The EU and Madagascar have agreed on the text of a new sustainable fisheries partnership agreement. This restores the partnership between the EU and Madagascar that had been interrupted in 2018, and the European Commission states that this resumption of relations on fisheries will contribute to good fisheries governance.
The agreement will allow 65 tuna fishing vessels from EU Member States to access Madagascar’s waters over a period of four years. In exchange, the EU will provide Madagascar with €700,000 per year, based on a reference of catches of 14,000 tonnes of tuna and earmark €1.1 million for sectoral support, to accompany the sustainable development of the fisheries sector and the blue economy in Madagascar.
The new protocol also envisages a new contribution for the protection of ecosystems (funded by fishing vessels owners) and new provisions to encourage co-operation with Madagascar in the context of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC).
Sustainable fisheries partnership agreements (SFPA) with non-EU countries are negotiated and concluded by the Commission on behalf of the EU. These enable EU vessels to fish for surplus stocks in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of third countries, while also focusing on resource conservation and environmental sustainability.
