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Rosa Quintana and Carlos Domínguez. (Foto: Magrama)
Galician and Central authorities seek support against EU-Mauritania fisheries pact
EUROPEAN UNION
Thursday, October 03, 2013, 23:10 (GMT + 9)
National and Galician authorities expressed their views against ratifying the fisheries agreement between Mauritania and the European Union (EU) in front of European members of Parliament from different political parties in Spain.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Environment and Marine Affairs of the Xunta de Galicia, Rosa Quintana; and the Secretary General of Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Magrama), Carlos Dominguez.
The officials explained the facts to be considered to the Community deputies when voting in the European Parliament (EP) on Tuesday next week. What the authorities of Spain and Galicia intend is that legislators reject the bilateral agreement.
Quintana and Dominguez emphasized the fact that it is an underused covenant because it costs a lot of money to European citizens and, in return, the counterparty is limited to the Spanish fleets, especially to the cephalopod vessels.
The meetings with representatives of the political groups of the Popular Party, Socialist Party, the Green Party and UPyD aim to defend the interests of the entire Spanish fleet — in particular the cephalopod one — given the fishing agreement signed between the EU and Mauritania, reported the Xunta de Galicia.
“In Galicia we need many fishing agreements because we have fleets operating in virtually all parts of the world,” stated the minister.
“And we intend these agreements to be as beneficial as possible so as to allow the social sector that makes of living on that to obtain profits,” she added.
For his part, Dominguez stressed that the regional government and the central administration do not understand the facts in a first moment alleging that Mauritania lacks cephalopods in its fishery.
In this regard, Quintana recalled that this argument was countered with a study performed by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) in collaboration with the cephalopod fleet. In this survey, it was shown that the situation of the cephalopod is good in Mauritanian waters.
“The moment when this scientific data were presented, this argument has not been restated in the joint committee and now Mauritania claims to be sovereign to decide that the fleet should not have access to the cephalopod,” Quintana went on to say.
Finally, she recalled that there are fleets from other countries that are exploiting other cephalopods in Mauritania, which are then entered into the European market for domestic consumption.
“We think it is not a good agreement,” concluded the Minister.
Related article:
– Fisheries sector’s divided opinions on EU- Mauritania agreement rejection
By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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