Portugal accuses EU in failure of Morocco-EU negotiations on fisheries

Chairman of Portuguese fish professionals association, Pedro Franca, accused the European Union of being responsible for the failure of talks with Morocco for a new fisheries agreement.

Talking to "Antenal" radio station, he said everybody now should act on his own to find a solution at a time opportunities are becoming rare. The EU lacks resolve and respect vis-a-vis Portugal and Spain, Europe's most affected countries by the failure of negotiations, he charged.

Now, each ship owner will have to make his own decision and this will lead to different situations, as some will simply give up the activity and others will seek to develop their trawlers to be able to operate in Moroccan waters, he went on.

For Portuguese state secretary for fisheries, Jose Apolinario, the only choice left is to join efforts to benefit from the EU specific tools set to revamp the fishing fleet. The Portuguese official went on that his country developed last January its own proposals giving priority to the conversion of the fishing fleet by re-deploying the staff in other fishing trawlers and other fishing activities.

He went on that the Portuguese government is willing to help crews find other jobs because priority is given to maintaining the fishermen social and economic coherence.

A new round of negotiations held this week in Brussels failed to reach any agreement for a new fisheries agreement between Morocco and the European Union.

The two sides are mainly diverging on the financial compensation EU should pay to Morocco and the fisheries possibilities offered by Morocco.

The previous Morocco-EU fisheries accord expired in November 1999. Morocco refuses to renew the accord under its previous formula in a bid to safeguard its depleting sea resources.