2. Fleet Background 



Italian shipyards produced a series of efficient 

 stem trawlers during the 1960s for operation outside 

 the Mediterranean, mostly along the coast of West 

 Africa.' Some of these pioneering vessels included 

 the Aspa Quareio (1,600-GRT) built in 1965 by 

 Cantieri Navale Apuania S.A. A smaller vessel, the 

 Andrea Speat (630-GRT) was also built in 1965 by 

 Cantiere Navale di Pesaro. The shipyard built the 

 Luca Speat (780-GRT) in 1987. Nembo {850-GRT) 

 and Pelago (850-GRT) were built in 1967 for 

 operations off West Africa. The Storione (1,233- 

 GRT) also was launched in 1978. Two years later, 

 the Tontini Pesca Terzo (1 ,580-GRT) was built along 

 with the Airone (1,251-GRT). By 1977, the Italian 

 high-seas fleet included 19 vessels licensed to fish 

 inside the 200-mile EEZ off the United States (see 

 table below). These vessels ranged in size from the 

 3,600-GRT trawler Assunta Tontini Madre down to 

 the 622-GRT Niccla Specchio. All of these vessels 

 were less than 10 years old, making the Italian high- 

 seas fleet one of the most modem in the world at that 

 time. In 1971, the De Giosa Guiseppi (900-GRT) 

 was built by Soc. Esercizio Cantieri as part of a 

 series of ships which numbered at least 7 vessels: the 

 seventh vessel was named the Carlo di Fazio. The 

 series of stem trawlers built by Italy helped establish 

 that country as a producer/operator of very fine 

 fishing vessels. In 1979, the Societia Esercizio 

 Cantieri SPA launched the Shekeleh (1,600-GRT) 

 freezer stem trawler for the State Fishing Corporation 

 of Tema, Ghana and the Anzika, a tuna purse seiner 

 for the Congo.* The United States became a 

 customer of 8 tuna seiners in December 1981.' In 

 1983, Italian shipyards launched the tuna seiners, 

 Bonnie and Jennifer (1,000-GRT) for customers in 

 Mexico; the vessel was one of many vessels ordered 

 by clients from Algeria, the United States, Somalia, 

 and Angola.'" The high-seas fleet included 26 

 vessels over 500-GRT by 1984." These vessels were 

 operating in Angola, Benin, Guinea, Guinea (Bissau), 

 Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and the 

 United States and reportedly harvested 40,0000 tons 

 of fish and shellfish.'' Despite the rapid growth of 

 the Italian high-seas fleet in the 1970's, the fleet was 

 buffeted by losses. From a highpoint of 60 vessels 

 (57,000-GRT) in 1975 the fleet has steadily declined 

 to about 27 vessels (26,000-GRT) in 1992. Most 

 reports dealing with Italy point to the extension of the 

 200-mile regimes in the mid-1970s as one of the 



reasons for this decline. However, the trend has 

 been consistently downwards without any sudden 

 changes. Also, unlike many other countries, Italian 

 fishermen did not significantly increase the size of the 

 high-seas fleet during the years 1986-89." The pride 

 of the Italian high-seas fleet, the Assunta Tontini 

 Madre (3,817-GRT) fished for squid off the United 

 States until 1983 when it was sold to the Faroe 

 Islands; the vessel was the largest in hs class and was 

 never replaced. 



3. Modemization Programs 



Italy's first fisheries development plan was 

 officially aimounced in Act No. 41 of Febmary 17, 

 1982 The program was part of a plan to modemize 

 Italy's fishing industry and required the govemment 

 to prepare a new national plan for fisheries every 

 three years.'" These programs were later 

 supplemented by similar programs managed by the 

 EC. The Campbell Shipyards in San Diego, 

 Califomia delivered the Rio Mare (1, 500-GRT), a 

 Super Pacific Class tuna seiner for Italy in 1991." 

 The Rio Mare is one of the few new ships added to 

 the Italian high-seas fishing fleet in recent years. It 

 was only 10 years ago that Italian shipyards were 

 producing tuna seiners for the U.S. tuna fishing fleet. 



4. Decommissioning Programs 



Italy, as an EC member state, was required to 

 trim the size of the nation's fishing fleet starting in 



1986. The original plan was to reduce the number of 

 vessels to the size of the entire fishing fleet in 1983. 

 Most of the reduction in the Italian fleet was aimed at 

 trimming the size of the small coastal fleet that 

 operated in the Adriatic and around Sicily."* In 



1987, the EC again outlined a plan to reduce the size 

 of the Italian fleet which also called for the reduction 

 of the high-seas fleet." 



5. Shipyards 



Italian shipyards have produced first class fishing 

 vessels for years. These shipyards have a reputation 

 for building excellent fishing vessels that have 

 attracted buyers from around the world. Information 

 on Italian shipyards in recent years is scant, but there 

 is nothing to suggest that Italian shipyards could not 

 resume building new vessels if the Italian industry 

 decided to rejoin the high-seas fisheries. 



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