IV. FISHERIES ADMINISTRATION 



Upon gaining its independence from the 

 USSR in December 1991, the fishing industry 

 of Ukraine, previously subordinate to the 

 Soviet Ministry of Fisheries in Moscow, had 

 to be reorganized to reflect the new national 

 sovereignty. The Ukrainian Government 

 established a State Committee on Fisheries to 

 formulate and execute Ukrainian fishery 

 policies. The Committee was charged with: 

 establishing fishery relations with the other 

 CIS countries; continuing international 

 cooperation in fisheries; supervising the 

 establishment of Ukrainian fishery research 

 institutions; conducting exploratory fishing; 

 maintaining the fishing fleet; and improving 

 the supply of fishery products to the 

 Ukrainian population.'^ 



The control of the Ukrainian fishing 

 industry, including the fishing fleet, had been 

 under the central direction of the USSR 

 Ministry of Fisheries through YUGRYBA, 

 the Soviet Southern Fisheries Administration. 

 In January 1992, YUGRYBA was broken up 

 and most of the former Administration was 

 absorbed by Ukraine, including YUGRYBA 

 headquarters in Sevastopol. The Black Sea 

 port of Novorossiisk, together with its fishing 

 fleet and the fish-processing infrastructure, 

 remained under the Russian Federation 

 jurisdiction, while the port of Poti and its 

 fisheries administration was taken over by the 

 independent Georgian Republic. 



V. BILATERAL AGREEMENTS 



When the Soviet Union ceased to exist, 

 Ukraine lost access to fishing grounds, such 

 as the Barents Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, 



which are now part of the Russian FEZ. 

 Ukraine also lost access to several foreign 

 fishing zones because the former Soviet 

 Union's bilateral fishery access agreements 

 were taken over by the Russian Federation, 

 which was considered the successor state to 

 the Soviet Union. For example, after the 

 breakup of the USSR, Morocco decided not to 

 negotiate a separate fisheries agreement with 

 the Republic of Ukraine even though it did 

 conclude a new fishery access agreement with 

 the Russian Federation (allowing its fishermen 

 to harvest 400,000 t of fish annually). 



Bulgaria: In September 1993, Bulgaria signed 

 a 5-year fisheries cooperation agreement with 

 Ukraine. The agreement provides for joint 

 efforts in the transportation of fish, the 

 construction of fishing and fishery support 

 vessels, and the delivery of new and spare 

 parts and equipment. Both countries have 

 also committed themselves to develop joint 

 patents and standards procedures in their 

 respective fishing industries.'" One of the 

 possible advantages of this agreement for the 

 Bulgarians will be the chance to repair and 

 modernize their 5 SIBIR-class fishery 

 transport vessels in the Ukrainian shipyard 

 where they were originally built. Another 

 will be the conduct of joint fishery operations 

 in the Antarctic. 



Canada: Ukraine has been holding 

 discussions with Canada aimed at obtaming a 

 catch quota in the area governed by the North 

 Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO). The 

 Ukrainians claim to have fished the 200-mile 

 zone of Canada in the past (as part of the 

 Soviet Union's fleet) and feel that they are 

 entitled to have a portion of the former Soviet 

 NAFO quota, which has been "appropriated" 

 by the Russian Federation.'^ In 1993, the 

 Russians gave a portion of their inherited 

 NAFO quota to each of the 3 former Soviet 



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