The Councillor for Agriculture, Fishing, Water and Rural Development, Ramón Fernández-Pacheco, has shown his concern about the lack of a new fishing agreement between the European Union and Mauritania before the current one expires, scheduled for this Sunday, 15 November. In this scenario, he has demanded that the central Government activate all of its diplomatic tools to the maximum in order to bring positions closer and close a new framework for collaboration as soon as possible.
In statements to the media in Vélez-Rubio (Almería), the Andalusian head of the department has stressed that this is a “fundamental fishing ground for the work of thousands of families,” especially in the provinces of Huelva, Cádiz and Sevilla. As he has detailed, “directly or indirectly, either they set sail to fish in those waters or they work in the ports where the goods arrive and have to be processed.”
Fernández-Pacheco has reiterated that “the closing of that agreement is very bad news, very bad news that our fishermen can no longer be working there,” and he has repeated his call both to the Community institutions and to the Ministry, which depends on the Government of Spain, “for them to sit down and negotiate with Mauritania and to achieve an agreement as soon as possible.”