Cepesca calls on the European Parliament and the Council to speed up ratification in order to allow the early return to the waters of the fishing vessels of the Spanish fleet (Photo Gaceta de Morocco)

In the absence of any details, the Spanish Confederation of Fisheries (Cepesca) welcomes the consensus reached on the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement and protocol and calls on the European Parliament (EP) and the Council to ratify quickly so as to enable the early return to the waters of the Spanish fleet.

It should be recalled that Protocol 2014- 2018 to the previous EU-Morocco fishing agreement, which expired on Saturday, 14 July, allowed a maximum of 126 EU fishing vessels, including 90 Spanish fishing vessels, to fish in the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Of the 90 possible licences for Spain under the protocol, the fishing sector has used, this year 2018, 49 licences: 35 Andalusian ships from Barbate, Algeciras and Conil, 10 canaries and 4 gallegos. The rest of the licences are distributed among other Community countries such as the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Germany.

Cepesca also stresses that the previous protocol has proved to be beneficial to both sides, generating wealth and employment in both Morocco and Europe, and also stresses respect for international law, human rights and sustainability issues.

According to Javier Garat, Secretary General of Cepesca, "we are very pleased that the parties have finally been able to find consensus to reach an agreement and to define a new protocol that will enable the Spanish fleet to continue its fishing work and contribute to the development of sustainable fisheries management."