The third agreement, concluded in April 

 1979, concerned the mutual catch of Black 

 Sea anchovy and sprats in the territorial 

 waters of both countries. 



According to Bulgarian officials, the 

 agreements with the former USSR are being 

 renegotiated with the Russian Federation, the 

 successor state of the USSR. No final draft 

 of an agreement has yet been concluded. ^^ 



In June 1990, a Soviet-Bulgarian joint 

 venmre (J/V), SOZOPOL-Kamchatka, was 

 created in the Russian Far Eastern city of 

 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka. The founders of 

 the J/V were RIBNO STOPANSTVO (its 

 successor in the venture is OKEANSKI 

 RIBOLOV), and the Russian fisheries 

 association, KAMCHATRYBPROM. The 

 J/V leases the Bulgarian trawler Feniks to 

 process fish delivered by Kamchatkan 

 fishermen." In May 1993, the vessel was 

 undergoing maintenance and minor repairs in 

 the shipyard docks of Petropavlovsk- 

 Kamchatskii.-'* It is rumored that the 

 Bulgarians plan to sell the vessel to a 

 Kamchatka company for hard currency. 



Ukraine: 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 

 equipment. The 2 countries have also 

 committed themselves to develop joint patents 

 and standardization in their respective fishing 

 industries.--*' The authors believe that this 

 agreement is similar to the one concluded in 

 1973 with the Soviet Union. Furthermore, it 

 is believed that the pending agreement with 

 the Russian Federation will be similar. One 

 of the potential advantages of this agreement 

 will be that the Bulgarians will be able to 



repair and modernize its SIBIR-class fishery 

 transport vessels in the Ukrainian shipyard 

 where they were originally built. 



United Kingdom: In June 1993, OKEANSKI 

 RIBOLOV signed a preliminary joint venture 

 agreement for fishing and trading with the 

 British company ABBOTSWELL. The British 

 will provide the capital (US$ 2.5 million) for 

 the project, while Bulgaria will provide 10 

 stern factory trawlers with Bulgarian crews to 

 fish off the Falkland Islands and Scotland.'** 

 If successful, this joint venture will secure the 

 deployment of one half of the Bulgarian high- 

 seas fishing fleet and employ 500 Bulgarian 

 fishermen. This is the second agreement that 

 OKEANSKI RIBOLOV has signed with this 

 British company. In October 1992, the J/V 

 negotiated with ABBOTSWELL permitted 4 

 Bulgarian trawlers to fish off the coast of 

 Greenland. This fishery continued in 1993.^^ 



United States: Bulgaria signed a 5-year 

 Governing International Fisheries Agreement 

 (GIFA) with the United States which lasted 

 from February 1977 to July 1983; it was then 

 extended for another 5 years until 1988. The 

 Bulgarian fishermen, however, were not 

 allocated any catch quotas, nor did they 

 conclude any joint ventures with U.S. 

 companies, and the GIFA expired on July 1, 

 1988.-** 



VIL EMPLOYMENT 



In the Bulgarian high-seas fishing fleet, an 

 estimated 1 ,200 fishermen are working aboard 

 the 19 stern factory trawlers, while about 600 

 persons are employed on the 5 support 

 baseships and about 200 persons constimte 

 administrative and other support personnel. 

 This total is less than half of the 5,600 



195 



