several Soviet-built 720-GRT seiner-trawlers. 

 It is not clear whether the joint venture was 

 successful. Unconfirmed reports suggest that 

 the Soviets had little success with the seiners 

 they deployed. In 1986, the Soviets 

 reportedly expressed an interest in 

 establishing further joint ventures with 

 Colombian companies, but details are not 

 available. 



In 1993, the Colombian company, 

 Frigomarina, Ltda., is leasing four Russian 

 vessels. They are the Shilale and Ramigala 

 which are LAUKUVA-class (359 GRT) 

 trawlers and the Mureks and Marginella which 

 are TIBIYA-class (597 GRT) tuna clippers." 



Cuba: The Russian Federation still maintains 

 close contacts with the Cuban Fisheries 

 Ministry (MIPES), but not as extensively as 

 did the former Soviet Union. The Cubans are 

 primarily concerned with the sharp cuts in 

 diesel fuel supplies, but the Russian 

 Federation places much less importance on its 

 Cuban relationship than did the former Soviet 

 Union and is unwilling to continue the 

 massive Soviet subsidies. The Russian 

 Committee on Fisheries, however, continues 

 to maintain a fisheries attache office in 

 Havana." 



Falkland Islands: In 1992, the Russian 

 Government continued the Soviet Falklands 

 policy and did not apply for Falklands fishing 

 licenses. In 1993, several Russian companies 

 made inquiries to Falkland Island officials 

 about applying for Falkland Islands 

 Government (FIG) licenses in the future. In 

 addition, the fact that the Soviet-Argentine 

 bilateral fisheries agreement expired in 1993 

 and was not renewed by the Russian 

 Federation suggests that Russia may decide to 

 deviate from the Soviet policy and obtain FIG 

 licenses." 



Panama: Russian companies have reportedly 

 registered many merchant and fishing vessels 

 under the Panamanian flag. These 



registrations appear to have been carried out 

 by various groups with little or no regulation 

 because of the ill-defined status of the former 

 Soviet state fishing companies.** Russian 

 officials complain that many vessels have 

 been transferred to foreign flag registry 

 without following procedures established 

 under Russian law.*^ It is possible that some 

 Russian officials who have transferred 

 Government-owned vessels to countries like 

 Panama, now have a personal equity interest 

 in the vessels. Notably, the Russians have 

 recently transferred 10 refrigerated fish 

 transports to the Panamanian flag. This 

 appears to have been a well-thought-out 

 commercial venture as the vessels are some of 

 the most modern fish transports in the Russian 

 fishing fleet; two were built as recently as 

 1991-92. It is unclear if these vessels are 

 being operated as a Panamanian-Russian joint 

 venture, or if the vessels have been registered 

 in Panama while still primarily servicing the 

 Russian distant-water fleet. The authors have 

 noted reports of Taiwan vessels transshipping 

 their catch in the southern Atlantic to 

 Panamanian-flag refrigerated transports;** 

 some of these transport vessels may be 

 reflagged Russian fish carriers. 



Peru: The USSR and Peru signed two 

 bilateral fishery agreements on December 6, 

 1988: a bilateral protocol and a joint venture 

 contract under that protocol. The two 

 documents gave Soviet fishing vessels access 

 to Peruvian fishery stocks for the first time 

 since 1986 when the first Soviet-Peruvian 

 joint fishery venture expired. The Peruvian 

 Government canceled the Soviet-Peruvian 



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