50 



20 



1975 1980 1985 1990 92 



■Vessels CA'er 500-GRT "Tonnage 



Figure 1. -The Dutch high-seas fleet, 1975-92. 



operated by the Seafrozen Fish Foundation?" The 

 Franziska, another super trawler, was also delivered 

 to the same owners in that year. These supertrawlers 

 are designed to operate far from home ports. The 

 Franziska reportedly fished off Peru and Argentina 

 in 1989. The vessel reportedly was fishing for 

 mackerel, horse mackerel, herring, and silver smelt 

 in the North Sea, Shetlands, north and west of 

 Scotland, and west and south of Ireland in 1993." 

 Another of the supertrawlers was reported fishing off 

 the Falklands^* and two others off Morocco." The 

 supertrawler Dirk Diederik was delivered to Parlevliet 

 & van der Plas BV from the Welgelegen shipyards in 

 Harlingen, Holland in 1990. The ship is equipped to 

 catch, grade, freeze, and pack up to 250 tons of 

 herring, mackerel, and horse mackerel a day. The 

 ship can store 5,400 cubic meters of fish at -28 

 degrees.'* The ship is designed to fish in any ocean 

 of the world and is expected to range the high-seas 

 seeking mackerel and horse mackerel.-' Another ship 

 delivered in 1990 was the Zeeland, another super- 

 class vessel.'" 



3. Modernization Programs 



Following a significant reduction between 1975 

 and 1979, Dutch fishermen began ordering new 

 fishing vessels in 1980.^' The Dutch tax system at 

 that time encouraged fishermen to invest in larger, 

 more efficient vessels during periods of high 

 profitability to avoid high taxes." This would 

 explain why Dutch fishermen were investing heavily 

 in the early 1980s, despite reportedly poor landings 

 during the early part of the 1980s. 



The Minister of Economic Affairs, Andriessen, 

 informed the Dutch parliament on March 5, 1990, 

 that the State had allocated $7.8 million to 

 supplement the $49 million previously allocated to the 

 Dutch shipbuilding industry for 1990. This brings 

 the total Dutch shipbuilding subsidy to $57 million 

 for 1990.^ No funds, however, have been identified 

 by the authors for construction of high-seas fishing 

 vessels. Dutch authorities report that the fleet 

 modernization program has come to a temporary end, 

 because emphasis is now being placed on reducing 

 the size of the Dutch cutter fleet, to bring the coimtry 

 into compliance with EC regulations concerning the 

 size of national fleets. 



4. Decommissioning Programs 



The Dutch Govenmient has initiated several 

 major decommissioning schemes in the past 30 

 years. '^ The first apparently was undertaken in 1975 

 when 102 vessels were decommissioned followed by 

 67 additional vessels being decommissioned in 1976. 

 Altogether, a total of 180 fishing vessels were 

 withdrawn from Dutch registers at considerable 

 expense to Dutch taxpayers.'* The move appears to 

 have been caused by the loss of traditional distant- 

 water fishing grounds and by the realization that EC 

 quotas would not permit the Dutch to expand their 

 fisheries. Decommissioning programs, aimed at 

 reducing the size of the coastal fleet, continued to 

 operate in 1991 when 30 cutters were 

 decommissioned. 



Cor Vrolijk of Comelis Vrolijk announced that his 

 firm had ordered another stem trawler to be built at 

 the Ijsselwrf Yard YVC of Capelle aan den Ijssel 

 near Rotterdam. The trawler will be the largest in 

 the Dutch fleet when it is delivered in June 1994." 



5. Shipyards 



Dutch shipyards have a reputation for building 

 some of the largest fishing vessels in the world. 

 Dutch-built vessels are sold to clients around the 

 world. 



121 



