'People have the right to know how much is paid, how much is fished, how and by whom'

Isabella Lovin, Sweden International Cooperation Minister, is interviewed by Jedna Deida. It has been published on Mauriweb Info http://mauriweb.info/node/1549

You just ended a visit to Mauritania. You met Mauritanian high authorities. Can you tell us what has been discussed?

Yes, I visited Mauritania to attend the FiTI conference, where I was invited as a key note speaker, due to my long time engagement in sustainable fisheries. Of course I also met with members of the government and the President, discussing Swedish-Mauritanian relations. We have a common interest in sustainable fisheries, and we were also discussing more broadly on sustainable development, the importance of fight against corruption and the importance of transparency, as well as the freedom of the press.

What do think about the FiTI Conference and what can be expected from all fisheries partners to improve FiTi’s achievements?

I think it is excellent that Mauritania is taking the lead in this Fisheries Transparency initiative, that now important fishing countries such as Indonesia and Senegal have joined. What has now to be developed are the technical FiTI standards and I expect the transparency will be needed in at least three areas: on payments, on catches and on tenure arrangements. The public has the right to know how much is being paid, how much is being fished, how and by whom.

What would be the concrete benefits of transparency in African fisheries when it comes to the activities of industrial fishing in our waters?

It is greatly important for two reasons. First of all to fight corruption. By publishing all fisheries access agreements, the terms and the IMO numbers of boats involved, civil society and free media can hold their governments accountable. Secondly, it is essential to conserve the marine resources. Full transparency on catches is needed to make stock assessments, and it is important for local populations and local fishermen that should have priority access to the fish. It’s only if there is a surplus not needed by local fishermen, that any fishing should be allowed for foreign fleets.

Do you think an initiative like the FiTI will live up to our expectations?

It depends on all the stakeholders that are engaged. It's too early to tell.

What is needed to ensure it doesn't become just a 'whitewashing' exercise for African governments, to attract more foreign investments without changing their opaque behaviors?

What is needed is true commitment by governments and full engagement of civil society actors and organisations. It is also important to keep in mind that governments actually are gaining from committing to transparency and long term sustainability. For the EU, a condition for signing fisheries agreements is that EU only negotiates for a surplus of fish, not needed by local populations. Then countries need to publish all their agreements if they want a fisheries agreement with the EU. This is what we changed with the new EU Common Fisheries Policy.

As a European Parliamentarian, you have been one of the most involved fighter to defend responsible and sustainable fishing on the African coast. Now, as Sweden Minister of international cooperation, what can you promote to help fishermen in Africa?

Sweden is engaged in a number of ways, supporting fisheries research and capacity building in Africa. We see that fisheries is an important source of livelihood for millions of people and also that fish is an important source of proteins - it is all too important to be destroyed by overfishing. Therefore we now include sustainable management of fisheries in our regional cooperation strategy for Africa.

EU-Senegal fisheries agreement debated in European Parliament: CFFA/APRAPAM recommendations

The proposal for a recommendation  on the fisheries partnership agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Senegal, and its implementation protocol, will be discussed in the European Parliament on December 3d. CFFA and APRAPAM wish to reiterate their positions and recommendations with respect to this agreement.

We welcome the fact that no access was negotiated for sardinella in the SFPA, since the status of this overexploited stock requires measures to be taken towards the reduction of fishing effort. Access to this resource, strategic for food security, should be reserved to sustainable small-scale fisheries.

However, this resource is targeted through other EU fisheries agreements, with Morocco and Mauritania. It is therefore a priority that both EU and Senegal agree to promote a regional management of the exploitation of these resources, with privileged access to fleets operating sustainably, for direct human consumption.

We recall that the measures for real-time reporting capture data and boarding of observers must be implemented for EU tuna vessels and be extended to all fleets currently operating in Senegal.

Furthermore, as the EU should only have access to the surplus of resources identified on the basis of the best scientific data, we request that a scientific study be conducted to define the status of the hake stock, to confirm or deny fishing opportunities for this species to be allocated to EU vessels under this agreement.

We emphasize the need for greater transparency and stakeholder participation, in particular the European and Senegalese Parliaments, professional organisations and civil society organisations, to be adequately informed and consulted throughout the implementation of the Agreement, including by participating as observers in the meetings of the Joint Committee. Particular attention should be given to how sectoral support will be used; its implementation should be subject to an annual evaluation.

Finally, we ask that, in the framework of the EU-Senegal fisheries partnership agreement, a study is conducted on how to make joint ventures operations transparent, without negative impacts on coastal communities, and in line with the sustainable exploitation of fishery resources and preservation of ecosystems in Senegal.

EU/Morocco FPA: ongoing negotiations of a new protocol

The third round of negotiations on a new protocol of the Fisheries Agreement between EU and Morocco took place in Rabat on 15 and 16 January 2013. Following two rounds essentially dealing with the technical conditions that would apply to the EU fleet under the new protocol, the discussions dealt with financial aspects as well as with political issues. At this stage, the parties agreed to consider an increase of fishing opportunities, whereas technical conditions are being revised for certain fishing categories, with a view to optimise future fishing effort. Exchange of views has also taken place about the envisaged financial support of fishing sector in regard with programming, implementation and reporting conditions. The previous protocol had been signed in 2011 but rejected by the European Parliament.

Source: 

• http://ec.europa.eu/information_soc...

Attempt to reintroduce foreign pelagic trawlers in Senegalese waters - can the Council of Ministers authorise what is not legal?

The allocation of fishing licenses to foreign pelagic trawlers made the news in the last weeks: Senegalese were surprised to read the 13 December Council of Ministers press release, which read: ‘The Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs discussed the issue relating to the granting of fishing licenses to foreign vessels’. The decision of the President of Senegal was to ‘extend the biological rest, and to freeze the granting of fishing licenses to foreign owners for a period of at least one year’.

Things need to be clarified: a fishing license is the document that industrial fishing vessel must have to be allowed to carry out fishing activities, while the biological rest is a fisheries management measure whose objective is to reduce fishing pressure and which, combined with other measures, can contribute positively to recovery of overexploited resources and support the sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources. The foreign vessels referred to in this press release are the pelagic freezer trawlers flying the flag of Russia, Lithuania and flags of convenience. These boats, commonly called the "Russian vessels" were illegally authorized by the former Minister, between 2010 and 2012, to fish in Senegalese waters. The decision of the President means therefore that he wants the freezing of the licensing of these vessels for at least one year.

What does Senegalese Law say? The Senegalese law (98-32 of 14 April 1998) states in Article 16: ‘fishing vessels flying foreign flags are allowed to operate in waters under Senegalese jurisdiction, either under a fisheries agreement between Senegal and the flag State or organization that represents the flag state state, or when chartered by natural or legal persons of Senegalese nationality’. Decree 98-498, article 23 further states that: "chartering foreign fishing vessels by legal persons of Senegalese nationality may be allowed only in exceptional cases, by the Minister of Marine Fisheries, to face supply difficulties of local processing industries." Pelagic freezer trawlers are not part of the list of chartered boats that are allowed.

The argument of the former Minister for issuing illegal fishing licences to the Russian vessels was that ‘Some shared resources in the high seas, essentially sardines and mackerel, are insufficiently exploited by our national fleet (industrial and artisanal). The result is a loss for our country. Senegal has therefore sovereignly decided to exploit those resources for public benefit, like other countries in the subregion.

Such arguments don’t hold water: first of all, sovereignty cannot be exercised illegally. Currently, there is no law or regulation in force that allows such fishing operation to happen. It will remain so,unless the legislation was to be changed.

Secondly, the sustainability of such operations targetting small pelagics is questionable:

◦ The CECAF/FAO Working Group assessment of small pelagic off North-West Africa, composed of experts from 14 countries, concluded at its last session held in May 2011 in Casablanca, that "the sardinella stock is currently overfished and such overfishing presents a serious risk to the continuity of industrial but also artisanal fleets activities";

◦ A lack of fish estimated at 3 million tonnes could also occur at the level of our sub-region by 2015 if such resources were to diminish drastically because of over exploitation (source Mariama Barry, CRODT);

◦ The ‘Russian’ trawlers are factory vessels of 100 to 120 meters in length and with tonnage between 3142 and 7765 GRT. Catches are either frozen on board, processed for human consumption, or transformed into fish oil and fish meal. The pelagic trawl gear they use is devastating, as they pick up everything in their path, pelagic fish as well as groundfish;

Changing the law, or signing a fisheries agreement with the flag states involved are the two possibilities for licensing such vessels – neither should be considered, given the state of overfishing of our resources and the poor fishing practices of these trawlers. Senegal has, by contrast with other countries of the region like Mauritania and Morocco, with which they share the small pelagic resources, a very active artisanal fleet targetting these stocks, which is responsible for 85% of the landings in the country. 80% of animal protein consumed by the 13 million Senegalese comes from fish, with a consumption of 26 kg / person / year. It provides 17% of direct and indirect jobs: 54,000 artisanal fishermen using 18,000 canoes. Finally, it represents 12.7% of export earnings.

Questions ◦ Was it appropriate for the Ministry to submit to the Cabinet a proposal for the licensing of ‘Russian ships’, since the legislation does not allow it?

◦ Cancelling these licenses in April, to propose to issue new ones in December seems a bit messy – how does that stand with the good governance promoted by the government?

◦ If it was so important to licence these Russian ships, why not explore the legal possibilities that exist: a fisheries agreement or a amendment to the law, to be transmitted to the National Assembly for adoption?

Is not it time to finally close this painful episode which raises so much passion? One much more pressing issue is to find sustainable fishing possibilities for our fishermen from Saint Louis, as it is not safe to rely only on licenses provided by the fisheries agreement with Mauritania. Should this not concern us more than trying to licence Russian pelagic trawlers?

Note: The full text is available in French, from the contribution of Dr Diouf ‘Tentative avortée de réintroduction de chalutiers pélagiques étrangers dans les eaux sénégalaises : le Conseil des Ministres peut-il autoriser ce que la Loi en vigueur ne permet pas’ on : http://www.aprapam.org/2012/12/20/t...

The European Parliament echoes the concerns regarding the lack of transparency in the EU-Mauritius FPA and protocol : the EU Delegation in Mauritius gives some answers

A new FPA and its protocol were signed between EU and Mauritius in February 2012. The final ratification has not occurred yet but criticisms are rising regarding this agreement. A number of organizations linked to the fishery sector in Mauritius expressed their worries on the way the negociations of the FPA and the protocol were conducted. They condemn in particular the lack of transparency and lack of public consultations of stakeholders, which would be in contradiction with the Aarhus convention. The EU delegation in Mauritius issued a press release which answers partially to these concerns. It is said that the fishworkers’ trade union was indeed consulted as all the stakeholders to the agreement. Others meeting were also organized with the Delegation and fishworkers organizations, as well as a meeting in may 2012. It is reminded that the FPA is a commercial agreement and therefore some informations regarding the partner country shall remain confidential.

Regarding the matter of stocks overexploitation, the fishing opportunities are based on the best scitific advices and management recommendations suggested by the scientific committee of the IOTC and the latest report says that none of the stocks targeted by the EU fleet are overexploited. Besides, one of the objectives of the protocol is to avoid any conflicts between the industrial fleets and small scale fisheries. The species targetted by the EU fleets are not the one landed by the small scale fisheries. It is emphasized that the fish is not sold off by the EU and that the aim of the financial compensation is to help developping the fishery sector in Mauritius, taking economic governance and fisheries sustainability into account.

Sources:

• Parliamentary question : http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides...

• Press release of the EU Delegation in Mauritius (in French) :http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/m...