique de Mauritanie – Rapport final, 
Publications Office of the European Union, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2771/6618550.  

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the  next  protocol  could  contain  any  necessary  preservation  and  management  measures 
identified during the period covered by the current protocol and specify the target species 
in order to align the protocol with fisheries development plans in force (as in the case of 
category 6); 

the next protocol could also provide for a specific financing mechanism for a programme 
of on-board scientific observations, where payments are linked to the results achieved in 
terms of statistical coverage of the fishing trips carried out by the vessels covered by the 
programme; 

the  sectoral  support  included  in  the  protocol  should  be  adjusted  to  enable  the  parties  to 
effectively  implement  the  agreed  priorities  in  line  with  Mauritania’s  national  fisheries 
policy;  

this should allow continued cooperation on ocean governance, fisheries science, fisheries 
monitoring  and  control  and  the  fight  against  illegal,  unreported  and  unregulated  (IUU) 
fishing;  

•  a faster pace of implementation of the sectoral support, also supporting national sectoral 
policy, should be sought through improved planning and better programme definition. 

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