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Rabat – The Portuguese Fishermen’s Association has expressed their concern over the EU Court of Justice (CJEU)’s ruling to annul the fisheries agreement between Morocco and the European Union (EU), saying the verdict will further “disrupt the European fishing fleet.”
In a press statement released on October 8, the Portuguese association stressed that Portugal will lose access to 2,060 tons of pelagic species, 14 longline licenses in the artisanal fishery, and 4 in the demersal category if the EU court’s verdict is upheld.
“With the creation of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the European fishing fleets, including the Portuguese, lost the right to work within 200 nautical miles of the coasts of non-members countries. This means that they lose access to the fishing grounds that they used before,” said the statement.
As the fishing industry is of vital importance to Portugal’s economy, the statement argued, the court’s decision will generate heavy consequences and the country will lose many fishing opportunities that are currently used to strengthen their national quotas in other fishing areas.
In 1999, 40 Portuguese vessels were fishing in Morocco’s Atlantic coastal waters, making Morocco the second-largest foreign fisheries ground at that time, and despite the number being reduced to 14 vessels in 2006, Morocco continues to be an important source of fishing for the European country.
The statement further noted that “the only mechanisms available to European fleets to continue operating in EEZ’s non-members’ countries are the fisheries agreements, now called Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs), which the EU is slow to negotiate, setting terms to its competitors, and often lets them expire without renewal.”
Pointing out that the court’s stance would force the relocation of several Spanish vessels to the waters of the Iberian Peninsula, the statement described it as “a factor of increasing pressure on the resources of the region, which would have consequences on the Portuguese fishery.”
The EU court delivered its verdict late last month, and many members of the EU Parliament have criticized the decision, including the Spanish Minister of Agriculture who reaffirmed his country’s readiness to support the continuity of the fisheries agreement.
The EU and Morocco have two months to challenge the court’s verdict.
