RECOMMENDATION on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Seychelles and its implementing protocol (2020-2026)

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Introduction

The European Union has signed a new sustainable fisheries partnership agreement (SFPA) with the Republic of the Seychelles and an accompanying implementing protocol, both of which will be in force for a six-year period (2020-2026). The previous EU-Seychelles agreement was signed and entered into force in 2007 and, in the past, it was renewed automatically. The previous implementing protocol was also in force for six years, between January 2014 and January 2020.

This agreement lays down the rules governing EU fishing vessels’ access to Seychelles waters. In exchange for fishing rights, the EU provides the Seychelles with financial and technical support. The EU and the Seychelles have also agreed on a set of mechanisms and rules designed to promote sustainable fishing, including by improving fisheries control and data collection, by stepping up the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and through closer cooperation in the regional fisheries management organisations of which both the EU and the Seychelles are members.

In financial terms, the EU-Seychelles agreement is the EU’s fifth most important fishing agreement in force and its most important in the Indian Ocean.

Content of the agreement and the protocol

In line with the common fisheries policy priorities in place since 2014 and the rules on SFPAs, the new agreement and its protocol stress the need to adhere to the principles of sustainability and fishing only the surplus, which must be calculated on the basis of the best available scientific advice.

 

Fishing opportunities

The agreement between the EU and the Seychelles is a tuna agreement. It grants fishing rights to EU vessels fishing mainly for the different tuna species in Seychelles waters.

The new protocol provides for fishing opportunities for 40 tuna purse seine vessels (the same number as under the previous protocol), 8 surface longliners (2 more than under the previous protocol) and support vessels, in line with the relevant Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) resolutions.

According to the ex-post/ex-ante impact study on the EU-Seychelles agreement, the average utilisation rate under the previous agreement was 69% for purse seiners and 7% for surface longliners.

 

Financial support

The EU provides the Seychelles with EUR 5.3 million per year, of which EUR 2.5 million is for access to fisheries resources and EUR 2.8 million is to support the development of the Seychelles sectoral fisheries policy.

The agreement establishes that sectoral support includes fisheries management and support measures, including for small-scale fishing and aquaculture, sanitary and quality management, fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance, tackling IUU fishing, promoting scientific capacity, particularly with regard to catch data, and improving infrastructure.

Vessels fishing under this agreement must pay EUR 80 per tonne of fish caught during the first 2 years of the agreement and EUR 85 during the following 4 years. This shipowners’ contribution is expected to amount to an estimated EUR 26.4 million for the 6 years that the protocol will be in force.

 

The fishing sector and resources in the Seychelles and the Indian Ocean

The Seychelles fisheries sector is highly developed. It is an important part of the Seychelles economy, given that it accounts for almost 90% of its exports, and it plays a key role in food security. One of the distinctive features of the sector is that it incorporates migratory species such as tuna, also targeted by European vessels.

Biomass levels are high in Seychelles fishing zones. These zones are part of the migratory routes followed by large pelagic fish, such as the skipjack tuna, the yellowfin tuna and the bigeye tuna. Although the IOTC’s assessment of stocks in the Indian Ocean concluded that skipjack and bigeye tuna stocks were healthy, yellowfin tuna stocks have been below the warning threshold for years, as the yellowfin is overfished.

In 2015, the IOTC’s Scientific Committee began to recommend that yellowfin catches be reduced by 20%. It reiterated this recommendation in 2018, but it has not been followed.

The fisheries sector, including foreign fleets, is also an important source of employment in the Seychelles, particularly the signing-on of seamen and the processing industry.

 

Conclusion and recommendations

The SFPA must ensure that the European fleet authorised to fish in the Seychelles waters complies with the sustainability and environmental protection goals and does not damage marine biodiversity. Thus, European vessels may only fish surpluses, calculated on the basis of the best available scientific advice. It is of the utmost importance that this agreement is compatible with and contributes to the conservation and management measures in place, particularly IOTC measures. In this connection, the fact that both parties intend to step up their cooperation within the framework of the IOTC is very welcome.

The agreement also promotes closer economic, financial, technical and scientific cooperation between the EU and the Seychelles, which should be geared towards sustainable fishing and the responsible use of fisheries resources.

Given the agreement’s utilisation rate and the poor state of some stocks, it is disappointing that the number of authorised vessels has not been reduced. Failing to reduce this number could lead to fishing capacity increasing in the region, with disastrous results. What is more, the Commission must take new measures to conserve yellowfin tuna.

With a view to drastically curbing by-catches and catches of young fish, selectivity must be improved. It is positive that the IOTC’s measures designed to limit the number of support vessels and fish aggregating devices (FADs) have been taken into account, but these measures will not, on their own, be enough to mitigate the negative impact of FADs on fisheries resources and marine pollution. Decisive steps must be taken to reduce the number of FADs and support vessels.

Having reliable and accurate data is a prerequisite to the sustainable management of fisheries. It is important, therefore, that the agreement helps to improve the collection, sharing and processing of data, particularly on catches and the state of stocks. Monitoring and controlling fisheries is essential to ensuring that the rules in force are actually applied. In this regard, the possibility introduced under the EU-Seychelles agreement of joint inspections of European vessels is a very positive move. Standards may be improved for the entire foreign fleet fishing in the Seychelles as a result of the country’s commitment, as provided for in the agreement, to publishing all fisheries agreements and licences granted to non-Seychelles boats and of the clause ensuring that other foreign vessels do not receive more favourable conditions than European vessels. It is significant that a sizeable part of the sectoral support provided for in the agreement goes towards boosting the country’s capacity to tackle IUU fishing.

The agreement should also benefit the Seychelles fishing sector, particularly small-scale operators. Sectoral support should be more targeted and should only finance measures that help to develop local fishing, to ensure that fisheries are managed properly and to improve monitoring, control and surveillance. Particular importance should be given to stepping up the training of Seychelles seamen, particularly as concerns on-board safety-related issues. Publishing comprehensive lists of projects financed with sectoral support and visits to such projects by observers would concstitute a major step towards greater transparency and trust. What is more, the Seychelles fishing sector, in all its diversity, should be involved in negotiations on the agreement, with regard to both fishing opportunities and sectoral support.

Lastly, the rapporteur stresses that Parliament must be kept immediately and fully informed at all stages of the procedures related to the agreement, its protocol and, where relevant, its renewal. What is more, the rapporteur stresses that the nearly systematic use of provisional application as regards international agreements, before Parliament has had a chance to approve them, runs counter to the principles of the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making and undermines the democratic integrity of the EU as a whole.

 

 

OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON BUDGETS (6.5.2020)

for the Committee on Fisheries

on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Seychelles and its implementing protocol (2020-2026)

(05243/2020 – C9-0073/2020 – 2020/0002(NLE))

Rapporteur for opinion: Lefteris Christoforou

 

SHORT JUSTIFICATION

The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement[2] between the European Union (hereinafter ‘the Union’) and the Republic of Seychelles entered into force on 2 November 2007. The 6-year Implementing Protocol[3] entered into force on 18 January 2014 and had expired on 17 January 2020. The Commission conducted negotiations with the Government of the Republic of Seychelles to conclude a new Agreement and its Implementing Protocol and both were initialled on 22 October 2019.

The negotiation of a new Agreement with the Republic of Seychelles is part of the Union’s external action in relation to African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and takes into account, in particular, Union objectives on respecting democratic principles and human rights. The new Agreement takes into account the priorities of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy[4].

The new Protocol provides fishing opportunities for the Union vessels in the Seychelles fishing zone, on the basis of the best available scientific advice and following the recommendations of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC). The objective is to enable the Union and the Republic of Seychelles to work more closely on promoting sound exploitation of fishery resources in the Republic of Seychelles fishing zone and in the Indian Ocean and to contribute to promote decent working conditions in fisheries activities.

This new Protocol takes into account the results of an evaluation of the previous Agreement and Protocol (2014-2020) and of a forward-looking assessment of whether a new Agreement and Protocol should be concluded. Both were carried out by external experts.

The Protocol provides for fishing opportunities in the following categories:

(a) 40 tuna purse seine vessels;

(b) 8 surface longliners;

(c) support vessels in accordance with the relevant IOTC resolutions.

The Protocol covers a period of six years from the date of its provisional application, i.e. from the date on which it was signed.

The annual financial contribution from the Union is EUR 5 300 000, based on:

(a) an annual amount of EUR 2 500 000 for access to the fisheries resources in the Seychelles fishing zone equivalent to a reference tonnage, for highly migratory species, of 50 000 tonnes per year;

(b) an annual amount of EUR 2 800 000 to support for the development of the sectoral fisheries policy of the Seychelles. This support meets the objectives of Seychelles’ Fisheries Comprehensive Plan.

The annual amount for commitment and payment appropriations is established during the annual budgetary procedure, including for the reserve line for protocols not having entered into force at the beginning of the year[5].

The new Agreement establishes a Joint Committee responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Agreement and its Implementing Protocol. The Commission would be authorised to approve, on behalf of the Union, amendments to the Protocol to be adopted by the Joint Committee set up under the Agreement.

 

******

The Committee on Budgets calls on the Committee on Fisheries, as the committee responsible, to recommend that Parliament give its consent to the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement and its Implementing Protocol (2020-2026) between the European Union and the Republic of Seychelles.

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

 

 

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION

 

 

 

Key to symbols:

+ : in favour

- : against

0 : abstention

 

 

 

29.5.2020

 

LETTER OF THE COMMITTEE ON DEVELOPMENT

Pierre Karleskind

Chair

Committee on Fisheries

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement and its Implementing Protocol (2020-2026) between the European Union and the Republic of Seychelles (COM(2020)0002 – C9‑0000/2020 – 2020/0002(NLE))

Dear Mr Karleskind,

Under the procedure referred to above, the Committee on Development has been asked to submit an opinion to your committee. At its meeting of 12 May 2020, the committee decided to send the opinion in the form of a letter.

The Committee on Development considered the matter at its meeting of 29 May 2020. At that meeting, it decided to call on the Committee on Fisheries, as the committee responsible, to recommend approval of the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement and its Implementing Protocol (2020-2026) between the European Union and the Republic of Seychelles.

Yours sincerely,

Tomas Tobé

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

 

 

 

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

 

 

 

 

Key to symbols:

+ : in favour

- : against

0 : abstention