5. Shipyards 



Danish shipyards have a reputation for quality. 

 Curiously, many of Denmark's vessels are built for 

 overseas customers. Only a few are built for Danish 

 fishermen. Danish shipyards began relying on orders 

 from Greenland, Norway, and Sweden, in the 

 absence of domestic orders, in 1988, according to 

 Fishing News International.^^ The article noted that 

 low cost loans and the skill of the shipyards began 

 attracting foreign customers as early as 1986. The 

 situation had not changed significantly by 1990. 

 Despite good performance and improved prospects, 

 very few fishing vessels were built. In 1990, for 

 example, Danish shipyards built only 1 fishing 

 vessel, '° a shrimp trawler for a company in 

 Greenland, out of a total of 25 vessels totaling 

 387,000 GRT worth $1.1 billion. Two years later 

 the situation still had not changed appreciably. The 

 Johs. Kristensen Skibsbyggeri AS shipyards built 2 

 ships in 1992 for Danish fishermen: the Krae Frihed, 

 a 51 -GRT netter and the Arkona, a 49-GRT beam 

 trawler.^' It is significant that these vessels are fairly 

 small and are not likely to fish in distant grounds. 

 Shipbuilding in Denmark is not in a growth mode and 

 no major fishery projects are currently anticipated. 



6. International Agreements 



Denmark is an EC member state and 

 responsibility for negotiations on fishery issues 

 belongs to the EC in Brussels. Denmark has, 

 however, concluded fishery agreements with Norway 

 and Sweden, within the framework of the Common 

 Fisheries Policy, concerning fishing in the Skagerak 

 and Kattegat. The agreement assigns quotas for 

 fishing in these narrow areas among the 3 countries. 



Sweden and the Soviet Union began negotiating 

 an agreement to divide the "white zone" in the Baltic 

 Sea between the 2 countries in 1988. Danish 

 fishermen fished in the "white zone" for many years 

 in the absence of an agreement between Sweden and 

 the Soviet Union. Aware that they would soon lose 

 access to this important fishing zone, the Danes 

 pressured the EC to initiate negotiations with the 

 Soviet Union. EC negotiators met with Soviet 

 officials on September 8-9, 1988, in the first talks 

 since 1977, when the EC extended its fishery 

 boundaries. Sweden and the Soviet Union signed a 

 joint protocol on December 12, 1988, dividing the 



Figure 1. Danish high-seas fleet, 1975-92. 



"white zone" between the 2 countries, thus ending 

 years of conflict and shutting Danish fishermen out of 

 this fishing zone. The dissolution of the Soviet 

 Union and the reestablishment of Latvia, Estonia, and 

 Lithuania as independent states has produced 4 

 separate bilateral fishery agreements in the area.-^^ 

 Discussions between the EC and Russia have not yet 

 produced an agreement." 



Danish negotiators also held talks with officials 

 of the German Democratic Republic which resulted 

 in an agreement signed on September 14, 1988. The 

 agreement recognized Danish sovereignty over waters 

 around the island of Bomholm. The agreement, 

 which entered into force on June 14, 1989, divided 

 the Continental Shelf and fishing zones between the 

 2 countries. The status of this agreement, following 

 German unification, is not clear. 



Denmark has an unusual relationship with the 

 Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark is 

 responsible for conducting international fishery 

 negotiations on behalf of the Home Rule 

 Governments of both the Faroe Islands and 

 Greenland. The European Community is responsible 

 for negotiating all international fishery agreements 

 affecting Danish fishermen, including fishery 

 agreements with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. 

 This places Denmark in the unique position of 

 seeking to expand access for EC fishermen (i.e., 

 Danish fishermen) in waters off Greenland or the 

 Faroe Islands, while, at the same time being 

 responsible for negotiating reduced EC fishing in 

 these same waters. 



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