EU/Gambia Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement and Implementation Protocol
PURPOSE: to conclude the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of The Gambia and of the Protocol on the implementation of that Partnership Agreement.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act.
BACKGROUND: the Council authorised the European Commission to negotiate, on behalf of the European Union, a new Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of The Gambia, and a Protocol setting out the fishing opportunities and financial contribution.
At the end of the negotiations an Agreement and Protocol were initialled by the negotiators on 19 October 2018. The new Agreement repeals and replaces the existing Agreement which entered into force on 2 June 1987; it covers a period of six years from the date of its provisional application, renewable by tacit agreement.
The Partnership Agreement and the Protocol have been provisionally applied from the date of their signature. They should now be approved.
CONTENT: the draft Council Decision seeks the approval, on behalf of the Union, of the EU-Gambia Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement and the Protocol implementing that Partnership Agreement.
The main aim of the new Agreement is to provide an updated framework taking into account the priorities of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy1 and its external dimension, with a view to establishing a strategic partnership between the European Union and the Republic of The Gambia in the field of fisheries.
The aim is also to enhance cooperation between the European Union and the Republic of The Gambia to promote a sustainable fisheries policy and sound exploitation of fisheries resources in the Gambian fishing zone, in the interest of both parties
The aim of the Protocol is to grant fishing opportunities to European Union vessels in Gambian waters taking into account available scientific assessments, in particular those of the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF), and in accordance with the best available scientific advice and the recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), within the limits of the available surplus.
The Commission would be authorised to approve, on behalf of the Union, the amendments to the Protocol to be adopted by the Joint Committee set up under the Partnership Agreement.