After the expiry, on July 17, of the fishing protocol between Morocco and the European Union, Rabat and Madrid are examining ways to allow the return of Spanish fishermen to Moroccan waters, an Iberian media revealed on Thursday .
The Spanish Minister of Agriculture “is pushing to find a solution. Some rules might be skipped. For example, the boats instead of being Spanish could be Moroccan,” said a Moroccan source on condition of anonymity.
Pending the appeal verdict from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), professionals from both countries have the possibility of concluding bilateral agreements. “Big companies in the Spanish fishing industry have been contacted to sign contracts, so as to guarantee their legal certainty. This would even allow more professionals to fish in the waters of Western Sahara”, explains the Moroccan source.
The approach examined ensures that Spanish fishermen will continue their activity in the Sahara but in boats under the Moroccan flag, she adds. And to recall that the presidents of the Organization of artisanal fishing producers Conil/La Atunara (OPP72), in Andalusia, Nicolás Fernández Muñoz, and Youssef Benjelloun of the Chamber of Maritime Fisheries of the Mediterranean (CPMM), signed an agreement of partnership, on August 2 in Tangier.
“Executives of the Spanish professional organization will ensure the coordination of future projects with the professionals of the CPMM, and the determination of a well-defined program of intense activities that will be launched from this month of August until next December. “says the Moroccan side in a press release broadcast by MAP.
This cooperation framework responds, in fact, to the recommendations of the Moroccan-Hispanic meeting of fishing professionals of October 27, 2022, then placed under the theme: “Participatory management plan for fisheries resources in the Strait of Gibraltar”.
The Moroccan and Spanish professionals of the sector will meet for a better coordination of their actions, in September in Conil de la Frontera.
