EC/Mauritania Fisheries Partnership Agreement: fishing opportunities and financial contribution from 16 November 2015 to 15 November 2019. Protocol

The European Parliament adopted by 585 votes to 41, with 41 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Protocol setting out the fishing opportunities and financial contribution provided for in the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania for a period of four years.

In line with the recommendation made by the Committee on Fisheries, Parliament gave its consent to the conclusion of the Protocol.

The main aim of the Protocol is to grant fishing opportunities to European Union vessels in Mauritanian waters taking into account available scientific assessments, in particular those of the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF), and in accordance with scientific advice and the recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), within the limits of the available surplus.

The objective is to also enhance cooperation between the European Union and Mauritania, thereby creating a partnership framework within which to develop a sustainable fisheries policy and sound exploitation of fishery resources in the fishing zone of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, in the interests of both parties.