Book excerpt: "The European Union (EU) negotiates agreements with coastal countries to obtain fishing rights for EU vessels and to support the governance and sustainable development of the local fishing sector. The Court found that these agreements were generally well managed by the European Commission, but that some improvements were needed. The quantities of fish negotiated with the coastal countries regularly exceeded the actual use made by the EU fleet, making the agreements relatively more costly than expected for the EU. The monitoring of catch data and the licencing process was not sufficiently robust, and the support provided for the sustainable development of the local fisheries sectors needed clearer eligibility conditions, and better coordination and consistency with other EU development support."--Publisher's description.