The negotiations held in Abidjan have allowed the European Union and Côte d’Ivoire to agree on a new fisheries partnership protocol that gives access to Ivory Coast waters to 36 EU vessels, and that will provide the European fishing industry with profitable and sustainable opportunities.

The agreement will last six years, offering the interested fishermen the certainty of being able to exercise their activity until 2024.

In return, the EU will pay Côte d’Ivoire an annual financial contribution of EUR 682,000, which will be used in particular for the implementation of the fisheries and aquaculture sector policy of the African country. In addition, the contributions paid by shipowners will increase by at least 20 per cent compared to the previous protocol.

The policy of the fisheries and aquaculture sector of the Ivory Coast is aimed at the sustainable management of its inland and marine fishery resources by means of the following, among other things:
•The improvement of monitoring, control and surveillance of fishing activities;
•The improvement of scientific knowledge of fishery resources;
•The improvement of fishing statistics;
•The support for small-scale fisheries;
•The strengthening of international cooperation;
•The support for the blue economy and the development of aquaculture.

The new protocol will consolidate jobs in the fishing sector in an integral manner while strengthening port activity and contributing to supply tuna canning plants. Likewise, it will allow supplying the local market with “false tuna” at an estimated average of 10,000 tonnes per year.

The first fishing agreement between Côte d’Ivoire and the EU dates from 1990. Since then, this agreement has undergone several changes and has been transformed into an association agreement since 2007, accompanied periodically by an application protocol. The current protocol (2013-2018) expires on June 30, 2018

Source: FIS