of fishing, about twice as much as they had paid in 

 past years. 



 Former Soviet Union 



The 1991-92 breakup of the Soviet Union 

 removed a major headache for the Moroccan fisheries 

 Ministry and a major drain on Morocco's fisheries. 

 Not only had the once-mighty Soviet fleet fished with 

 near impunity in Moroccan waters, taking as much a 

 1.2 millon tons a year, but Soviet submarines 

 sometimes engaged in faceoffs with Moroccan 

 frigates. By August 1992, the Government of 

 Morocco signed a highly advantageous three-year 

 agreement with Russia, while choosing not to 

 negotiate agreements with the Ukraine and the Baltic 

 States. The defunct Soviet accord had set quotas for 

 pelagic fishing of up to 850,000 tons diminishing 

 over several years to 600,000 tons a year within 

 Morocco's 200-mile EEZ. Some Moroccans claimed 

 at the time that the rapacious techniques used by the 

 giant 100-odd Soviet factory ships were denuding the 

 fishery. They further charged that the Soviets were 

 hauling in large quantities of cephalopods, which they 

 had no legal right to fish. 



The new three-year Morocco-Russia accord 

 allows 43 vessels, the number to decrease by five 

 vessels a year, to net 400,000 tons of pelagic fish 

 only (sardines and mackerel) a year, the amount to 

 decrease by 50,000 tons a year. Russia must pay 

 Morocco 17.5 percent of the market value of the fish, 

 payable in hard currency or in fish. The accord 

 allows Moroccan inspectors to accompany Russian 

 fishing vessels at sea and provides for the 

 employment of up to nine Moroccan seamen per 

 vessel, creating 350 jobs in all. Morocco gained the 

 right to station two observers on board each Russian 

 vessel. There is also an unwritten understanding that 

 the Russian will do most of their shopping, loading 

 and unloading at Moroccan ports. 



3. Joint Ventures 



Following the "Moroccanization" of the fishing 

 industry (along with the rest of the economy), the 

 Moroccan fleet essentially became Moroccan-owned 

 and previous joint-venture vessels were transferred to 

 Moroccans. Foreign vessels were licensed under 

 bilateral agreements. The Moroccanization decrees 

 were later abrogated, and it is now possible for 

 foreign firms to invest directly or as part of a joint 



venture in Moroccan industries, including fishing. 

 Some vessels are jointly owned by Moroccans and 

 foreign interests. The U.S. Embassy does not have 

 comprehensive information on joint industrial 

 ventures, but is aware of two surimi projects. In 

 April 1988, Japanese aid workers launched a pilot 

 project in Agadir to study the feasibility of producing 

 surimi from a Moroccan sardine base. Morocco 

 hopes to divert some of the sardine catch now used in 

 producing low-value fish meal to surimi production 

 for eventual export to Europe and the United States. 

 The project has been slow in starting up, faced with 

 lack of demand for surimi in Moroccan test markets 

 and the disappearance of much of the sardine catch 

 from the port of Agadir. A commercial, French-run 

 surimi plant was operating in Agadir in 1992, 

 marketing its output in France, and presumably 

 making a profit. In 1992, a Russian-Moroccan 

 company was created to market the output of Russian 

 fishermen and their Moroccan partners. 



4. Aid Programs 



The new EC agreement increases the EC's 

 annual payment to Morocco to $80 million, in 

 addition to fees to be paid by individual shipowners 

 based on profitability. 



Japanese aid in grant money and technical 

 assistance to Morocco has been substantial. In 1985 

 Japan donated a research vessel to the Institut 

 Scientifique des Peches Maritimes (ISPM) in 

 Casablanca. In 1986, Japan extended aid to build and 

 partially staff a four-year training school for bridge 

 personnel and engineers in Agadir called the Institute 

 of Maritime Fisheries Technology, which opened in 

 the spring of 1988. Agreement was reached on 

 financing a ship repair yard in Agadir, where work 

 was completed in December 1992. In 1992, Japan 

 contributed about $4 million in technical aid to 

 Morocco. 



U.S. technical assistance to Morocco in the 

 fisheries field has kept a low profile in recent years. 

 The Moroccan-U.S. Joint Committee of Experts in 

 Fishery Affairs has not met since 1986. Nonetheless, 

 aid has financed small private sector training projects, 

 International Executive Service Corps volunteers have 

 consulted in the canning industry, and Peace Corps 

 volunteers have worked with the Office National des 

 Peches. 



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