The subject of this evaluation is Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) between the EU and the Seychelles and its implementing Protocol. The Agreement was concluded for a period of 6 years from 2 November 2007 and was automatically renewed in 2013 until 1 November 2019. The Protocol provides fishing possibilities for EU vessels fishing in the Seychelles' Exclusive Economic Zone for tuna and tuna-like species. The current Protocol entered into application on 18 January 2014 and will expire on 17 January 2020. The EU's FPA with Seychelles is one of two currently active tuna agreements in the Indian Ocean (the other is with Mauritius). The Protocol sets out the fishing opportunities and financial contributions provided for in the Fisheries Partnership Agreement. It grants fishing opportunities for 40 tuna purse seiners and 6 surface long liners, with a reference tonnage of 50,000 t/year. The annual EU public financial contribution to Seychelles in the first and second year amounted to EUR 5 350 000 per year, of which EUR 2 600 000 was dedicated to the support and implementation of Seychelles' sectoral fisheries policy. In the 3rd to 6th years, the annual contribution is EUR 5 000 000 per year, of which EUR 2 500 000 is to be dedicated to the support for implementation of the fisheries maritime policies. The EU-Seychelles FPA is mirrored by a fishing agreement between the Seychelles and the EU for access of a maximum of 8 purse seiners and 2 supply vessels flagged to Seychelles to the waters of Mayotte under EU jurisdiction (an EU outermost region since 2014). The so-called Seychelles-Mayotte agreement will expire on 5 June 2020.

The 2016-2020 Protocol implementing the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) between the EU and Cook Islands (CK) considers access of a maximum of 4 EU purse seiners in exchange for an annual EU financial compensation of EUR 385 000 the first two years and EUR 350 000 the last two years, plus an annual maximum amount of EUR 350 000 for the support and implementation of the CK's sectoral policy. The Protocol also foresees payment of access fees by EU operators benefiting from fishing opportunities. The Protocol will expire next 13 October 2020.

The 2015-2020 Protocol implementing the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) between the EU and Liberia considers access to the Liberian EEZ for a maximum of 28 tuna purse seiners and 6 surface longliners in exchange for an annual EU financial compensation of EUR 357 000 for the first year, EUR 325 000 for the second, third and fourth years and EUR 292 500 for the last year, plus an annual maximum amount for the support and implementation of the Liberia's fisheries sectoral policy equal to the EU annual compensation. The Protocol also foresees payment of access fees by EU operators benefiting from fishing opportunities. The Protocol will expire on 8 December 2020.

This report provides an ex post and an ex ante evaluation of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) between the European Union (EU) and Greenland1. The initial FPA ran until 31 December 2012 and is tacitly renewed for six-year periods. The current Protocol to the EU/Greenland FPA runs from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2020. The Greenland-EU FPA/Protocol is a 'mixed agreement', which permits EU vessels to fish in Greenlandic waters for cod, pelagic and demersal redfish, Greenland halibut, shrimp, grenadier and capelin. Small amounts of bycatch (grenadier and other species) are permitted. The agreement is unique amongst the EU's fisheries agreements in that it is the only one in northern waters for which financial compensation is paid for access (other northern agreements being based on transfers/exchanges of quota), and the only agreement based on financial compensation with a relatively developed country (with implications for its ability and capacity to manage resources effectively and its sectoral support needs). Indicative annual fishing opportunities total 42 726 tonnes, with Greenland offering and the EU accepting a part of total Greenlandic quotas for individual species each year based on scientific advice and the needs of both the EU and Greenlandic private sectors. The EU also transfers part of the agreed quota to Norway and the Faroe Islands, in exchange for access by EU vessels to the waters of those third countries. The Protocol provides annually for EUR 13 168 978 from the EU budget as financial compensation for access (calculated based on reference prices for each species) including a financial reserve of EUR 1 700 000 for additional quantities of species, with actual financial compensation for access being based on the quota agreed for the EU. In addition, EU ship-owners pay authorisation fees based on prices set in the Protocol for the quota allocated. EUR 2 931 000 are also provided from the EU budget to support Greenlandic sectoral fisheries policy. The methodology for this evaluation included a review of literature and data, and consultations (some face to face, and some remotely) with stakeholders in Greenland and in the EU. The scope of the ex post evaluation covers the FPA and the Protocol, performance over the first full three calendar years (2016 to 2018), and assessment against standard evaluation criteria. The scope of the ex ante evaluation includes the needs of both parties, defining objectives, learning lessons from the past, and an assessment of future options. Planning for the future and potential appropriations and allocation of human resources are also considered.

This summary outlines the information contained in the “Institutional and Economic Perspectives on Distant-Water Fisheries Access Arrangements” report (2024), which is an expansion of the first report the “Mapping Distant-Water Fisheries Access Arrangements”, published in 2022. This report conducts a more targeted examination of the economic dynamics, policy drivers, and institutional framework of fishing access arrangements (FAA). Six comprehensive case studies of three resource-holding countries or regions (Ghana, Namibia and the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICT)), and three resource‑seeking countries or regions (Japan, the European Union and China) are examined. This summary report is part of an ad hoc study on fisheries access arrangements and does not include details already referred to in the summary of the 2022 report.

"The European Union (EU) negotiates agreements with coastal countries to obtain fishing rights for EU vessels and to support the governance and sustainable development of the local fishing sector. The Court found that these agreements were generally well managed by the European Commission, but that some improvements were needed. The quantities of fish negotiated with the coastal countries regularly exceeded the actual use made by the EU fleet, making the agreements relatively more costly than expected for the EU. The monitoring of catch data and the licencing process was not sufficiently robust, and the support provided for the sustainable development of the local fisheries sectors needed clearer eligibility conditions, and better coordination and consistency with other EU development support."--Publisher's description.

Marine living resources are currently under severe threat from unsustainable use. International law urges a precautionary approach in the use of remaining fish stocks, necessitating rational domestic management of coastal fisheries and requiring foreign nations accessing these stocks to cooperate to this end. The manner in which bilateral fishing relations between the EU and various West African states have historically played out, however, has not followed this route. This book is a legal study of these relations from an inter-disciplinary and contextual perspective with particular reference to sustainability questions using three broad conceptual lenses: common resource management, integration towards sustainable development and the colonial legacy to interrogate the extent to which these interactions operated as legal instruments of sustainability.