Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-03-Speech-3-156"
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"en.20031203.12.3-156"2
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".
Mr President, this new agreement between the European Community and Mozambique was initialled on 21 October 2002. The agreement is for three years, and the protocol setting out the fishing opportunities, the financial compensation and the technical annex form an integral part of the agreement and enters into force on 1 January 2004. The main fisheries connected to this agreement are, of course, deepwater shrimp and tuna.
As the Commissioner knows, we have had considerable controversy in the past concerning some of these international third-country agreements. Indeed, last year we worked very closely with the Commission to produce a template: the Senegal agreement. I make no apologies here for moving from the east coast of Africa to the west coast: the Senegal agreement broke new ground in introducing innovative new ways of dealing with third-country agreements, which we have continued to put in place ever since.
In the case of Senegal, we insisted that 60% of the financial compensation should be for fishing opportunities and 40% should be for conservation and development. We insisted that half of the crews on the EU vessels should be Senegalese, that a considerable quantity of the catch should be processed in the fish processing plants in Senegal and that VMS monitoring be fitted in all vessels involved. In every respect, this was seen as a good package that delivered the development and conservation values, provided a sustainable fishery, continued to provide jobs for EU fishermen, and continued to supply the EU with high-quality fish. In the EU we are only 60% self-sufficient in fishery products; there is a rising consumer demand for more fish, and fish stocks are falling in the Community's waters.
It is important that through the Senegal agreement, and the subsequent agreements we have achieved since then, we are trying to continue with this pattern in order to continue to provide these kinds of sustainable fisheries agreements. If we abandon these agreements, we would have a free-for-all. There would be a situation where countries like Senegal, Mauritania, and, in this case, Mozambique, would feel free to enter into contracts with the Koreans, the Japanese or the Russians, and there would then be no element of conservation, no development element, no care for the local indigenous fishermen or their welfare. In these circumstances, if we act via the EU, we have a better opportunity for monitoring the way these agreements work.
In the case of the Mozambique agreement, we are asking the Commission to report to the Council and to the European Parliament on the application and implementation of the agreement one year before it ends. If we find that these conditions have not been adhered to, then we will not mandate the Commission to enter into further agreements with Mozambique.
In this case, we have a report of an abundance of deepwater shrimp and tuna in this area. We are going to give fishing opportunities for ten vessels fishing for 1000 tonnes per year of deepwater shrimp - and an additional 535 tonne by-catch - 35 freezer tuna seiners and 14 surface longliners fishing for 8000 tonnes of tuna. The financial package is EUR 4 090 000 per annum. In this case it is not a question of 60% for fishing opportunities and 40% for development; all of it is going towards conservation and development - EUR 1.5 million for monitoring marine fisheries, EUR 1 million for institutional development, EUR 1 million for research, EUR 430 000 for training, EUR 100 000 for quality control and EUR 60 000 to help Mozambique participate in international meetings.
This is a very good package and I commend it to the House. I am grateful to the Commission for producing it, we are now working in a new spirit of partnership in these third-country agreements and we should continue to do so."@en1
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