The fishing protocol in force between the European Union and Gabon expires on Sunday and will not be renewed immediately, the EU announced on Friday, a year after the Gabonese president denounced these agreements.

"The European Union is willing to address the concerns expressed in recent months in a constructive and transparent manner," the organization's headquarters in Gabon assured in a Facebook post.

In June 2025, President Brice Oligui Nguema announced he was initiating a "unilateral denunciation procedure" for these agreements, citing a "deeply unbalanced" partnership that needed to be renegotiated.

The EU asserts that it is ready to negotiate "a new, next-generation Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement and a new mutually beneficial implementation protocol", claiming a forward-looking approach for "a renewed, balanced and effective framework".

Initially signed in 2007, the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFA) between the European Union and Gabon allows European vessels to fish in Gabonese waters.

"The President of the Republic noted in particular that the revenues from this agreement do not compensate for the real value of the catches, nor the costs borne by the State in terms of surveillance and control, nor the losses of added value due to the absence of local processing," the government detailed last June in a report of the Council of Ministers calling into question the agreement.

"He also denounced the weakness of the investments made by partners for local development, employment or strengthening national capacities, as well as the increased risks of overexploitation of fisheries resources, in the absence of shared mechanisms for transparency and scientific monitoring," the text continued.

The APPD was renewed several times until 2021 for a period of five years and has "an overall value estimated at around 17 billion CFA francs" (around 26 million euros), according to the Gabonese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.