"It has been agreed that the deadline for issuing fishing licenses for the next 12 months by the Seychelles authorities starting on the 18th January will be extended until February 6, 2009. By agreement, community vessels will not be allowed to fish in the Seychelles Exclusive Economic Zone waters during that time," the statement said.

The agreement will have no impact on non-fishing activities undertaken by EU vessels in the Seychelles' waters, Reuters news agency said.

France and Spain both have purse-seine net fleets based in the Indian Ocean archipelago's capital, Victoria, which handles some 350,000 tonnes of tuna a year. Tuna-related industries are an important source of foreign exchange for the country's slowing, heavily indebted economy, and employ nearly one in five of the archipelago's workforce.

The Seychelles, which is looking to re-structure foreign debts worth more than $800 million, expects its economy to shrink this year by at least 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, the tuna fleets in the Indian Ocean region have suffered two consecutive years of poor catches following a record haul in 2006.