agreement.^" According to the U.S. Embassy 

 in Tallinn, an agreement had still not been 

 concluded by October 1993. Reportedly, the 

 two sides differ only on the issue of fishing in 

 Lake Peipsi (a freshwater lake on the 

 Estonian-Russian border). 



On July 14, 1992, Estonia initialed the 

 draft of a bilateral fisheries agreement with 

 the European Community (EC)." According 

 to the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn, the agreement 

 became effective after it was signed by the 

 Estonian Foreign Minister, Trivimi Velliste, 

 on July 16, 1993. 



At the end of January 1992, a 

 quadripartite agreement was signed in 

 Stockholm between Sweden and the fishery 

 administrators of Estonia, Latvia, and 

 Lithuania. 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.^*' 



Estonia also concluded a bilateral 

 agreement with the Faroe Islands (with the 

 consent of Denmark). The agreement 

 provides Estonian fishermen with a 1993 catch 

 quota of 6,000 t of blue whiting in the 

 Faroese FEZ in exchange for giving Faroese 

 fishermen a 1993 catch quota of 2,000 t for 

 various species in the Estonian FEZ in the 

 Baltic." 



IX. JOINT VENTURES 



International, Ltd. Estonia will own 49 

 percent of the shares of this J/V company 

 whose central office will be located in New 

 Delhi, India. OOKEAN will supply the new 

 J/V with 2 ORLENOK-class trawlers and 

 their crews, while the Indian Government will 

 provide tax breaks, partially cover fuel costs 

 for the fishing vessels, and give the firm a 

 license to fish in Indian territorial waters. ^^ 

 The two companies are currently negotiating 

 the final contract. 



X. OUTLOOK 



Since independence, it has become clear 

 that the size and capacity of Estonia's fishing 

 fleet, as well as its fish-processing industry, 

 exceed the availability of fishery resources. 

 The loss of the traditional foreign fishing 

 grounds where Estonia was allowed to fish as 

 a constituent Republic of the Soviet Union, is 

 the main reason for overcapacity. 



Almost a half of OOKEAN company's 

 trawler fleet reportedly stood idle in April 

 1993 in Tallinn because of insufficient catch 

 quotas, difficulties in accessing fishing 

 grounds in foreign waters, and the high cost 

 of purchasing diesel fuel.^' This is not a 

 problem given to an easy solution as indicated 

 by the fact that the company is attempting to 

 further reduce its fleet by offering for sale 3 

 large stern factory trawlers. OOKEAN will 

 need to establish more joint ventures like the 

 one planned with an Indian company to 

 improve the utilization of its fleet. 



In August 1993, the Estonian Government 

 gave its permission to the state-owned 

 OOKEAN company to establish an Estonian- 

 Indian joint venture. Fortune Oceanic 

 Products, Ltd., with the Indian firm. Fortune 



The most pressing problem is the 

 availability of funds to purchase diesel fuel. 

 The ever-increasing prices of fuel have 

 rendered the operations of the high-seas fleet 

 costlier. Whereas in the Soviet system the 



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