Council Decision (EU) 2020/984 of 7 July 2020 on the conclusion of the Protocol on the implementation of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau (2019-2024)

What it is

to conclude the Protocol on the implementation of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Guinea Bissau (2019-2024). ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act. BACKGROUND: the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Guinea Bissau entered into force on 15 April 2008. The last Protocol to the Agreement entered into force on 24 November 2014 and expired on 23 November 2017. Following the Commission's recommendation, the Council decided on 28 February 2017 to authorise the opening of negotiations with the Republic of Guinea-Bissau with a view to concluding a new protocol implementing the agreement. The European Parliament adopted by 537 votes to 64, with 87 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the conclusion of the Protocol on the implementation of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau. In line with the recommendation of the Committee on Fisheries, the European Parliament gave its consent to the conclusion of the Protocol. It also adopted a non-legislative resolution on the draft Council Decision. The Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau entered into force on 15 April 2008. The last Protocol to the Agreement entered into force on 24 November 2014 and expired on 23 November 2017. The current Protocol on the implementation of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau (2019-2024) has been provisionally applied since the date of its signature, i.e. 15 November 2018. The Fisheries Agreement authorises vessels from several Member States of the Union to fish in the waters of Guinea-Bissau. The Protocol provides for fishing opportunities in the following categories: freezer shrimp trawlers; freezer fin-fish and cephalopod trawlers; small pelagic trawlers; freezer tuna vessels and longliners; pole-and-line tuna vessels. The Agreement covers several species, in particular tuna, cephalopods, shrimps and demersal species. The fishing opportunities provided for in the Agreement are based on the best scientific advice available and on the recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). The annual public financial contribution from the Union shall be EUR 15 600 000 and shall comprise: (i) an amount for access to fisheries resources, for the categories provided for in the Protocol, set at EUR 11 600 000 per year for the entire duration of the Protocol; (ii) support for the development of Guinea-Bissau's sectoral fisheries policy and the blue economy, amounting to EUR 4 000 000 per year for the entire duration of the Protocol.

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