Las Palmas’ real estate sector is closely watching this development, given that the unloading sector barely exists. Canary Islands fishing is once again facing an operational abyss against the clock. With the November 15 deadline set on the calendar as a final sentence, the imminent expiration of the fishing protocol between the European Union and Mauritania threatens to leave the archipelago’s fleet stranded and bring activity at the docks of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife to a halt. Faced with the sluggish pace of offices in Brussels, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, issued an urgent SOS during the EU Council of Ministers meeting, demanding that the European Commission accelerate negotiations and prevent “a shutdown with catastrophic consequences for the southern flank.”
Minister Planas directly conveyed to the Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, the urgency of unblocking the dialogue to prevent the formal eviction of Spanish vessels beginning November 16. “The protocol ends next November 15, and we want the Commission to step up its contacts because we would not want the European fleet
Brussels’ clock accelerates the islands’ abandonment
The historical dependence of the Canary Islands’ ports on Mauritanian waters places the islands at the weakest link in the European fishing chain. The current protocol, which regulates access to one of the richest fishing grounds on the West African coast in exchange for financial compensation and investments in local development, is entering its final weeks without a draft extension or renewal on the table. The lack of understanding between the European Commission and the authorities in Nouakchott is paralyzing local shipowners’ operational planning, leaving them unable to bear the costs of keeping vessels moored in port or seeking nonexistent alternative fishing grounds.
The minister himself warned in Brussels about the contradictions in the European Union’s common fisheries policy if it abandons its strategic presence in West African waters. “We apply the highest sustainability standards in the world,” Planas said, stressing that when the European fleet disappears from these strategic fishing grounds, its place is immediately taken by competing fleets that “do not apply the same standards and deplete resources.” In the case of the Canary Islands, this substitution not only depletes the populations of migratory species that support the islands’ artisanal fleet, but also alters the socioeconomic balance of the European Union’s southern border.
Las Palmas’ role as a logistics hub under threat
Concern is spreading rapidly among the islands’ fishing guilds and shipowners’ association. The Port of Las Palmas not only serves as an operations base for shellfish, cephalopod and trawling vessels operating under Spanish or European flags in Mauritania, but also functions as an integrated logistics hub for the processing, transformation and distribution of frozen fish to continental markets.
With a month and a half remaining before the legal deadline expires, European diplomacy is racing against time as Canary Islands shipowners assess the impact of a possible temporary lay-up. The Spanish government’s insistence in Brussels seeks to ensure that the agreement’s continuation maintains the legal coverage needed by the fleet to avoid being forced to leave the sea overnight, in a context where the vulnerability of the islands’ fishing sector requires immediate responses to prevent the definitive collapse of activity in the archipelago’s docks.
The article “Cypriot European commissioner to decide on the financial future of the Canary Islands–Maruitania fishing business” was first published on canarymaritime.com.
