which wanted these fisheries for their own 

 citizens and by the developing countries which 

 demanded payment for the resources. The 

 loss of access to traditional distant-water 

 grounds has meant the curtailment of high- 

 seas operations on some fishing grounds and 

 a significant decline in the catch. 



In 1991, Bulgaria's high-seas catch was 

 38,500 t, less than half of the 1989 catch of 

 81,300 tons. The Bulgarian high-seas catch 

 has been decreasing since 1975, but the 

 precipitous declines in 1990 and 1991 were 

 largely caused by a reduced fishing effort off 

 the coast of West and Southwest Africa. In 

 1992, the total catch will probably be further 

 reduced because the Falkland Islands fisheries 

 catch has been more than halved (appendix 5). 



The high-seas catch has always 

 represented over three-fourths of the total 

 Bulgarian catch, but its contribution has 

 decreased from 90 percent of the total in 1975 

 to 77 percent in 1991. 



In recent years, Bulgaria's high-seas fleet 

 has operated mainly in the Southeast and 

 Southwest Atlantic (FAO statistical areas 47 

 and 41, respectively). These operations have 

 yielded an average of between 80,000-90,000 

 metric tons (t) of fish annually, principally 

 Cape horse mackerel, but also blue whiting, 

 grenadier, and squid." 



Northwest Atlantic (FAO statistical area 

 21): In the northwestern Atlantic off the 

 Canadian and United States coasts, the 

 Bulgarian fishery was reduced to zero by 1985 

 following the extensionof fishery jurisdictions 

 to 200 miles by these two countries. 

 Recently, however, Bulgaria received a small 

 catch allocation of about 2,000 t per year by 

 the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization 

 (NAFO). 



Northeast Atlantic (FAO area 27): The 

 Bulgarian fishing effort in this region declined 

 after the European Community declared its 

 200-mile FEZ in 1977. A small operation is 

 maintained off the United Kingdom where 

 Bulgarian trawlers are permitted to fish for 

 Atlantic mackerel and conduct klondyking 

 operations. The catch, however, is small; in 

 1991 it was about 4,000 tons. 



Central Eastern Atlantic (FAO area 34): 



The fishing grounds off West Africa supplied 

 more than half of the total Bulgarian fisheries 

 catch as late as 1980. By 1985, however, the 

 Bulgarians have discontinued fishing in this 

 area. 



Southwest Atlantic (FAO area 41): In the 



early 1980s, most fishing took place off 

 Argentina and the Falkland Islands. When the 

 Falkland Islands Government began to 

 regulate foreign fisheries in 1987, the 

 Bulgarians, imitating the Soviets, refused to 

 apply for fishing licenses. In 1989, they 

 reversed this position and began to purchase 

 licenses and renew fishing operations off the 

 Falklands. 



In the second fishing season'^ of 1989, the 

 Falklands Government issued licenses to 9 

 large Bulgarian stern factory trawlers. They 

 landed 9,000 tons of fish, or about 1 ,000 t per 

 vessel; the harvest of blue whiting 

 predominated (5,800 t). 



In 1990, they expanded their operations to 

 14 vessels and more than doubled the total 

 catch to 22,100 t (or about 1,600 t per 

 vessel), fishing both in the first and the 

 second season. 



In 1991, the Bulgarians deployed just 8 

 vessels and fished only in the second season 

 when the area is open for finfish operations, 



191 



