EU Commission and MEPs deem future EU-Moroccan FPA uncertain14.07 - 2010 European Commissioner for Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, has met with a group of euro-parliamentarians regarding the difficulties in renewing the current fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco. This agreement is set to expire in March 2011 and its ending may lead to the withdrawal of the European fleet from Moroccan waters. EFE, 13 July 2010.Read more
"Europe's assault on Western Sahara"11.07 - 2010 The theft of fish from Western Saharan waters should be damned by the European commission, not encouraged. The Guardian, by David Cronin, 10 July 2010.Read more
Nordic parliamentarians call for halt of unethical EU fisheries07.07 - 2010 32 parliamentarians from Finland, Sweden and Denmark today requested the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of their countries to prevent renewed EU fisheries in occupied Western Sahara. Press release, WSRW, 7 July 2010.Read more
European Commission defends its fisheries01.07 - 2010 The European Commission stated in a letter to WSRW on 23 June 2010 that their fisheries in Western Sahara is legal. In doing so, the Commission has severely misrepresented a UN legal opinion from 2002. WSRW objects to the EU misuse of the UN document.Read more
Swedish Social Democrats ask Greek help to stop EU fisheries23.06 - 2010 The Secretary General of the Stockholm based Olof Palme Center and the international secretary of the Swedish Labour Party, have this week written a letter to three Greek colleagues asking for help to exclude occupied Western Sahara from the EU-Moroccan fisheries agreement. The three Greeks are the EU fisheries commissioner, the Greek prime minister and president of the Socialist International, as well as the international secretary of the country's socialist party.Read more
Fishing in Western Sahara Hot EU Question05.06 - 2010 Yearly Morocco receives the equivalent of 350 million Swedish kroner for its fisheries agreement with the EU. The agreement also applies to occupied Western Sahara’s waters, where vessels registered in the EU trawl. Many people, including human rights expert Hans Corell, criticise the agreement and demand tougher conditions when it is to be renegotiated.Read more
Morocco rejects visit from European Parliament 04.06 - 2010 Last year, European Parliament’s Legal Services stated that EU fisheries in Western Sahara would be illegal if the indigenous Saharawi were not consulted. This week, Morocco refused the Parliament to travel to occupied Western Sahara to find out if they are.
You are paying for this robbery31.05 - 2010 EU tax payers pay money to Moroccan government, so that Spanish fishermen can steal the fish belonging to these refugees. See video.
Endangered biodiversity, endangered people20.05 - 2010 On European Maritime Day, Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) demands that the depletion of European fish stocks not be used to justify illegal fisheries practices elsewhere.Read more
Western Sahara not part of EFTA-Morocco free trade agreement12.05 - 2010 The Moroccan-EFTA free trade agreement does not cover Western Sahara, according to Norwegian and Swiss authorities. This will have multi-million euro consequences for a firm that systematically mislabeled Western Sahara imports as Moroccan, and illustrates how the European Commission is on collision course with rest of the international community. Read more
Norway: No way for Western Sahara free trade12.05 - 2010 "Since Morocco does not exercise internationally recognised sovereignty over Western Sahara, Western Sahara is not seen as a part of Morocco’s territory in relation to this agreement. The Free Trade Agreement is thus not applicable to goods from Western Sahara", stated Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jonas Gahr Store, 11 May 2010. Read more
"There can be no doubt about its illegality"14.03 - 2010 The NGO France Liberté, Fondation Danielle Mitterrand, denounced the EU fisheries agreement before the UN General Assembly's Human Rights Council. Read more
Polisario requests EU to stop fisheries07.03 - 2010 In advance of next week’s first ever EU-Morocco summit, Polisario urges the EU Commission to halt illegal fisheries offshore occupied Western Sahara. Read more
The EU is paying Morocco to fish in occupied Western Sahara. The EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement is both politically controversial and in violation of international law.
The international Fish Elsewhere! campaign demands the EU to cancel its highly unethical operations, and go fishing somewhere else. No fishing in Western Sahara should take place until the conflict is solved.
