Potential negotiations in sight for an EU-Angola fisheries agreement: How would existing joint ventures be treated?

The European Commission has recently decided to assess the opportunity and merits of concluding a Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) with the Republic of Angola.

This responds to the wish expressed by the Angolan Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries to negotiate such an agreement with the EU, as well as to strengthen cooperation with the EU in the field of the blue economy.

European vessels, in particular tuna vessels, are already fishing in Angolan waters with private authorisations. A possible tuna agreement would provide a clear framework for the European fleet to catch migratory tuna in Angolan waters, and would also allow Angola, through the financial compensation paid by the EU, to reap greater benefits from the temporary presence of this tuna fleet in their EEZ. Through the sectoral support of such an SFPA, Angola could also devote part of this compensation to support sustainable fisheries management and the development of the local sector.

But could a fisheries partnership between Angola and the EU also include access to other commercially valuable species, such as shrimp and even small pelagics, while remaining within the framework of sustainable exploitation? In the context of overexploitation of resources and with the problems of fisheries governance that the country is experiencing, it’s far from certain.

More than 100,000 people live from artisanal fishing in Angola

The main species fished in Angolan waters are sardinella, horse mackerel, tuna, shrimp, lobster, and other demersal species. In 2021, the production volume of the fisheries sector (industrial, semi-industrial, artisanal, inland and marine) and aquaculture exceeded 400,000 tons. Small pelagic fish, used in traditional Angolan cuisine and affordable to most people, represent 40% of this production. As in many African countries, these small pelagics are a 'food safety net' for the local population. Demersal fish and shrimp are shipped, frozen, to Asia and Europe.

Companies from China, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, but also from Europe - Poland, Portugal, Spain, Italy - operate in the industrial fishing sector in Angola (by law, vessels of more than 20m), based in four main ports: Namibe, Benguela, Porto Amboim and Luanda.

In Angola, there are more than 6,000 pirogues fishing mainly for small pelagics, for an artisanal fishery that employs 50,000 fishermen. The majority of the catch is sold on the local market, providing a "food safety net" for the poorest populations. Photo: Ty Welly.

The Angolan artisanal fishing sector provides a living for around 100,000 men and women, including 50,000 fishermen, in 185 fishing communities, mainly on the coasts of Benguela and Luanda provinces. Women account for 80% of the jobs in the processing and marketing of artisanal fish. This sector makes an important contribution to food security: 90% of the fish caught by artisanal fishing, especially small pelagics, is sold on the local market, in a country where 26% of the animal protein consumed comes from fish.

Trawler incursions in coastal areas, a scourge for small-scale fishing

The UNCTAD describes Angola as "a good example of a coastal country that has failed to take advantage of its rich marine resources due largely to a weak governance and management structure and distortions in the economy created by the discovery of oil.". This has led to "overfishing, reduced productivity and diversity of resources".

According to a report by Sea Around Us, approximately 65% of the catches from industrial fishing are species that are also caught by artisanal fishing. The overfishing of these resources is jeopardising the livelihoods of many of Angola's coastal communities and threatening the food security of the population.

A phenomenon that contributes greatly to the overexploitation of resources is the presence of a large number of foreign coastal trawlers in the country's waters. Some of these trawlers, particularly of Chinese origin, are regularly singled out by artisanal fishermen as making illegal incursions into the coastal zone reserved for artisanal fishing.

In a video from last April, a sport fishing observer films several trawlers fishing at will in the four coastal miles reserved for artisanal fishing (Article 33 of the Fishing Law). A VOA news journalist, João Marcos, explains that "these are Chinese nationals, with licences issued by Angolans, in a zone reserved for artisanal fishermen". Victor João, representing an artisanal fishing association, adds that these boats catch too many fish and "end up throwing the fish they have just caught back into the sea"; they also destroy fish breeding grounds.

The activity of the entire artisanal fishing industry is affected by these illegal trawler incursions: "Before, we used to go fishing for one or two days, but now it takes a week," insists Victor João. "We used to fish here, in the 'bahias' (bays), now we have to go further and in a few years we will probably go to even further sea areas”.

Some of the routes chosen are risky, as the boats of artisanal fishermen are not adapted to go so far from the coast. Off the coast of Namibe province, the scarcity of fish in coastal areas has led fishermen to venture further offshore in small boats at their own risk. According to Albino Ngombe Ongonga, head of maritime safety at the Namibe Port Authority, more than ten rescue operations are carried out each year due to these changes in fishing grounds. In general, fishermen are rescued more than 50 kilometres from the coast: "Many sailors sometimes stay two, ten, fifteen days lost at sea.... We have been lucky several times to recover them, but other times, unfortunately, we have seen them disappear," he laments.

André Hossi, an artisanal fisherman for 20 years in the Luanda region, was also concerned about the presence of these trawlers and the impact of their destructive activities on women's activities: "the women fishmongers complain about the high prices at which they buy fish to sell, which leaves them with practically no money to support their families". For the president of the Association of Artisanal Fishermen of Namibe, Jorge Hilário de Sousa, the activities of some trawlers " violate all the laws".

A drone image of Praia do Sarico, with several trawlers of Russian origin stranded, in Luanda province, by Hermenegildo Sebastião.

The authorities are working to combat IUU fishing. In 2014, Angola adopted a national action plan to combat illegal fishing. The country is also a signatory to the FAO Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) and ratified the FAO Compliance Agreement in 2006. In practical terms, the Ministry of Fisheries is working to combat illegal fishing by operating 15 patrol vessels purchased from China and France, as well as two vessels funded by the Dutch government and equipped with vessel tracking technology. Angola is working with Namibia and South Africa to protect and monitor fishing grounds as part of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional programme. A national centre for the security of oil production platforms is also responsible for combating illegal fishing and piracy.

Carte blanche for opaque joint ventures

But the roots of the evil may be deeper - these trawlers operate through opaque joint ventures, the creation of which has been strongly encouraged by the authorities. With support from the top, they seem to do whatever they want, including fishing illegally in the artisanal zone, with impunity.

In 2004, Angola adopted its new law on aquatic biological resources. This law provides that fishing rights in Angola's EEZ may be granted, individually or collectively, to nationals or to foreigners if they are associated with nationals in companies with majority Angolan participation. In 2005, the Article 1 of this law was amended to clarify the definition of an “Angolan company” as a company based in Angola, at least 51% of whose capital is owned by Angolans who exercise effective control over the company.

For the European Union, it was a shock: the fishing agreement with Angola, which allowed European trawlers access to Angolan shrimp and other demersal resources, and gave access to European tuna seiners and longliners, was not compatible with this new law, which required the reflagging of vessels, and the agreement was therefore denounced in 2006. This led to the redeployment of EU fishing vessels that were dependent on fishing in Angola to other areas. However, some vessels, particularly Spanish ones, formed joint ventures with an Angolan partner and were able to continue fishing in Angola.

At that time, Angola's desire was to re-industrialise the country after years of conflict, and the development of the industrial fishing fleet was part of this plan. In 2008, for example, Angola announced a US$200 million “Instant Fleet” project to build 600 fishing boats in China, Portugal, Spain and Poland. This project apparently didn’t come to fruition, but Angola has had more success in encouraging the formation of joint ventures to develop its industrial fleet. However, as in many other African countries, these companies turned out to be “front companies” with the control of operations remaining firmly in the hands of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Polish operators. If one looks at the list of industrial vessels operating in Angola today, one finds, not surprisingly, a large contingent of trawlers of Chinese origin, as well as Spanish operators, some of whom remained in Angola after the last agreement was terminated in 2006.

Image on Marine Traffic of the ARCHIMEDES, as it was called KOVAS, a supertrawler with a long history of illegal fishing. This vessel is owned by Batlanta, a European company based in Lithuania, which also owns vessels flagged in Cameroon. Photo: Marine Traffic.

Among these reflagged coastal trawlers is the super trawler ARCHIMEDES, formerly known as KOVAS, which has a long history of illegal fishing in the region. A Greenpeace report in 2014 singled out the KOVAS for fishing in a prohibited area in Senegal and destroying artisanal fishing gears. More recently, this vessel was flagged in Cameroon, a country that has just been identified by the EU as a non-cooperating country in the fight against IUU fishing. A vessel like ARCHIMEDES fishes for small pelagics all along the West African coast, and it is doubtful that Angola, like Cameroon before it, has the means to control its operations.

The owner of the ARCHIMEDES is a European company, based in Lithuania: Baltlanta. This company also owns other boats of the same type, which are registered in  Cameroon. The beneficial owners of this company remain difficult to identify. Owned in turn by companies registered in Liechtenstein, Panama, Spain or Hong Kong, Baltlanta came into the hands of Swedish Magnus Roth, nicknamed 'the cod father', and Russian Vitaly Orlov a few years ago. Even if the ultimate owner is difficult to identify, the links with the European Union are clear.

Any discussion of a possible SFPA should consider the case of existing joint ventures

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements are supposed to ensure the sustainability of the fishing activities covered. For resources located in the EEZ of the partner country (apart from migratory resources such as tuna), EU vessels are only allowed to fish for the surplus of resources that cannot be caught by the local fishing sector.

But fishing pressure is already strong in Angolan waters: In 2016, a total of 113 fishing vessels were licensed to catch demersal species, including 80 industrial vessels and 33 semi-industrial vessels. In the same year, for pelagic species, 100 industrial fishing vessels and 57 vessels from the semi-industrial fleet received a license. To be added to this the 6000 artisanal fishing pirogues.

To manage these various fleets activities, the means, and the political will, are cruelly lacking. Fisheries research has few resources, and data on the state of the resources are poor. It should be noted that at the end of 2022, Spain organised a campaign to assess demersal resources in Angolan waters. This will hopefully improve knowledge of these species, and the results will undoubtedly influence the motivation of Spanish fleets for requesting access to these species in a possible fisheries agreement.

While increasing resources are being made available for Monitoring, Control and Surveillance, illegal fishing, encouraged by corrupt practices, continues to flourish, particularly with regard to the activities of re-flagged coastal trawlers that come to fish in the artisanal fishing zone.

Under these circumstances, if an SFPA were to cover species other than tuna, without addressing the problem of opaque joint ventures, the presence of European fleets in non-tuna fisheries will only add to the problem of overexploitation and the misery of artisanal fishermen.

If the EU really wants to engage in a dialogue on sustainable fisheries in Angola, it will have to address the issue of total fishing effort and the framework within which joint ventures operate, as well as revising the presence of European-owned vessels that are in the wrong business. Photo: Jorge Sá Pinheiro.

In all the SFPAs, there is an article promoting fishing joint ventures. In as much as the Angolan authorities would be interested in exploring the subject, as seems to be suggested by the dialogue between the EU and Angola on the blue economy, it would be important for the EU to discuss with Angola the framework within which these joint ventures, including existing joint ventures, should operate in order to contribute sustainably to the country's development: operating transparently, without competing with local artisanal fisheries and without contributing to the overexploitation of resources and the destruction of coastal ecosystems.

The EU will also have to address the issue of the presence of European-owned vessels with a shady history, such as the ARCHIMEDES - how can the EU talk about promoting sustainable fisheries in Angola if such a vessel, of Lithuanian origin, continues to fish in the region without being effectively controlled?

Conclusion

Given its importance for employment and food security, the protection and promotion of Angolan artisanal fisheries should be emphasised in any discussion towards the conclusion of an SFPA. Drawing on the Call to Action launched by artisanal fisheries in 2022, we have identified a series of issues.

The first, perhaps one of the most important for the sector is how to better protect the 4-mile artisanal fishing zone from trawler incursions. Aspects of surveillance of the area, but also transparency and accountability, in order to end impunity, will have to be discussed.

At the level of sectoral support, it is important to consider how to ensure that the sector stakeholders (in particular artisanal fisheries) and civil society can participate, in a transparent and gender-sensitive manner, in the identification of actions to be supported, their implementation and their evaluation. Sectoral support could in this way support initiatives that go towards strengthening the sector (whether in terms of infrastructure, support for women's processing activities, etc). It should be noted that Angola has ratified the ILO Convention 188 on the improvement of working conditions in fishing, including for artisanal fishers. Sectoral support could support safety at sea for artisanal fishers (e.g. life jackets, geolocalisation equipment, safety training for captains, etc.).

Some EU member states are already active in fisheries development in Angola. For example, Poland financed the construction of a fisheries training and technical support academy in Namibe province in 2006, to the tune of $14 million. In 2010, 60 million euros credit line was allocated to Angola for the second phase of the Namibe fisheries academy to train up to 2,000 students. If a future fisheries agreement includes Angolan seafarers on board, it would be interesting to see how this academy could help train them.

Banner photo: Shipwrecks in Luanda Bay, by Jorge Sá Pinheiro.

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