New Morocco-Russia fish deal signed

A new fisheries accord between Russia and Morocco was signed on 10 December 2012, with a duration of four years. The controversial new agreement will allow 10 Russian trawlers to resume fishing — most probably in occupied Western Sahara. In return, the Russian ship-owners are to pay a financial compensation, twice the amount as under the previous deal. Charges on catches have also been raised by 40 percent. The information about the new agreement was published by the Moroccan state news service MAP.

The agreement was signed in the Moroccan capital city Rabat. Holding the pen were Moroccan Minister for Fisheries, Aziz Akhannouch and Vasily Sokolov, vice-President of the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries (Rosrybolovstvo).

WSRW published in June 2010 the story about the signing of the former fisheries agreement between the two governments. That agreement had expired on 2 June 2012, according to MAP. WSRW also published two years ago an unofficial English translation of the complete agreement. The former agreement was designed to allow Russian fleet fish in the "Exclusive Economic Zone" of Morocco, but it was still applied offshore Western Sahara — which is not part of Morocco's EEZ. Morocco has not even laid claim to the waters offshore the territory. It would not even be able to do so under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, of which it became a member state in 2007. It is not yet known how the territorial scope of the new Russia-Morocco fisheries agreement has been defined.

Parts of Western Sahara, including the coast, has been illegally occupied by Morocco since 1975/1979, under UN condemnation. Morocco's claims to the territory have been rejected by the International court of justice.

Click here to read the full story from Western Sahara Resource Watch >

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