The spectre of European overfishing in African waters

Less than a week after the European Parliament gave the green light on April 6 for the new fishing agreement between the EU and the Comoros, a delegation of fishermen from West Africa, brought to Europe by the NGO Greenpeace, told MEPs and EU fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki, on 14 April in Brussels, of the threat posed by the mass influx of European vessels into their waters.

Thirteen additional European fishing vessels will have access to Comoran waters in return for EU financial aid for the development of port infrastructures. That is the essence of the new Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) protocol signed by the EU and Comoros and adopted by the European Parliament on 6 April.

“It’s not only about the exchange of fish for money for us. We are setting out principles for sustainable and responsible fishing,” declared Rapporteur Luis Manuel Capoulas Santos (Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, Portugal). Concluded in 2006, this agreement, which runs until the end of 2013, authorizes 45 tuna seiners  and 25 surface longlines – in other words 70 vessels compared to the previous 57 – to fish for albacore tuna and skipjack tuna in Comoran waters. Most of the vessels come from France and Spain, as well as some from Portugal and Italy.

Combating piracy

In exchange, the EU plans to grant an extra 300,000 euros a year to help build infrastructure in the Comoros. Infrastructure that will also serve the interests of European vessels that, lacking suitable ports, are today compelled to unload their catches in the Seychelles, thereby exposing themselves to the risk of piracy in the Indian Ocean.

The MEPS also complained during the debates of not being kept properly informed during the negotiation of partnership agreements. François Alfonsi (Greens/European Free Alliance France), on behalf of the Budget Committee, addressed Fisheries Commissioner, Maria Damanaki, thus: “The European Parliament vote loses its meaning if it comes after the signing of the agreement. The MEPs should in future give their opinion beforehand.”

Overfishing or “How Africa feeds Europe”

“European fleets are pillaging the waters of West Africa,” is the charge made by Greenpeace, who, on 14 April, presented MEPs with the results of three missions by its boat Arctic Sunrise along the coasts of Senegal and Mauritania. They identified 126 large fishing vessels, 61 from the EU, including 12 over 100 metres long. Three fishermen, from Mauritania, Senegal and Cape Verde, accompanied the delegation and explained that they were being forced to risk their lives by fishing further out into the ocean to obtain a sufficient catch.

“The largest and most harmful European vessels fish in the waters of the world’s poorest countries, who in turn receive very little compensation. Small-scale African fishermen, who are seeing their catches and food security diminish, do not benefit at all from the money paid by Europe to the African authorities,” declared Jonas Hulsens, responsible for Fisheries with Greenpeace Belgium. At a time when the EU is reviewing its Common Fisheries Policy, Greenpeace is calling for a drastic reduction in the fleet and more sustainable fishing methods, both within and beyond European waters.

Marie-Martine Buckens