In view of the global evaluation of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs) that will be carried out by the Commission in 2021, the author highlights the key points which will need to be assessed from the perspective of the impacts on African coastal communities. The author also suggests essential improvements to be made for the future of SFPAs so that they better respond to the needs of these communities.
The latest minutes of the meeting of the last Joint Scientific Committee (JSC) of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and Mauritania reveal that there is still a long way to go to ensure that all EU fleets active in Mauritania fish sustainably, particularly as regards the control and limitation of by-catches and discards.
In a contribution sent to the European Commission, co-signed with 8 other civil society and environmental organisations, we highlight the most important points to be taken into account for the renewal of the protocol, to ensure that the fishing agreement has a positive impact for small-scale coastal fishing communities.
For the agreement to contribute effectively to the Sustainable Development Goals, it is essential that the forthcoming negotiations, prior to the thirteenth ministerial conference, focus on the main threat to artisanal fisheries in Africa: overfishing and overcapacity, especially by foreign-owned vessels.
The strategy of transforming seafood industry through voluntary partnerships and market-based incentives is the approach currently favoured by many environmental NGOs and donors. The case of Mauritania reduction fisheries “Fisheries Improvement Project” highlights the fundamental flaws with the corporate friendly approach and the urgent need to resist this model becoming normalised.
The PESCAO programme for the improvement of fisheries governance in West Africa, financed by the EU from the 11th EDF Regional funds, started in June 2017 and will end in June 2024. After nearly 4 years, an evaluation is underway to assess the results obtained and to see how to improve its implementation, in a context where the countries of the ECOWAS region are focusing on the development of a blue economy strategy.
This week the European Parliament is discussing a first draft by rapporteur Izaskun Bilbao on the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and Mauritania. This agreement is of great interest to the EU fisheries sector and is the most expensive of all fisheries agreements between the EU and third countries.
In this third article in the series on fisheries in Mauritania, the authors review the state of overexploitation of small pelagic stocks, look at the ways the EU SFPA seeks to address the issue and come back to the demand of several stakeholders for a regional fisheries management organisation for shared small pelagic stocks.
In this article, the author extracts from the recent report ‘Feeding a monster: How European aquaculture and animal feed industries are stealing food from West African communities’ the main findings related to the European Union and its Members States, and looks at how some of the recommendations may be implemented in the EU.
As a new round of negotiations between the EU and Mauritania is expected to start soon, this position paper recalls the demands of the Mauritanian artisanal fisheries sector, highlighting technical conditions, such as the access to octopus to be reserved for local artisanal fishers, the zoning for trawlers to be maintained, and landings of small pelagics to be kept. Governance issues are also key, such as transparency, especially regarding the activities of other foreign fleets; and the urgent need for the SFPA to contribute to regional management for shared stocks.
As the EU is negotiating a new protocol under the existing agreement, concrete steps should be taken to ensure the sustainable exploitation of sardinella in the region, including increased sampling of small pelagic catches, applying the recommendations of the FAO working group and starting consultations with neighbouring countries on joint management of shared stocks.
With the growth of fishmeal production in West Africa, CFFA partners are organising a regional meeting to discuss the local impacts on food security, employment, resources and health. Here we highlight the key concerns and set out some questions to inform the meeting. Instructions are provided on how you can contribute to a online discussion that will lead up to this event. Please share your views!
Since 2010, the number of fishmeal factories in Mauritania has increased from 6 to 23, with most of these situated in the Northern port of Nouadhibou. Analysis of the fish being caught to supply these factories published in a recent paper provides a new insight into the regional migration of small-pelagic fish, casting some doubt on previous theories that have informed regional management advice. The government of Mauritania encouraged new investments in local fishmeal production in the belief this would target underexploited stocks of coastal species, with no overall impact on the availability of fish for direct human consumption. Yet there is now concern that the factories are relying on a different species, the round sardinella, which is a staple food in West Africa, but is now considered over-exploited by the FAO’s working group monitoring small-pelagic fish stocks in the region.
On March 22d, the European Parliament Fisheries Committee discussed the new EU-Mauritania fishing agreement protocol. Most parliamentarians, like the rapporteur, Mr Mato, see positively the protocol proposed. However, the issue of the absence of a regional framework for the sustainable management of small pelagics was raised by Mrs Rodust, who insisted the EU should promote such regional management.
CFFA fully shares this point of view. With regard to access to small pelagic through the Mauritania – EU SFPA, our greatest concern in terms of sustainability remains the fact that access is allocated to foreign fleets, including those of the EU and Russia, in the absence of a necessary regional management framework for these species, shared between, mainly, Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal. How is it possible to determine a surplus in the absence of such regional management?
The SRFC Convention on the Minimum Access Conditions (CMA), ratified by SRFC Member States, including Mauritania, call for a concerted management of small pelagic species in the region, and this call has been also made by local fishing communities, given the strategic importance of these resources for the food security of the entire region. This is a matter of urgency, given the state of full exploitation, or even over-exploitation of the round sardinella.
We therefore request the EU to make all possible efforts to promote such regional management, including through its SFPA dialogue with the concerned countries: Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal.
CFFA has additional comments about the EU-Mauritania new proposed protocol, concerning :
Mauritania commitment to Transparency
The Article 1 of the new Protocol stipulates that Mauritania undertakes to make public any public or private agreement allowing access to its EEZ by foreign vessels. This is an important positive step, which is rightly reflected by the rapporteur, Mr Mato. We hope that Mauritania will soon publish all these agreements, as it is for us a fundamental part of the implementation of the agreement, which will be examined at the occasion the first SFPA Joint Committee meeting, which will meet probably in May 2016.
Access to resources: by-catches of octopus and small pelagics
The state of the octopus resources in Mauritania remains a concern. The 2015-2019 Mauritania fisheries sector development strategy document insists on the fact that 'despite a recovery observed recently, the state of octopus stock is still a concern with overexploitation levels estimated to be at 17%’. In this context, it is to be welcome that there is no direct access for European fleets to this overexploited resource, which is key for the local artisanal sector.
However, if there is no access to the octopus as a target species through the SFPA, octopus remains one of species caught as bycatch: European shrimp trawlers may retain on board 8% of catches of cephalopods, composed mainly of octopus.
The rapporteur also underlines that Mauritania had undertaken to consider, during the first Joint Committee meeting, the possible allocation of new fishing opportunities for demersal freezer trawlers, which would then also include by-catches of octopus.
We feel that the impact of octopus by catches combined volumes on the state of the stock must be taken into account, and no further access should be given that would have a detrimental impact on the state of non-targeted resources, particularly the over exploited octopus.
The problem of bycatch is also present in the small pelagic fishery. For pelagic super trawlers, the joint Scientific Committee in 2013 made the hypothesis that there was possible under-reporting of by-catches, 'taking into account the practice of pelagic trawling which in general has a high bycatch rate with an important diversity of species caught as by-catch (over 100 species)'. The recent Maritime Atlas of vulnerable sea areas in Mauritania, published by the Mauritanian Institute of oceanographic research and fisheries (IMROP) states that, for the small pelagic fishery, 'while catches of the target species are well-regulated, the bycatch is a major problem’.
Efforts of selectivity are therefore needed to reduce by-catch of pelagic super trawlers, including by introducing, through the implementation of the 2015-2019 SFPA, the use of selectivity devices.
Sectoral support
During the last protocols, the sectoral support substantially decreased, from 16 million euros per year (2008-2012) to 3 million per year (2012-2014). It will be 4 million euros per year in the new protocol 2015-2019. So far, the use of sectoral support is very unsatisfactory for both parties: the funds were mainly used to cover running costs, rather than infrastructure, essential for the development of the sector. The question of transparency regarding the use of this sectoral support was also raised many times in the past.
To address these deficiencies, it is expected in the new protocol that sectoral support will be handled by an ‘execution cell’ that will coordinate the implementation with the beneficiaries of the selected projects. A report at the end of project will be published, which will consider the impact on resources, employment, investments. An annual workshop with beneficiaries will be held to present progress.
The rapid implementation of this transparent and participative approach should be encouraged, to improve the use of sectoral support funds to the benefits of Mauritanian sustainable fisheries development.
The conclusions drawn by the Court’s report need to be deepened and broadened, since they are based only on four agreements and mostly reflect the concerns of the EU ship owners. Little consideration is given by the Court to civil society and third countries fishing communities’ interests and needs.
