The failure of Moroccan-Spanish talks on the renewal of their fisheries agreement, which expired in November 1999, may lead to the scrapping of three-quarters of the Spanish fishing fleet.
According to the Upline Securities, the decision to junk the trawlers is expected to be proposed by the European Union soon.
Since the agreement ran out, Spanish and Portuguese fishermen have been living off government and EU subsidies while awaiting a renewed accord, but the recent failure of negotiations has led to the “restructuring” proposal.
Under the plan, Upline said, 300 of the 390 Spanish trawlers would be scrapped and 4,500 fishermen would lose their jobs.
The EU would provide Pta32 billion for the retraining of those affected, it added – Albawaba.com
