New project in Nuakchot after EU-Mauritania fishing accords
It was this month of July, following fishing agreements in Las Palmas between the EU and Mauritania. The launch in Nouakchott of the GMC2 project marks a turning point in the economic governance of the Mid-Atlantic. Funded with $58 million by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the initiative establishes a multilateral strategic alliance between Mauritania, Morocco and Senegal. The program takes direct control of the management of 1.4 million tonnes of fishery products in the Large Canary Current Marine Ecosystem (CCLME), in a move to reorganize the blue economy that places the Canary Islands in a complex scenario of reduced centrality and regulatory adaptation requirements.
Captures shape the vulnerability of processors and importers
The weight of catches within this shared space defines the vulnerability of the processing and importing sector in the Canary archipelago. Small pelagics account for approximately 75% of total catches in the Canary Current, consolidating as a critical resource for both local consumption in West Africa and the fishmeal, fish oil and long-distance fleets operating from the ports of Las Palmas and Tenerife. Formalizing this African trilateral bloc accelerates a transition toward fisheries sustainability that will shape supplies and logistics activity at the Canary terminals, which have historically depended on traditional bilateral agreements.
A new sustainability order on the Atlantic façade
The rollout of GMC2 responds to a structural shift in global customs and environmental policies, where access to marine resources is no longer measured only in extraction tonnes, but in strict traceability of value chains. The Mauritanian and Moroccan authorities explicitly assume leadership of this technical oversight process.
“The fishing sector is one of the main pillars of the national economy due to its contribution to food security, job creation and the increase in economic value,” said Sidi Ali Ould Sidi Boubacar, secretary general of Mauritania’s Ministry of Fisheries, highlighting the strategic importance of octopus and small pelagics.
The project’s guidelines call for the implementation of specific improvement plans for sardine and anchovy fishing in Morocco, as well as octopus in Mauritanian waters. This tightening of management for shared resources limits the room for maneuver of fishing companies based in the Canaries. Island-based firms face the challenge of operating under unified international standards that require absolute customs transparency, eliminating the old regulatory asymmetries between the European Union and the African continent.
Climate pressure and documentary scrutiny at the border
The scientific arguments presented by the Mauritanian Institute of Oceanographic and Fisheries Research (IMROP) and the UNDP confirm that about one third of the world’s fish populations suffer levels of exploitation that are unsustainable, worsened by mutations in marine currents driven by climate change. The institutional response is structured around stricter audits of catches and the direct involvement of purchasing multinational companies. “The transition to sustainable fishing requires strong collaboration with the private sector,” argues Cassandra de Young, deputy director for Fisheries Governance at the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP). “Companies’ voluntary commitments must be translated into concrete, measurable and assessable mechanisms.”
For Canary businesses, this demand for assessable mechanisms translates into technical barriers to market access. The inclusion in Mauritania of the Fish Transparency Initiative (FiTI) will act as a control system requiring Canary importing companies to audit every link in their cold-chain. Frozen fish landings coming from the Canary–Saharan bank will no longer depend on the simple availability of freight, but on rigorous certification of origin and environmental sustainability demanded by multilateral funds.
Loss of influence for the island logistics hub
The deployment of the GMC2 project certifies the consolidation of a new decision-making axis in the Atlantic, where Canary institutions lack direct representation. While Nouakchott, Rabat and Dakar unify scientific and economic criteria to protect a shared mass of resources that directly supports 374,000 people, the Canary port network takes on a purely reactive—and even recreative—position.
The industrial conversion promoted by the UNDP prioritizes the development of the local blue economy and the inclusion of African artisanal fishing within the most lucrative international commercial circuits. This shift reduces reliance on the islands’ ports as intermediate bases for transformation, forcing the regional logistics sector to redefine its competitive advantages in a market where sustainability and regulatory control over the African ecosystem ultimately impose their own rules of the game.
The entry Commodities, Octopus and Squid in Canary Ports: Rabat, Mauritania and Dakar Launch a Maritime Cluster Worth $58 Million was published first on canarymaritime.com.
