Spain's Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister Luis Planas urged the European Commission to intensify negotiations with Mauritania to close a new fishing protocol before the current one lapses, warning this could force European vessels — particularly Spanish ones — to leave Mauritanian waters.
"The protocol ends on 15 November and we want the Commission to step up its contacts because we would not want the European fleet, and Spanish vessels in particular, to be forced to leave that fishing ground," Planas said on arrival at the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting in Brussels on 28 September.
The European Commission's own official record puts the protocol's expiry at 14 November 2026, one day earlier than the date cited in Planas's remarks; the current text has applied provisionally since it was signed on 15 November 2021. Without a new protocol in place, EU vessels would lose authorization to fish in Mauritanian waters from mid-November.
The agreement, which grants EU vessels access to Mauritanian waters in exchange for EU financial compensation and sets catch conditions for different fleet segments, matters beyond Spain. Planas noted that other member states, including Baltic countries whose vessels operate in different segments of the fishery, also have a stake in its renewal, and said a majority of EU countries favor concluding the deal. He added that he planned to raise the issue directly with the EU's Fisheries and Oceans Commissioner, Costas Kadis.
The following day, Kadis confirmed that no agreement had yet been reached, telling reporters after the same Council meeting that a deal must still address concerns raised by EU auditors, and that he had requested a video call with Mauritania's fisheries minister to discuss recent developments and try to reach a compromise. He said Brussels and Nouakchott had already exchanged letters without resolving outstanding differences, while describing the renewal as a top priority given its importance to certain segments of the EU fleet.
Spanish fleets tied to Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Galicia and the Basque Country are among those that could be affected if the protocol lapses without renewal or extension, though the precise number of vessels or jobs at risk under the current talks has not been officially specified.