German, and Swedish companies. Most of 

 these ventures were concluded between fish- 

 processing companies, with two joint ventures 

 (both with Danish companies) established for 

 Baltic fishing. 



Argentina: The Polish-Argentine joint 

 venture, Arpolco, S.A., which was formed by 

 ODRA company and the Argentine company 

 Harengus, became operational in 1991. The 

 details of its activities are not known." 



Peru: Polish fishing off Peru began in 1973 

 through a joint venture arranged by the Polish 

 Fish-Exporting Company (RYBEX) in 1972. 

 Under the terms of the agreement, the Polish 

 fishermen were permitted to deploy vessels 

 within Peru's 200-mile zone. The catch, 

 however, was reported as part of the Peruvian 

 catch as the vessels were reflagged to 

 Peruvian ship registry. Polish-flag vessels 

 first reported small catches in the southeast 

 Pacific during 1979, even though their actual 

 catch was nearly 200,000 tons.**^ The joint 

 venture failed after the Peruvian Government 

 implemented new restrictive hake fishing 

 regulations in 1980.'^ This would have 

 required the Poles to shift operations beyond 

 Peru's 200-mile limit, but they instead 

 negotiated joint venture arrangements with 

 Peruvian companies permitting them 

 continued operations in Peruvian waters. 

 Polish-flag vessels did not report significant 

 catches, however, until 1983 when they 

 caught 40,000 t in the region (FAO statistical 

 area 87). The Polish catch peaked at 80,000 

 t in 1984 after which Poland terminated the 

 fishery. Polish fishery officials, however, 

 continue to be interested in the southeastern 

 Pacific and have met with Peruvian officials 

 to discuss access. 



Yemen: A fisheries agreement was signed in 

 1992 between the governments of Poland and 



Yemen followed by a letter of intent to 

 establish a joint venture between the Polish 

 high-seas fishing company, DALMOR, and a 

 Yemeni fishing company. Included in this 

 agreement is a cooperative project for joint 

 research and training of Yemen's biologists at 

 the Polish Marine Fisheries Institute (MIR) in 

 Gdynia.'' 



IX. OUTLOOK 



The future of Polish fisheries will depend 

 on the government's ability to retain access to 

 the high-seas fishing grounds where the Polish 

 fleets operate today. The largest of these 

 fisheries in the international waters of the 

 western North Pacific is being threatened by 

 the demands of the Russian Federation that 

 the fishing there be severely curtailed, if not 

 entirely stopped. The Russians maintain that 

 the Alaska pollock stocks are in danger of 

 being overfished, but the Poles counter that 

 Russian biologists have not shown conclusive 

 scientific evidence that this is the case. As a 

 result, the Polish fleet of about 30-40 stern 

 factory trawlers continues to fish there even 

 though the government has made the 

 concession of promising to reduce the total 

 1993 take by 25 percent below the 1992 

 catch. Continued pressure by Russian 

 diplomats and fishery administrators, 

 however, does not bode well for this fishery. 



In the neighboring international waters of 

 the central Bering Sea, a moratorium on 

 Alaska pollock fishing was set by 

 international consensus by six fishing nations, 

 including Poland, for 1993 and 1994. The 

 most recent scientific evidence shows no 

 significant recruitment of new yearclasses and 

 it is highly unlikely that any fishery will be 

 allowed in this area for the next 3-5 years. 



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