previously supplied its citizens with imported 

 fish. However, because of the decreasing 

 value of the leva and the discontinuation of 

 government subsidies for foreign fishery 

 imports, prices for imported fish have risen to 

 the point where the average Bulgarian can no 

 longer afford it. The 1989 import level of 

 almost 30,000 t of fishery products was 

 reduced to only 6,000 t in 1992. 



U.S. Embassy, Sofia. Personal Communication. 29 

 September 1993. 



U.S. Navy, Office of Naval Intelligence, 26 July 1993. 



In addition, Bulgaria has no oil resources 

 and its high-seas fleet would have been hard 

 hit by the oil crises of 1973 and 1979 without 

 the cheap deliveries of oil from the former 

 Soviet Union. However, with the dissolution 

 of the USSR, Russian oil prices have been 

 increasing steadily and are now approaching 

 world levels; the payment is now demanded in 

 hard currencies. The need to buy expensive 

 diesel fuel diminishes the profitability of the 

 fleet and will have a negative impact even if 

 the state-owned fleet is privatized since the 

 fuel costs may represent as much as 40-50 

 percent of the revenues earned from the sale 

 of the catch. 



The future of the Bulgarian high-seas 

 fisheries is in jeopardy. It cannot be excluded 

 that, faced with large operational losses in the 

 past, the Bulgarian Government will abandon 

 distant-water fisheries and liquidate its fleet. 



SOURCES 



FAO. Fishery Country Profile. Bulgaria. Rome, April 

 1991. 



FAO. Yearbook of Fishery Statistics: Catches and 

 Landings. Rome, various years. 



Lloyd's Register of Shipping. Lloyd's Register of 

 Shipping Statistical Tables. London, various years. 



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