200-mile zones as the Soviets and other countries did 

 for years.'*' Such operations, however, involve 

 increasing international complications. "' In addition, 

 the low value of the species would probably not 

 support EC distant-water operations. 



B. SOUTHERN AFRICA 



EC officials are particularly interested in 

 regaining access to the important Southern African 

 trawl fishing grounds off Namibia. Renewing 

 negotiations with Namibia is a high priority for the 

 EC. More than 200 Spanish trawlers were formerly 

 deployed in the Cape hake fishery. Even if the EC 

 is only able to gain access for some of those vessels, 

 it would be an important accomplishment for the 

 depressed Spanish fleet.'™ The authors believe it is 

 unlikely they will get permission for all of these 

 vessels to reenter the fishery. Namibian officials 

 appear, however, to have been reluctant to allow 

 foreign vessels to return to its EEZ. EC officials 

 believe that the exclusion of foreign fishing off the 

 Namibian coast for 2 years has given stocks time to 

 regenerate.'^' There appear to be many positive 

 reasons that would make it advantageous for the 

 Namibian Government to negotiate an accord with the 

 EC. Not only would licenses generate income, but 

 the EC would also probably offer development 

 assistance or joint venture arrangements to help 

 Namibia develop its own domestic fleet. The EC, 

 especially Spain, offers a multi-million dollar market 

 for Cape hake products that would be an important 

 export market for Namibian fishermen. Thus, it 

 would appear that both sides have important reasons 

 to resume serious negotiations. 



C. fflGH-SEAS 



EC factoryships flying the German and Dutch 

 flags have been built specifically to fish for pelagic 

 species on the high-seas. These vessels have fished 

 off Norway, Scotland, the Falkland Islands, and off 

 Morocco. These vessels will fish anywhere they can 

 find fish to catch and harvest. The fleet includes the 

 German-flag vessels Jan Maria, the Dirk Dirk, and 

 the Gerda Maria (owned by Doggerbank 

 Seefischerei, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the 

 Parlevliet & van der Plas BV of Holland), and the 

 Dutch-flag vessel Dirk Diederik (owned by Parlevliet 

 & van der Plas BV of Holland). The Dutch vessels 

 Cornelis VrolijkFzn, Franziska, and the Zee/and have 



also fished on the high-seas and are expected to do so 

 in the future. '^^ Two Irish vessels, the Veronica and 

 the Atlantean II. also have the capability of fishing 

 anywhere in the world, but these vessels have 

 remained inside Irish waters or in the North Sea since 

 they were delivered. Obviously there are other 

 vessels in the EC fleet which could fish on the high- 

 seas. However, the 8-10 vessels identified above, 

 were built specifically to fish for pelagic species on 

 the high-seas. Most other EC vessels normally 

 would fish inside a nation's 200 mile limit as part of 

 an EC bilateral fisheries agreement. 



D. PACIFIC OCEAN 



EC fishermen are unlikely to initiate major 

 distant-water fisheries in the Pacific during the 1990s. 

 The costly logistics and elevated operating expenses 

 probably preclude such initiatives. Major Pacific 

 fishing grounds are already heavily fished by coastal 

 countries and important Asian distant-water countries. 

 There is, however, the possibility that EC tuna 

 fishermen (French and Spanish) may deploy some 

 vessels in the Pacific. As long as tuna fishing off the 

 western coast of Africa and in the Indian Ocean 

 remains steady, it is unlikely that the EC fishermen 

 will be forced to move into the Pacific Ocean. 

 However, it is only prudent to assume that French 

 and Spanish tuna fisheries may eventually face 

 declining catches and that there will be pressure to 

 move into the Pacific Ocean. Most of the EC high- 

 seas purse seiners range between 1,000-GRT and 

 1,600-GRT.'" The fleet includes about 20 French 

 vessels and a similar number of Spanish vessels."'' 

 These vessels are reasonably new (mostly built after 

 1975) and new vessels being added to the fleet are 

 larger and more sophisticated. Some observers 

 believe that the EC fishermen will eventually find it 

 difficult to maintain profitable fishing in the Indian 

 Ocean in the face of growing competition; this could 

 lead them to seek new opportunities in the Pacific 

 Ocean, although there is no indication that this is 

 currently being planned. It should be noted, 

 however, that one Spanish purse seiner, the 

 Monleclaro, sank in the Eastern tropical Pacific on 

 July 14, 1993. ''' France: French fishermen currently 

 appear to have access to adequate grounds. The 

 French catch of tropical tuna has gone from 120,000 

 tons in 1989 to 130,000 tons in 1990 to 150,000 tons 

 in 1991.'™ French fishermen would have some 

 advantage in Western Pacific operations as they 



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