8. MOROCCO

This country report was written by Hassan Nhhala, Benyounes Abdellaoui, El Mostafa Talbaoui (National Institute of Fisheries Research, INRH, Casablanca, Morocco).

8.1 Introduction

The Kingdom of Morocco is geographically located in the northwest of Africa. Covering an area of 710 850 km2, it is bordered by Gibraltar Strat and Mediterranean Sea in the north, Algeria in the east, Mauritania in the south and Atlantic Ocean in the west (Berkat & Tazi, 2006). Its coastline extends over 2 934 km along the Atlantic coast and 512 km along the Mediterranean coast. In 2004, Morocco has a total population of about 29.6 million (HCR, 2004). Morocco has a variety of landscapes, from the desert to the mountains through the fertile plains.
The policy of international cooperation has resulted in the signing or ratification of a number of conventions and international agreements, among which those directly or indirectly related to the management of coastal areas. Several conventions are related to risks of marine pollution, seven of which are specific to the Mediterranean Sea. Morocco is a contracting party to the Barcelona Convention and is committed to the Action Plan for the Mediterranean (Morocco: country reports, 2011).