Protocol setting out the fishing opportunities and financial contribution provided for in the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania for a period of four years.

This Protocol establishes the fishing opportunities granted under articles 5 and 6 of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. These fishing opportunities shall be applied for a period of four years (as from the date of provisional application of this Protocol). Access to fishery resources in Mauritanian fishing zones shall be granted to foreign fleets to the extent that there is a surplus within the meaning of article 62 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and having taken into account the operating capacity of the national Mauritanian fleets. This Protocol grants European Union fleets priority access to available surpluses in the Mauritanian fishing zone. Annex I sets out the conditions governing fishing activities by European Union vessels in Mauritanian fishing zones (fishing licences, vessel identification, technical inspections, fees, catch reporting, landings and transhipment). Specific conditions are laid down concerning tuna vessels. As regards monitoring, the Protocol stipulates that any entry into or departure from the Mauritanian fishing zone by an European Union vessel holding a fishing authorization must be notified to Mauritania at the latest 36 hours before entry or exit (with the exception of tuna seiners, pole-and-line tuna vessels and longliners, in respect of which this period is reduced to six hours).