Could this be the future for Somali fisheries?

[MoonLight1]

Mauritania, EU sign new fishing deal

 

 

Both parties agree on two-year accord after marathon 15 months of talks to agree on EU's exact financial contribution.

 

 

EU boats fishing in Mauritanian waters will be staffed 60 percent by Mauritanians

 

NOUAKCHOTT -Mauritania and the European Union signed a new fishing accord Thursday after months of heated debate to agree on the EU's exact financial contribution.

 

"We agreed on a two-year accord after a marathon 15 months of negotiations that were intense at times," Mauritanian negotiator Cheikh Ould Baya said Thursday after signing the accord.

 

The EU will contribute an annual 113 million euros ($138 million) in financing to Mauritania's fishing industry, up from the 76.5 million it gave under the previous accord, he said.

 

That four-year protocol agreement on fishing will expire Tuesday.

 

Under the new accord, the two sides agreed that the EU boats fishing in Mauritanian waters would be staffed 60 percent by Mauritanians.

 

According to official statistics, the fishing sector represents over 20 percent of budget revenue and employs more than 36,000 people in Mauritania.

[MoonLight1]

Could a similar deal be good for Somalia?

 

trawlers and big vessels being staffed by 60% Somalis.

$138 million Euros finance, badly needed for infrastructure.

 

Since we Somalis don't have the capacity to fish on industrial scale I think this is better than illegal fishing or piracy.

[MoonLight1]

Apophis;862353 wrote:

It's too low; I would prefer profit sharing (similar to the way oil companies share with local governments).

we could negotiate better deals as our coast is much longer and richer than Mouritania's.

 

The stolen tuna only is worth $6b a year. (six billion dollars), imagine other more expensive fish such as lobster and sardine.

BBC one minute world news

 

 

 

Somali piracy 'reduces tuna haul'

 

 

The coast of Somalia is rich source of tuna from August to November

Piracy off Somalia's coast is a cause of falls in tuna catches in the Indian Ocean - one of the world's richest sources of the fish, experts say.

The head of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, Alejandro Anganuzzi, said catches fell by about 30% last year, seriously affecting the industry.

The Seychelles economy has been badly hit as many foreign fishing fleets are based there.

The reduced supply because of piracy has also driven up the price of tuna.

Ship seizures

The Indian Ocean tuna industry is said to be worth up to $6bn.

Last year Somali pirates took 42 commercial ships with crews hostage, according to the International Maritime Bureau, including the biggest oil supertanker ever captured.

A number of countries began naval patrols off East Africa and in the Gulf of Aden to try to combat the attacks.

With the threat still present, fishing fleets have had to move further east from the Somali coast, Mr Anganuzzi told Reuters news agency.

About 40% of Seychelles's foreign earnings come from tuna and related industries, the IOTC said.

French and Spanish fleets based in Seychelles caught only 50% of their expected catch.

The fleets usually catch nearly two-thirds of the year's haul off Somalia between August and November, he said.

Seychelles is paid per tonne of fish landed for port facilities and reduced catches mean fewer calls to port.

"The pirates' biggest impact, however, is reduced supply, driving prices up," the head of the Seychelles Fisheries Authority, Rondolph Payet, told Reuters.

[ElPunto]

A government cannot sign away people's livelihoods for tax money to fill its coffers. Fisherman who fish to feed their family cannot compete with foreign trawlers unless the govt will give them the money directly to compensate them for fish being lost.