Idle Spanish fishermen transferred to Tunisian waters

Spain has transferred to Tunisia some of its idle fishermen who were forced to cease activities after failure to renew the Morocco-EU fisheries agreement that expired in November 1999.

The first five vessels will be dispatched in the coming days for a test period, said an official at the Spanish fisheries, food and agriculture ministry. He added Spain has been looking for two years now for alternative maritime access, in view of failure to renew the Morocco-EU agreement.

Under the old deal between Morocco and the EU, some 400 European trawlers, mostly Spanish ones, were given access to Moroccan waters.

However, Morocco says it is open for talks, calling the EU to understand Moroccan concern to safeguard its sea resources against over-exploitation.