pay 5-percent interest while the Government rebates 

 the remaining part of the base rate and an addition of 

 one percentage point. At the 1993 base rate level of 

 6-percent, the Govenmient's contribution is 1 -percent 

 plus 1 -percent. The rebate program has decreased 

 over the years. At the end of the 1980's, loans worth 

 approximately $3.5 million were authorized; the 

 value of these loans declined to about $2.2 million in 

 1992 and will be $0.8 million in 1993. Should 

 Finland join the EC, the system of providing interest 

 subsidies for construction of new fishing vessels in 

 Finland may end. There are few subsidy programs 

 for modernizing the fishing fleet, except for the 

 rebate program.' 



4. Decommissioning Programs 



The authors are not aware of any 

 decommissioning programs. 



purchased 10-percent of the shares of Masa. The 

 Norwegian firm next purchased the Finnish 

 Government's shares (27-percent) and those of the 

 other owners in 1991.' 



Finnish shipyards are reportedly doing very 

 well, with more orders now than they have had in the 

 past 10 years. Most of this work involves building 

 liquid natural gas (LGN) vessels, cruise ships, or 

 other specialty vessels. '° 



6. International Agreements 



Finland is located between Russia to the 

 east, Estonia and Lithuania in the south, Sweden to 

 the west, and Norway to the north. Countries located 

 around the Baltic Sea have negotiated fishery 

 agreements with their neighbors over the course of 

 many years. 



5. Shipyards 



There are 3 main shipyards in Finland: 

 HoUming, Rauma-Repola, and Warsila. The Holming 

 company built the scientific research vessel, 

 Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, a 5,500-GRT, in early 

 1983, for the USSR Academy of Sciences. The 

 shipyard also built a series of 3 scientific research 

 vessels in the 2,600-GRT range for the USSR in 

 1983 as well.*" The Holming shipyard is still 

 operational . 



Rauma-Repola won major orders from the 

 Soviet Union in the mid-1980s and became very 

 dependent upon the USSR for its operations. The 

 company built 3 floating fish factories for the Soviet 

 Union.' Rauma-Repola also built the Antarctic 

 research ship, the Akademik Fedorov, for the USSR 

 in hopes of winning future orders. The problem of 

 dealing with special bilateral agreements with the 

 Soviet Union (involving barter arrangements) 

 complicated the arrangement of building vessels for 

 the USSR.* Rauma Repola merged with United 

 Paper Mills in 1990 and shortened its name simply to 

 Repola. 



In 1986, the Wartsila shipyard merged with 

 a part of the state-owned Valmet shipbuilding facility; 

 after various financial and structural rearrangements, 

 the resulting company emerged as Masa Yards. In 

 1990, the Norwegian conglomerate, Kvaemer A/S 



Finland, as a member of the Baltic Sea 

 Fishery Commission (BSFC), receives modest catch 

 quota for cod, herring, sprat, and Atlantic salmon. 

 Sea trout are not subject to quotas since they can be 

 artificially raised for release into the sea. Each 

 BSFC country, after receiving its aimual catch quota, 

 can exchange these quotas on a bilateral basis with 

 other member countries. 



Finland, under the BSFC regime, negotiated 

 agreements with Estonia and Lithuania allowing 

 fishermen from those two countries to catch Atlantic 

 salmon and herring in Finnish waters in the Gulf of 

 Finland and in the northern part of the Baltic Sea. In 

 exchange, Estonia and Lithuania have given Finnnish 

 fishermen permission to fish for herring in their 

 fishing zones. 



Finland negotiated a similar agreement with 

 Sweden covering the northern Baltic Sea and the Gulf 

 of Bothnia. The two countries have agreed that 

 Atlantic herring, salmon, and cod can be caught by 

 each countries' fishermen on an equal basis in their 

 respective fishing zones. The agreement does not 

 include European sprat (Sprattus sprattus) which 

 spends most of its life in the southern part of the 

 Baltic Sea. Finnish fishermen prefer catching herring 

 in the Swedish zone while Swedish fishermen prefer 

 catching cod in Finnish waters. The quotas and 

 respective bilateral fishing agreements are valid for 

 one year at a time. 



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