Spanish Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister Luis Planas urged the European Commission on 28 September 2026 to intensify negotiations with Mauritania on a new fisheries protocol, warning that the European fleet — and Spain's in particular — risks being forced to leave Mauritanian waters once the current protocol expires.
Arriving at a meeting of EU agriculture and fisheries ministers in Brussels, Planas said: "The protocol concludes on 15 November and we want the Commission to intensify its contacts, because we would not want the European fleet, particularly the Spanish fleet, to be forced to leave that fishing ground." He added that he would raise the matter directly with European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans Costas Kadis, telling reporters he considers renewal "key" both for European interests in the fishery and for Mauritania's own interest in a stable relationship with the bloc. Planas said a majority of EU member states favour concluding the agreement, noting that Baltic countries also have fleets fishing in different segments of the Mauritanian waters, so the issue is "not exclusively Spanish."
The current EU-Mauritania fisheries protocol has been in force since 15 November 2021 and is due to expire on 15 November 2026, according to figures cited in Spanish reporting on the talks. The agreement allocates fishing opportunities among member states for crustaceans, black hake, demersal species, tuna and small pelagics, with Spain holding specific quotas in several categories. Spain's fisheries ministry has previously described Mauritania as a strategic partner, noting that in 2024 a total of 33 Spanish vessels held licences to fish in Mauritanian waters, catching close to 15,737 tonnes; other reporting on the current dispute has put the number of Spanish vessels affected at more than 50, and Andalusia's regional fisheries chief has said the agreement affects 60 vessels in total, 25 of them based in Andalusian ports. The European Commission had separately confirmed that talks on the new agreement were under way.
Planas also defended the EU's environmental record, saying "we apply the highest standards in the world in terms of sustainability" and warning that when European fleets withdraw from a fishing ground, other fleets that "do not practise the same standards" can move in and deplete the resource. Fishing sector representatives, including the European shipowners' association Europêche and the ETF trade union federation, have separately written to Commissioner Kadis urging urgent action, warning that even a swift deal now would leave too little time to complete administrative procedures before vessels would have to leave Mauritanian waters.
The Mauritanian government's own public position on the state of the talks was not detailed in the reporting reviewed, and Brussels' formal response to Planas's appeal remains to be seen.