France: In late 1991, the former Lithuanian 

 state fishing company, LITRYBPROM 

 negotiated a joint venmre agreement with the 

 French company, APOMER. Under the 

 contract, the Lithuanians would lease three 

 medium refrigerated trawlers (probably of 

 the MA YAK class) to fish off Sierra Leone 

 and Senegal. The vessels would deliver 

 their catch either to the adjacent African 

 countries or to La Rochelle, the port in 

 France, where the headquarters of the joint 

 venture have been established.'^ It is not 

 known whether this Lithuanian-French joint 

 venture continued its contractual 

 arrangement after Lithuania gained its 

 independence and LITRYBPROM ceased to 

 exist. 



Sweden: At the end of January 1992, a 

 quadripartite agreement was signed between 

 Sweden and the fishery administrators of 

 Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in Stockholm. 

 The document defines the contested fishing 

 grounds in the coastal areas of the Baltic 

 Sea. An estimated 75 percent of fishery 

 stocks in the area will be managed by the 

 Baltic states.^" 



VIII. OUTLOOK 



Prospects for the Lithuanian fishing 

 industry are cloudy. Its profitability appears 

 marginal because of the lack of agreed 

 access to prime fishing grounds under the 

 jurisdiction of other states and the above- 

 mentioned cost and supply uncertainties. 

 Substantial subsidies from the Lithuanian 

 Government are unlikely due to budgetary 

 constraints and the poor outlook for the 

 Lithuanian economy.^' 



Lithuania still relies mainly on Russia 

 for deliveries of fuel and spare parts for its 

 fleet. The breakdown of the centralized 

 trading relationship with the former Soviet 

 Union and price liberalization in the former 

 Soviet republics, have worsened 

 uncertainties in deliveries of spare parts and 

 other equipment, as well as increasing 

 significantly the cost of diesel fuel. During 

 1992/1993, many of Lithuania's high-seas 

 fishing vessels were idle in port due to a 

 lack of access to fishing grounds and the 

 high cost of fuel. 



Lithuania's exclusive economic zone in 

 the Baltic is the smallest of the three Baltic 

 countries, consisting of only 99 kilometers of 

 coastline. However, exact boundaries are 

 still being negotiated with Latvia, Russia and 

 Sweden. Foreign fishing in the Lithuanian 

 zone is permitted on the basis of exchanges 

 of fishing quotas of equivalent value. Such 

 exchanges have been concluded with most of 

 the Baltic littoral states. 



77 



