Dakar and Nouakchott have signed a fresh agreement which will allow Senegalese fishermen to work in Mauritanian waters, Senegalese authorities said.
The new fishing agreement was signed late Monday in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott on the sidelines of a two-day African Union summit, Mamadou Goudiaby, a fishing ministry official, told AFP.
Senegalese fishermen will be allowed to catch 50,000 tons of fish with 400 boats in a renewable one-year deal, Goudiaby said.
Senegal will give its neighbour 15 euros for each ton of fish caught in its water. Ten euros will be covered by fishermen themselves, and the rest by the state.
In February, Senegal’s President Macky Sall visited Mauritania on the heels of protests in his country’s north after a young local fisherman was killed by coastguards in Mauritanian waters.
Mauritanian coastguard opened fire on a boat with nine Senegalese fishermen aboard which was operating in its territorial waters near the border between the two countries.
A prior fishing accord between Senegal and Mauritania was not renewed when it expired in 2016, after the Senegalese side refused a Mauritanian demand that fish caught in its waters should be landed in Mauritania.
Incidents between the Mauritanian coastguard and Saint-Louis fishing boats have become frequent in recent years, as the latter are tempted out of their domestic waters because of overfishing.
