months. Most of the Faroese fleet fishes in the North 

 Sea and has shown little interest in distant-water 

 operations, although one company attempted to begin 

 a fishing operation off South Africa and another 

 company recently began fishing in New Zealand. 



• Finland: The last Finnish high-seas vessel was 

 sold in 1981 and has not been replaced. Finland is 

 unlikely to return to high-seas fishing. 



• Greenland: The Royal Greenland Trade Company 

 bought its first high-seas vessel in 1964. The high- 

 seas fleet includes around 25 vessels, but statistical 

 information about Greenland's fishing fleet is not 

 published by Lloyd's Register. The fleet expanded 

 rapidly in the 1980s, fishing for deepwater shrimp 

 and cod. In the 1990s, however, the cod resource 

 declined and this resulted in economic dislocation, 

 causing some vessels to be sold. There are also too 

 many vessels fishing for shrimp and this fishery is 

 being trimmed. 



• Iceland: The high-seas fleet grew modestly in the 

 1970s, in part due to the displacement of foreign 

 fishermen from Icelandic coastal waters, reaching 33 

 vessels in 1987. This was followed by rapid 

 expansion from 42 vessels in 1988 to 61 vessels in 

 1992. High prices for fresh fish in UK and German 

 ports prompted many Icelandic fishermen to invest in 

 new vessels. The decline in the biomass of Atlantic 

 cod, however, has hurt the industry and caused some 

 fishermen to sell their vessels. 



• Malta: There is one high-seas vessel registered in 

 Malta, but the authors have no information about the 

 vessel and its operations. 



• Norway: The Norwegian high-seas fleet is 

 growing the fastest, expanding from 72 vessels in 

 1975 to 139 vessels in 1992. The recovery of capelin 

 and Atlantic cod stocks in recent years helps explain 

 the growth of the Norwegian fleet. The majority of 

 the Norwegian fleet fishes in the North Atlantic and 

 shows little interest in shifting to distant fishing 

 grounds, although a few individuals have attempted 

 to find opportunities far from Norwegian waters. 



• Sweden: Swedish fishermen have expanded their 

 high-seas fleet in recent years to a total of 8 vessels. 

 This is surprising given the problems associated with 

 Baltic fisheries and the authors are unable to explain 



why the Swedish fleet has expanded. 



• Turkey: Only one high-seas vessel is registered in 

 Turkey. The authors have no information about this 

 vessel and its operations. 



n. LIMITATIONS TO nSHING 



Most Nordic countries extended their 

 jurisdictions to 200 miles in the mid-1970s. It was 

 natural for Nordic fishermen to replace foreign 

 fishermen and this explains why the Faroe Islands, 

 Iceland, and Greenland all expanded their fleets in the 

 1970s. Other countries, such as Finland, Norway, 

 and Sweden, had few options; they were excluded 

 from their former fishing grounds and were forced to 

 fish inside their own waters. Many of these nations 

 have now reached the point where it is increasingly 

 difficult to expand their fisheries. Even Iceland, 

 which displaced foreign fishermen during the 1970s 

 and early 1980s, is now reporting depleted stocks. 

 As a result, the non-EC fishermen increasingly face 

 the same difficulties obtaining access to adequate 

 stocks that EC fishermen face. Most of these 

 countries have large fleets of vessels that could be 

 deployed in distant- water fisheries, but they are 

 unlikely to do so. Most vessels built for Nordic 

 fishermen are built to operate in Arctic conditions, 

 which limits their effectiveness to cold waters. The 

 Norwegians, fortunately, are the exception. They 

 have ample room to fish off their coasts and have 

 seen tough management regimes help cod stocks 

 return to Norwegian waters in abundance. The 

 Norwegians are among the few fishermen in the 

 world that are catching good quantities of Atlantic 

 cod in 1992-93. 



ni. CONTROLLING FLEET EXPANSION 



The non-EC Nordic countries have also 

 maintained incentive programs to control the growth 

 of their fishing fleets. The programs, however, have 

 generally failed to limit fleet expansion. Norway and 

 Iceland are the two major non-EC fishing countries. 

 Efforts to limit the Norwegian and Icelandic fleets 

 appear to have stimulated the expansion of the fleet 

 by withdrawing older, less efficient vessels. The 



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