EU-Morocco negotiations on fisheries to start in september

Negotiations between Morocco and the European Union on fisheries will start during the second half of September, Spanish minister of agriculture and fisheries, Jesus Posada, said on Tuesday.

Posada, who was chairing an information meeting on the situation of the Spanish fisheries sector, surveyed the outcome of his recent visit to Rabat (July 14-15) and told representatives of the autonomous governments, whose fleets operate in Moroccan waters that his department is committed to seeking "new, different formulas" for the Morocco-EU fisheries accord that expires on November 30, 1999.

Morocco officially announced that it will not renew the four-year fisheries accord binding it to the European Union and under which nearly 600 European trawlers, mainly Spanish and Portuguese, operate in Moroccan waters.

The decision was prompted by the kingdom's concern to protect its depleting sea resources.

The Spanish official said the new formulas will be based on the principle of cooperation and will take into account the development policy adopted by the Moroccan government in exploiting sea resources.

The participants in the Spanish information meeting, mainly fisheries advisors to the autonomous governments of Andalucia, the Canary Islands and Galicia, underlined the importance of fishing in Moroccan waters for the Spanish fishing fleet and for the fish industry in general in these regions.

According to shipowners, the Spanish fishing fleet operating in Moroccan grounds under the accord is only adapted to fishing in these grounds.

During his recent visit to Rabat, Posada who conferred with several members of the Moroccan cabinet, voiced Spain's readiness to contribute to the promotion of the fisheries sector in Morocco and to explore "all formula likely to lead to an agreement satisfying the two sides."