In February 1978, Romania and the 

 Soviet Union signed in Bucharest a bilateral 

 fisheries cooperation agreement (appendix 8). 

 The 5-year agreement^" established a Joint 

 Commission to meet at least once each year 

 alternately in Bucharest and Moscow. The 

 Commission would coordinate the exchange 

 of fishery experts and the exchange of results 

 of exploratory and other fishery research, 

 organize technical conferences, etc. One of 

 its most important provisions (3rd) was the 

 coordination of Romanian and Soviet high- 

 seas fisheries in various world oceans.^' 

 Whether Romania continued this agreement 

 with the successor state of the USSR - Russia 

 - is not known. 



The Romanian Government attempted to 

 conclude bilateral agreements with various 

 countries, including the United States," 

 Iceland, and the Republic of South Africa, to 

 regain access to fishing grounds. Canada 

 responded positively, extending Romanian 

 fishermen a 1990 catch allocation of 10,000 t 

 of cod which was fished by 5 IPO 

 supertrawlers." 



VU. nSHERIES RESEARCH 



The high-seas fisheries research is the 

 responsibility of the Romanian Institute of 

 Marine Research (RIMR), located in 

 Constanta on the Black Sea. The RIMR was 

 established in 1970 from 4 smaller 

 organizations (2 biological stations and 2 

 laboratories). Administratively, the RIMR is 

 under the National Council for Science and 

 Technology which coordinates various 

 research fields. 



The Institute has no specialized vessels 

 for high-seas investigations and conducts 



fisheries research aboard commercial vessels 

 during their regular deployment. 



Vm. OUTLOOK 



Romania's two principal goals for its 

 high-seas fishing industry are the export of 

 processed fishery products, and the full use of 

 its fishing and fishery support vessels.""* Both 

 will depend on the ability of Romanian 

 fishery officials to negotiate access 

 agreements for the high-seas trawlers and to 

 provide efficient and speedy transportation of 

 landed catch to domestic and foreign markets. 

 As was the case in the past, the task of 

 providing fishery protein to the population 

 will fall mainly to the distant-water fleet. 

 The inland fisheries will probably continue 

 decreasing until environmental legislation 

 prevents the pollution of local lakes and 

 rivers. The Black Sea fishery has been 

 decimated during the past 4 years and will 

 probably remain at low levels until the 

 problem of the jellyfish infestation of the 

 Black Sea waters is over. Despite the fact 

 that fish culture production has been halved in 

 recent years, this sector of the fishing 

 industry remains potentially promising 

 because of its proximity to the consumers and 

 relatively low investment needs. 



The number of the high-seas fishing 

 trawlers has already been reduced by 50 

 percent and in view of the fact that Romania 

 produces its own diesel fuel, their operation 

 may prove to be profitable. They will most 

 likely continue to operate off the West 

 African coast, especially off Mauritania. In 

 addition, a few trawlers may obtain 

 permission from the Namibian Government to 

 reenter the fishery inside the 200-mile zone of 

 that country in 1994. 



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