To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will seek suspension of the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement in the light of reports of EU vessels fishing in the waters off Western Sahara in an area covered by the declaration of an exclusive economic zone by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. (270938)

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs has no plans to seek the suspension of the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement.

The EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement was agreed in 2006 and sets out the terms for which UK and other European fishing vessels may fish in the waters off the coast of Western Sahara. The agreement does not prejudice the issue of the status of Western Sahara, which the UK regards as undetermined pending UN efforts to find a resolution. Nor does the agreement represent recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the maritime waters off Western Sahara.