The Gabonese government has announced its intention to revise its fishing agreements with the European Union (EU), citing a “deeply unbalanced” partnership.
Referring to a presidential directive, government spokesperson Laurence Ndong stated that the Fisheries Partnership Agreement signed with the EU and renewed in 2021 for five years “cannot be renewed in its current form.”
According to the same source, quoted by local media, the Gabonese President emphasized that the revenues generated from this agreement do not cover the real value of the catches, nor the state’s surveillance and monitoring costs, nor the loss of added value due to the lack of local fish processing.
The government also criticized the insufficient investments made by the partners in local development, job creation, and capacity building, as well as the increased risk of overexploitation of marine resources in the absence of shared mechanisms for transparency and scientific monitoring.
Initially signed in 2007, the fishing agreement between the European Union and Gabon has been renewed several times, most recently in 2021 for a five-year period, with a total estimated value of approximately 17 billion CFA francs.
