A WORD ABOUT REFLAGGING 



Reflagging, registering a vessel in another country, is a growing concern for fishery managers 

 around the world. Reflagging is done for many reasons. The simplest case is a vessel owner in one country 

 selling a vessel to a new owner in a different country. In other cases, local requirements may require all 

 joint venture fisheries' vessels to fly the flag of one particular country. In some instances, and particularly 

 for older and less efficient vessels, fishermen may not be able to operate profitably in one country and may 

 reflag their vessel in another where taxes, fuel costs, and crew salaries are less onerous. While there are 

 several major reasons for reflagging a vessel, one reason of growing concern is reflagging to avoid 

 internationally agreed measures for the conservation and management of living marine resources. By 

 reflagging a vessel with a country that is not a signatory to an agreement designed to manage and/or conserve 

 living marine resources, a vessel may avoid the regulations/conservation measures for a regional area. The 

 problem is compounded by the fact that many of the countries frequently used for reflagging simply do not 

 have the staff to monitor the fishing operations of their flagged vessels throughout the world. The issue of 

 reflagging is gaining international attention and is the subject of the proposed Agreement to Promote 

 Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures for Fishing Vessels on the High Seas 

 approved by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in November 1993 for ratification 

 by interested States. 



SPECIAL NOTICE: In the preparation of this report, the authors noted that in many instances reflagging 

 simply involved the transfer of ownership from one owner to another. The reasons for other reflaggings 

 were less clear. However, the purpose of diis project was to identify trends and the results obtained through 

 our research efforts show that reflagging has increased sharply in the last few years. 



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 



Numerous individuals have helped to prepare this report. The authors wish to thank the many 

 individuals outside the Deparmient of Commerce who contributed to this project. The Foreign Service 

 Officers and Foreign Service Nationals at U.S. diplomatic posts were extremely helpful in obtaining 

 information and providing useful comments and evaluations of our draft documents. The U.S. Navy 

 provided invaluable data that helped to identify the magnitude of reflagging. The statistical group at the FAQ 

 Department of Fisheries in Rome provided needed statistics on the fishing catch. Special thanks are due to 

 the Lloyd's Register of Shipping for allowing us to use their data. Members of the Diplomatic Corps in 

 Washington, D.C. provided support to our research efforts, and to each of them we would like to express 

 our sincere appreciation. We particularly value the assistance of the individuals who contributed to die 

 country analyses: 



Baltic States: The cooperation of Mr. Andrew Silski. Baltic Countries Affairs Officer, U.S. Department of 

 State, in coordinating liaison with U.S. Embassies in tlie Baltic states, is much appreciated. Mr. Eriing 

 Hulgaard of the Danish Ministry of Fisheries contributed significantly to our understanding of Baltic 

 fisheries. 



Estonia: Mr. Jaak Pollu, Advisor to the Estonian Board of Fisheries, and Minister of the Environment, 

 Tonis Kaasik, provided informative insights into Estonian fisheries. The dedicated help of Ms. Ingrid 

 KoUist, Economic Officer at tlie U.S. Embassy in Tallimi, and of Foreign Service National, Mr. Indrek 



vui 



