Source: Regular News Update From Eurostep No. 256 18 January 2002

NGOs WELCOME EU FAILURE TO SECURE FISHERIES AGREEMENT WITH SENEGAL

According to a report from the Inter Press Service (IPS) last week environmental groups have welcomed the EU’s failure to secure a fisheries agreement with Senegal. WWF calls this a ‘positive sign’ that developing countries are becoming more prudent in weighing short-term economic gains against protecting their natural resources. WWF argue that while the EU aims to alleviate poverty in the
developing world its own heavily subsidised fleets have pushed small-scale local fisher folk to the side and damaged fragile ecosystems. The environmental group add that the EU has exported its own
unsustainable fishing practices to threatened coastal states in West Africa. They call for fair and equitable fisheries access agreements, where the environment and sustainable development are at the top of the agenda. On Jan 23, a campaign will be launched on the review of the EU common fisheries policy, a main aim of which is to guarantee ''fair and sustainable'' fisheries agreements by WWF.
The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has put out a comprehensive report, which focused on Senegal and Argentina, warning that developing countries which allow foreign fishing fleets access to their territorial waters stood to lose a great deal more than they might gain. According to the UNEP-commissioned study, released Dec 27, trade liberalisation in Senegal “has had a devastating effect on some key stocks, especially those deep-living, coastal species, favoured by European consumers” and that the country's local market supply could face shortages in the near future as a result.
Eurostep recently put out a paper on EU fisheries agreements titled “Fishing for Coherence Promoting Complementarity between EU Fisheries Arrangements and Development Policy”. The paper pointed out gross incoherencies between EU fisheries policy and EU development policy. The paper is available at http://www.oneworld.org/eurostep/fishcoh.htm