EUROPEAN COMMUNITY 



The European Community' (EC) is responsible for managing the fisheries of its member states. Responding 

 to the increasing worldwide acceptance of 200-mile coastal EEZs, the EC declared a 200-mile EEZ on January 1, 

 1977. Greece joined the EC in 1981 and was followed by the accession of Portugal and Spain in 1986. This gives 

 the EC control over fishing grounds from the Shetland Islands to the Canary Islands. The EC also faces the daunting 

 task of negotiating fisheries arrangements with the countries bordering on the Community's EEZ because of the 

 many countries and wide range of fishery zones affected. Many of the important fishery stocks are transboundary, 

 meaning that the effective management of these resources requires cooperative arrangements with neighboring 

 countries, including: Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland, Sweden, and Norway in the North Sea 

 and Baltic Sea, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Albania, and the former 

 Yugoslav states in the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas, and Morocco in the Central Eastern Atlantic. EC fishery 

 zones range from Arctic to saharan waters. 



CONTENTS 



I. General 13 



II. Common Fisheries Policy 14 



III. Fleet Modernization 15 



IV. International Negotiations 18 



V. Future Directions 1993-96 29 



Sources 31 



Endnotes 34 



I. GENERAL 



The task faced by the EC is complicated by 

 responsibilities unique to individual member states. 

 Denmark is responsible for conducting the 

 international negotiations for Greenland and the Faroe 

 Islands. The United Kingdom is responsible for the 

 Falkland, South Sandwich and South Georgia Islands. 

 France is responsible for various jurisdictions in the 

 Atlantic Ocean (St. Pierre and Miquelon and French 

 Guiana) and the South Pacific (New Caledonia and 

 Cliperton). These national responsibilities can affect 

 overall EC goals. The EC negotiated a fisheries 

 agreement with Argentina, that was influenced by UK 

 policies on the Falklands, South Georgias and South 

 Sandwich Islands. 



The EC manages one of the world's largest and most 

 diverse fishing fleets. EC fleets in 1993 fished from 

 the Baltic and North Atlantic to the South Atlantic, 

 and into the Indian Ocean. The 1992 EC fleet 

 consisted of over 90,000 vessels, ranging from small 

 coastal boats to giant factoryships. Each EC country 

 deploys some vessels, but is dominated by the 

 massive Spanish, French, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, 

 and U.K. fishing fleets. While most of these vessels 

 were deployed in coastal fisheries, the EC fishermen 

 also conduct major distant-water operations, 

 deploying 591 high-seas vessels in 1992.^ 



13 



