Libreville, Wednesday, September 23, 2026 – The renegotiation of the fisheries partnership between Gabon and the European Union is not merely a diplomatic formality. It carries direct consequences for Gabonese citizens, local businesses, and the national economy. After terminating the previous agreement, Libreville is now seeking to redefine the economic, industrial, and operational terms of a cooperation that governs the exploitation of its marine resources. The outcome will determine whether the fishing sector finally generates tangible benefits for the country or continues to leave value on the table.

On September 18, the Gabonese government authorized the launch of negotiations for a new Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement and its implementation protocol. This decision marks the resumption of dialogue more than a year after Gabon denounced the previous accord on June 4, 2025. With its protocol having expired on June 28, 2026, the European arrangement is now considered suspended. EU vessels no longer have a framework allowing them to fish in Gabonese waters. The former exclusivity clause also prohibits bypassing this situation through simple individual authorizations.

For Libreville, the upcoming negotiation is an opportunity to revisit the balance of a partnership whose local economic benefits have appeared limited relative to the potential of the resources involved. The stakes extend far beyond the question of access for European ships: they touch on jobs, port activity, and the very structure of the national economy.

A financial model that failed to deliver for the local economy

The first issue is necessarily financial. The previous protocol was based on a reference capacity of 32,000 tonnes used to calculate the European contribution, without guaranteeing that volume of catches. The European Union paid €1.6 million per year for access to the resources, plus an annual envelope of €1 million intended for sector development.

However, the observed results fell far short of the theoretical capacities. Between 2022 and 2024, European vessels caught an average of 10,604 tonnes per year. Of the 27 authorizations planned for purse seine tuna vessels, only 54% were used on average. The six licenses reserved for pole-and-line tuna vessels were never utilized. This gap between theoretically opened rights and actual use of resources should logically influence the next architecture of the partnership. The number of vessels, the price per tonne of access, and the methods for calculating the European contribution are among the parameters likely to be renegotiated.

But the central challenge probably lies elsewhere: in Gabon’s ability to transform fishing activity into genuine local economic value. For citizens, this means whether the sector can create stable jobs, support ancillary businesses, and contribute to public revenue.

From access rights to value creation: what’s at stake for local businesses

The previous protocol stipulated that at least 30% of catches could be transshipped in a Gabonese port, subject to acceptable economic and commercial conditions. When a vessel transshipped in Gabon, its by-catches also had to be fully landed there. In practice, these provisions were rarely used. European vessels seldom frequented Gabonese port infrastructure, and their catches were mainly landed and processed in Côte d’Ivoire.

The European evaluation estimates that Gabon captured only 23% of the added value generated by the arrangement, while 47% benefited other actors, particularly in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, through port activities, onboard employment, and processing. This leakage of value represents a direct loss for Gabonese businesses and workers who could have been integrated into the supply chain.

The next agreement must therefore determine whether Gabon intends simply to continue monetizing access to its resource or to build a value chain that is more firmly rooted in its territory. The question of landings, port infrastructure, processing, and national employment thus becomes as important as the amount of financial compensation. For local entrepreneurs, this is about whether they will finally get a fair share of the fisheries economy.

Funding for the sector is another potential point of friction. Of the €5 million in sectoral support planned over five years, only €2 million had been transferred at the time of the evaluation conducted between December 2024 and May 2025. Just over 20% of the multi-year envelope had been consumed. Infrastructure remained unfinished, while the indicators used measured the delivery of outputs rather than their real economic effects. This shortfall has direct consequences: promised improvements in port facilities, training, and monitoring have not materialized, leaving citizens and businesses without the expected benefits.

The next agreement must be measurable to deliver real impact

The negotiations must also correct several technical weaknesses. The previous arrangement provided for the embarkation of qualified Gabonese sailors, but no list meeting the required criteria had been transmitted to European shipowners. The compensation planned for non-embarkation was therefore not applied. This failure deprived Gabonese seafarers of job opportunities and income.

Catch monitoring must also be strengthened. The electronic reporting system was not fully operational, and differences in methodology between the two parties had produced discrepancies in the available data. Under these conditions, transparency of the volumes actually fished becomes a determining factor for assessing the value of the partnership. Without reliable data, it is impossible to know whether the economic benefits are being fairly distributed.

The European evaluation notably recommends reconsidering the six never-used licenses for pole-and-line tuna vessels and adapting the number of authorizations for purse seiners.

The next negotiation will therefore not focus solely on an amount paid by Brussels in exchange for access to Gabonese waters. It must determine the conditions of a partnership where each tonne fished can be associated with identifiable benefits for the Gabonese economy—in terms of revenue, jobs, landings, processing, and infrastructure development. For Libreville as for Brussels, the challenge is now to draw the consequences of the previous agreement. The future partnership will be judged less on its theoretical commitments than on its ability to produce verifiable results. For Gabon, the renegotiation opens an important sequence in which the fisheries resource becomes not only a question of access but a potential instrument of economic sovereignty and local value creation.

FIN/INFOSGABON/SO/2026

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