its own unilateral quotas equal to 95 percent 

 of the FSU quotas in NAFO. Russia, as the 

 successor state to the Soviet Union, received 

 an allocation of 37,300 metric tons (t) of 

 various species, mostly redfish (27,000 tons). 

 In private negotiations, following the 

 conclusion of the Annual Meeting, Russia 

 transferred 12,000 t of its 1993 ocean perch 

 (redfish) quota to Latvia, Estonia, and 

 Lithuania, with each country receiving 4,000 

 tons. A mediation effort, led by Canada and 

 the Faroe Islands, was conducted in an 

 attempt to resolve the FSU quota dispute in 

 NAFO before the 1993 Annual Metting, but 

 it was unsuccessful. At the 1993 NAFO 

 Meeting, due to lack of resolution of this 

 problem by the four contracting parties, the 

 same block quota system was adopted for 

 Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia for 

 1994, with quotas totaling approximately 

 31,000 tons. Its division among the Baltic 

 countries has not been negotiated as of this 

 writing. 



Mauritania: The second largest Latvian fleet 

 (9 vessels) is fishing for sardinella in the 200- 

 mile zone of Mauritania. The Riga Trawler 

 and Refrigeration Fleet and a Mauritanian 

 company have concluded a commercial joint 

 venture under which Latvian stern factory 

 trawlers (ATLANTIK class) deliver their 

 catch to Mauritanian ports for processing by 

 local plants. The Latvian crews are replaced 

 every 6 months by plane; they receive a fixed 

 salary and a percentage of the value of the 

 catch sold. The Latvians are now trying to 

 effect crew replacements by ship rather than 

 by plane to reduce expenses. Most of these 

 exchanges will be carried out through ports in 

 the Canary Islands. 



The Latvian state companies have 

 deployed, or would like to deploy, their 

 trawlers off several other countries. Among 



these are the following: 



Canada: Latvia occasionally deploys a few 

 fishing vessels in Canadian waters. The 

 Latvian and Canadian Governments concluded 

 a Memorandum of Understanding authorizing 

 commercial arrangements in the Canadian 

 EEZ. However, the Canadians reportedly 

 demanded $350 per day per vessel for 

 observer fees and $50-60 per ton of silver 

 hake as poundage fees. This would have 

 consumed 34 percent of the total value of the 

 catch. The Canadians also demanded that 10 

 percent of the Latvian catch of silver hake be 

 delivered to Canadian shore-processing plants. 

 The Latvians concluded that under such 

 conditions it would not be profitable to fish in 

 the Canadian EEZ. 



Faroe Islands: Six Latvian stern trawlers 

 have been fishing a catch quota of 12,000 t of 

 blue whiting allocated by Denmark. The 

 catch is headed and gutted and then exported, 

 mostly to the countries of the former Soviet 

 Union. The 1993 catch was reportedly good, 

 and the quota was almost fished out by June 

 1993. When that happens, the Latvian fleet 

 is supposed to move to nearby international 

 waters and continue fishing for blue whiting. 



Photo 3.—Lania lias 5 Tavriya-class refrigerated transports 

 (3.500-GRT) built in Russia in the 1960s. 



51 



