Ex post and ex ante evaluation of the sustainable fisheries partnership agreement between the EU and the Kingdom of Morocco Morocco

DG MARE Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (European Commission) - Project Dates:
April 2017 - July 2017

Description of Project:
The consortium led by F&S including Megapesca and Poseidon consisted of evaluating retrospectively and prospectively the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco.

According to Article 30 of the Financial Regulation1 and Article 18 of its Rules of Application, Commission Services have to undertake both ex-ante and ex-post evaluations for all programmes and activities which entail significant spending. These evaluations shall be proportionate to the resources mobilised for and the impact of the programme and activity concerned.

The Council Conclusions on the External Dimension of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) adopted on 19 March 2012 request that an ex-post and ex-ante evaluation be undertaken by the Commission before the signature of a new protocol. This has been enshrined in Article 31 §10 of the current CFP basic regulation.

The purpose of this specific contract was to provide the European Commission with an independent ex-post and ex-ante evaluation of the current 2014 – 2018 Protocol to the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) with the Kingdom of Morocco (hereafter – Morocco). The evaluation provided the Commission with the data and technical analyses of the fisheries resource and related fishing and economic activities to decide on the opportunity to engage in a new protocol and prepare possible negotiations between the EU and Morocco.

The Commission used this evaluation study as a tool for improving the quality and coherence of the decision-making. The study also serves as basis for the Commission’s evaluation report (Staff Working Document) on the subject.

Services Provided:

Poseidon carried out 15 % of the activities, which consisted of:

- A field mission in Spain to consult specific Spanish fishing associations involved in the SFPA;

- Managing most of the consultations of EU stakeholders (EU Member States, associations representing fishing vessel owners, civil society being NGOs and an EU representative of fishermen's trade unions).

The evaluation report is available online* on the EU Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries’ website (see annex 4 of the evaluation report for Poseidon's main output). * click on 'online' to access it.