Negotiations with Mauritania over the renewal of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) protocol, which is due to expire on 15 December 2014, will soon resume. Although approved on 8 October 2013, the current protocol has been in provisional application since 16 December 2012.

The European Commission has published a study which evaluates both ex post and ex ante issues of current and potential future protocols. It highlights that significant provisions were included in the protocol, coherent with the principles of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), such as the distinction to be made – within the financial contribution – between the part for access rights payments and the part for the development of the Mauritanian fisheries sector. In January 2014, the EU paid €67 million of financial compensation for access rights, but has not yet paid the sectoral support of €3 million, since there are still unspent amounts from the former protocol.

The evaluation also underlines that, for the first 6 months of the protocol, the utilisation rate of fishing opportunities was rather low, both in terms of the use of licences and catches. This is explained by the original technical conditions of the protocol (i.e. fishing areas and fees). The current protocol is considered as being only partially effective in that it has allowed the exploitation of less than 50% of the opportunities for annual catches during the first 11 months of its implementation. However, “after two joint committees which reviewed these conditions, without compromising sustainability principles, the attractiveness of the protocol increased.” For example, the EU shrimp vessels, which had not applied for licences since January 2013, finally asked for 13 licences for the months of November and December 2013.

The study concludes that it is still of economic interest for EU vessel owners to fish in Mauritania’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). All the sub-sectors show a substantial gross operating surplus. The number of jobs created is also substantial: more than 550 on-board jobs – of which 130 are taken up by Mauritanians – and nearly 970 on-shore jobs.

In terms of public investment, the FPA is described as “less interesting” since, “each euro of financial compensation generates 0.80 euro in direct added value in the capture sector and a total added value of around 1.7 euros, of which only 0.9 returns to the EU.”

The report foresees two options for the future – conclusion or non-conclusion of a new protocol – highlighting that fishing categories must be elaborated on the basis of the identified surplus and an accurate estimation of the fishing opportunities to be allocated to EU vessels, making sure they will uptake licences and fish.