as the Latin American countries where the EC would 

 like to open access, can be expected to escalate their 

 monetary demands. It is unclear just how willing the 

 EC will be to meet these demands. Political 

 pressures from member states with large distant-water 

 fleets, however, are likely to be intense for several 

 years as the EC fleet management program forces 

 countries to reduce fleet sizes. 



1. North America 



Several EC member countries, especially Spain 

 and Portugal, have for centuries conducted important 

 fisheries in the Northwest Atlantic off Canada and the 

 United States. The increasing fishing effort depleted 

 stocks and forced Spain and Portugal to act to limit 

 expanding distant-water fishing by the Soviet Union 

 and European countries. At first both Canada and 

 the United States worked through ICNAF.^' When 

 this proved ineffective, Canada and the United States 

 declared 200-mile zones requiring foreign countries 

 to negotiate access. 



 United States: The first fishery agreement the EC 

 negotiated was with the United States in \911 ?^ The 

 GIFA gave EC vessels access to surplus fish in the 

 U.S. 200-mile EEZ." The GIFA provided EC 

 vessels an opportunity to fish in U.S. waters until the 

 process of "Americanization" of U.S. fisheries led 

 the U.S. Government to reduce foreign quotas and 

 gradually phase-out foreign fleets. By the 1990s, 

 there were few species with TACs that could not be 

 fully fished by U.S. fishermen. The only significant 

 species that was not fully utilized was Atlantic 

 mackerel where small quantities were available for 

 foreign fishermen. The U.S. in 1989, for example, 

 granted a small allocation of mackerel to the 

 Netherlands." Despite these very limited 

 opportunities in recent years, the EC has continued to 

 renew the GIFA each time it has come up for 

 renewal. The current GIFA is scheduled to expire on 

 December 31, 1993. 



 Canada: The EC reached agreement with Canada 

 in December 1981, allowing EC vessels to fish for 

 surplus stocks inside Canadian waters.^' Another 

 agreement provided access for French, German, 

 Italian, and U.K. vessels to Canadian stocks of cod 

 and squid in exchange for reduced tariff quotas for 

 Canadian exports of cod, herring, lobsters, and 

 redfish."^ Previously some EC member states were 



allowed to fish in Canadian waters provided they 

 were members of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries 

 Organization (NAFO)."' Spain and Portugal had 

 negotiated bilateral agreements with Canada which 

 were in place by 1980, well before the two countries 

 entered the EC in 1986.'*' The Canadians believe that 

 they have faced years of difficulties in their relations 

 with NAFO. The Canadians in particular accused 

 Spanish and Portuguese fishermen of overfishing 

 increasingly vulnerable stocks. The Canadians were 

 especially concerned with fishing on the continental 

 shelf where it extended beyond the country's 200- 

 mile EEZ. The relations grew increasingly strained 

 in the face of Canadian demands for responsible 

 fishing because of collapsing stocks and the resultant 

 effect on coastal communities. Canadian officials, 

 such as Fisheries and Oceans Minister Crosbie, made 

 increasingly emotional presentations at various 

 international fora claiming that distantwater fishing 

 was having a disastrous economic impact on 

 Canada."' In the 1990s, the EC did take steps to halt 

 the fishing by member countries of stocks which were 

 recognized by all authorities as being depleted. 



 Greenland: The EC negotiated a 10-year 

 agreement with Greenland that went into effect on 

 January 1, 1985, which allows EC vessels to fish in 

 Greenland's waters. In exchange, the EC agreed to 

 pay Greenland financial compensation. Greenland 

 was allowed to export its fishery products to the EC 

 free of customs duties or quantitative restrictions 

 during the course of the agreement. EC fishermen 

 received a quota totaling 155,000 tons of fish for 

 harvesting in 1991.'" Fishermen from Germany, the 

 United Kingdom, France, and Denmark all received 

 quotas. Included species are: redfish, cod, blue 

 whiting, capelin, Greenland halibut, marine catfish, 

 and deepwater shrimp.'*' 



2. Northern Europe 



Most EC member states had fishing agreements 

 with bordering countries concluded before the EC 

 assumed responsibility for fishery negotiations. 

 Denmark, for example, had fishery agreements with 

 Sweden, Norway, and the USSR and was a member 

 of the Baltic Sea Fishery Commission.''*' Many of 

 these agreements were generally taken over by the 

 EC during the late 1970s and 1980s. Most of these 

 agreements provided allocations in exchange for 

 reciprocal fishing rights. 



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