Morocco and the European Union (EU) initialed, Tuesday in Rabat, a new fisheries agreement after a series of negotiations that started in April, says a communiqué sent by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries this morning to Yabiladi. The two parties have found a common ground, discussing ways to finalize a new fisheries agreement. The signed document refers to the zones where EU fleets are allowed to fish, the species targeted as well as restrictions related to the management of the fishing areas. 128 vessels will be covered by the new protocol, says the same source, adding that the amount of money granted to the Kingdom, however, moved from 40 million to 52 million Euros. «The two parties have also agreed on ways to make the local population, in the zones covered by the treaty, benefit from the agreement», added the same communiqué. For the record, the signing of this agreement comes as the 2014 fisheries protocol expired in July the 14th, prohibiting EU vessels from fishing in the Moroccan waters. Negotiations, held to ratify a new treaty and overcome the obstacles set by a ruling issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in February, 2018, and that excluded the Western Sahara waters from the agreement, were concluded last Thursday in Brussels.
