MAURITANIAN-EU FISHING NEGOTIATIONS STALLED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NOUAKCHOTT 000583

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W; AF/EPS (S. BRUNDAGE, A. ADLER J. HAENI);
EB/CBA (D. WINSTEAD)
USDOC FOR 4510/MAC/OA/PMICHELINI/HVINEYARD
3131/CS/ANESA/OIO/RD/DHARRIS/GLITMAN/MSTAUNTO N
DAKAR FOR RSCO CGRIFFIN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2016
TAGS: ECON EFIN EINV MR
SUBJECT: MAURITANIAN-EU FISHING NEGOTIATIONS STALLED


Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY AMBASSADOR JOSEPH LEBARON, REASON 1.4 (B),
(D)

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(U) Key Points
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-- Mauritanian-European Union fish agreement negotiations are
stalled as the two sides were unable to agree on a figure.

-- If no new agreement is signed by the time the present
agreement expires in July, Spain and other EU members will be
allowed to pursue bilateral agreements.

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(C) Comment
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-- Spain's desire to maintain its fishing rights, as well as
its desire to stem the flow of immigrants, has made Spain
somewhat beholden to the transitional government. As a
result, the Spanish have been muted in any criticism of the
government's handling of the census and other matters,
preferring to allow the EU to take the lead.

End Key Points and Comment.

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Mauritanian-EU Fish Agreement Renewal Still Blocked
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1. (U) No agreement has yet been reached in negotiations
between Mauritania and the European Union for renewing its
fish agreement. The two parties have been in negotiations
since the beginning of this year in both Brussels and
Nouakchott. The last meeting, held last week, ended without
neither a resolution nor another planned meeting. There are
indications that the Ministry of Fisheries may send a
delegation to Brussels to continue discussion of the
financial issue of the new agreement (they already agreed on
the technical aspect of this agreement).


2. (U) The current five-year fish agreement between
Mauritania and the European Union will expire on July 31,
2006 at midnight. Some countries, such as China, have started
negotiating with Mauritania for short-term fish agreements.
If the EU negotiations do not result in an agreement, some EU
countries, such as Spain and Portugal, could negotiate
separately with Mauritania for short-period contracts (one
year renewable). But these negotiations could only be
possible after the end of the current agreement.


3. (U) The current agreement allows about 140 trawlers to
operate freely in Mauritanian waters against a compensation
amounting 430 million euros. The Mauritanians consider this
too low considering the quantities the EU trawlers are
catching in Mauritanian waters. Mauritanian fish authorities
are not interested in another long-term agreement and wish to
follow the Moroccan strategy to protect the over-caught
species from the EU fleet.


4. (U) Mauritanian officials tell the Embassy that Mauritania
continues to consider the EU as its potential customer for
fish products but seeing the foreseen revenues from the oil,
the government is being more intransigent in its position by
requiring that the EU fleet declare all their catches and
part of the catches be unloaded in Mauritanian territory.
The Government intends to limit the exportation of fresh and
frozen fish and requires its processing in Mauritania to
create an employment and input the added value. According to
the National Fishing Federation, the present obstacle has
nothing to see with the fish processing locally but with the
increasing of the fishing agreement fees.


5. (C) A Spanish embassy official confirmed to us that the
breakdown of negotiations was the result of the two parties
being unable to reach a common figure, and that Spain will
pursue a bilateral agreement if the EU and Mauritania do not
reach a deal.


NOUAKCHOTT 00000583 002 OF 002


LeBaron
LeBaron