The EU is looking to seize on Keir Starmer’s Chagos surrender deal and pursue fishing access in the territory from Mauritius. Brussels is hoping to expand its agreement, which could see French and Spanish vessels granted access to vast ocean areas surrounding the archipelago.A Commission document released this month showed that EU officials are closely monitoring Britain’s Chagos agreement.The report indicated that the deal may pave the way for fishing permits, representing a significant gain for European trawler operators.
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Brussels already holds fishing licences in the Seychelles, Madagascar and Mauritius to catch Indian Ocean species.These include yellowfin tuna, with the regional tuna industry valued at over £6billion annually.The EU has faced previous accusations of depleting fishing grounds along the West African coastline, including waters belonging to Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Ghana.Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel launched a fierce attack on the agreement, arguing it directly contradicts Britain’s national interests.”Sir Keir Starmer’s outrageous Chagos surrender runs directly against Britain’s national interest. That’s why Iran, China and Russia all support it. And now Brussels is set to benefit too,” she said.Ms Patel warned that the handover compromises national security during a period of heightened global tensions, whilst simultaneously creating an opening for EU vessels to damage the protected marine environment.”Having already sold out British fishermen to the EU, now Labour is selling out our sovereign territory and waters too,” she told The Telegraph. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage described the revelations as “the final straw,” declaring that the EU’s controversial fishing practices in West African waters would now spread to the Chagos region.LATEST DEVELOPMENTSKeir Starmer considering immigration U-turn as PM accused of ‘pathetically caving’ to Angela RaynerUS draws up plans for ground invasion of Iran as Donald Trump sends thousands of marines to regionBritain set to hand over £450 MILLION to France for more beach patrols and new migrant centreHe said: “The world’s largest marine protected area is to be surrendered by a government that claims to be green.””This Chagos surrender deal is terrible in every respect, including marine conservation.”Conservationists have expressed alarm that EU fishing fleets could deplete stocks within the 640,000-square-kilometre zone around the islands.It ranks among the world’s largest Marine Protected Areas and has been subject to British-enforced fishing restrictions since 2010.The Royal Navy has patrolled these waters for over a decade, safeguarding a refuge for threatened species, including manta rays, whale sharks, and silky sharks. Professor Enric Sala, a marine ecologist serving as explorer-in-residence and executive director of National Geographic Pristine Seas, warned the EU’s “dominant and aggressive” tuna fishing polices would exploit the region with “destructive intensity”. He feared that the move would “dismantle a genetic lifeboat that the Indian Ocean desperately needs to survive a warming climate”. The report cautioned that Mauritius has no legal obligation under the treaty signed last May to preserve any marine protected area and has a poor track record in ocean conservation.A Foreign Office spokesman maintained that both Britain and Mauritius remain dedicated to protecting the Chagos Marine Protected Area and welcomed Mauritius’s November announcement prohibiting commercial fishing throughout the zone.Our Standards:
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