Morocco, Mauritania renew fisheries cooperation agreement

Morocco and Mauritania have agreed to jointly promote the sustainable development of their marine fisheries and aquaculture sub-sectors through 2024.

The two countries, both members of the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF), signed a renewal of their cooperative agreement on 30 September, 2022. Morocco Minister of Agriculture Mohamed Sadiki and Mauritania Minister of Agriculture Mohamed Abidine Mayif signed the agreement in Mauritania’s capital of Nouakchot, on the sidelines of the first session of the joint Moroccan-Mauritanian Commission on Fisheries and Aquaculture, Morocco World News reported.

The agreement builds on previous commitments by the two countries to partner in key areas such as capacity building in marine fisheries, scientific and technological research, aquaculture, and sustainable exploitation of fisheries shared by Morocco and Mauritania.

The two countries have also agreed to work together to eliminate illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, achieve efficiency in maritime salvage processes, and combat pollution in partnership with industry experts and the private sector.

An additional agreement was signed between the National Institute of Fisheries Research (INRH) and the Mauritanian Institute of Oceanographic Research and Fisheries to promote bilateral cooperation in the field of fisheries research.

In the first quarter of 2022, during the eighth session of the Moroccan-Mauritanian Joint High Commission, the two countries signed agreements relating to a wide array of business sectors, including agriculture, animal production and health, fisheries and aquaculture, environmental protection and sustainable development, tourism, standardization and improvement of quality in the industrial sector, and more.

The strengthening of cooperation between the two countries is expected to fill in gaps in their endeavors to build capacity to effectively assess and manage their respective fisheries and ensure sustainability in the use of their share of the Atlantic Ocean.  

Photo courtesy of Ilyas Kalimullin/Shutterstock