start exporting its products in late 1990; it 

 was followed by GRYF in 1991, and ODRA 

 later that year.-^ 



The retail and processing sectors as well 

 as the Baltic fleet have largely been 

 privatized. The 3 large high-seas fishing 

 companies were difficult to privatize, 

 however, and various schemes were devised 

 to accomplish this while providing for the 

 greatest possibility of achieving profitability. 



VII. BILATERAL AGREEMENTS 



Poland has many bilateral fishery 

 agreements and joint ventures. Among these 

 were an agreement allowing Polish fishermen 

 to catch fish and squid in the exclusive 

 economic zone (EEZ) of the United States 

 and Canada, as well as a private arrangement 

 for buying fish directly from U.S. and 

 Canadian fishermen. Another arrangement 

 allowed Poles to operate in UK waters around 

 the Falkland Islands; bilateral agreements with 

 Argentina and Peru were also concluded. "^^ In 

 1993, in an effort to retain its capability to 

 fish on the high-seas and to utilize the large 

 capacity of its high-seas fleet, Poland is 

 actively seeking further access to foreign 

 d istant- water grounds through 

 intergovernmental agreements. Poland is 

 currently negotiating bilateral fishery accords 

 with several countries, but has successfully 

 concluded only a few. 



Angola: In April 1993, the Polish and 

 Angolan Governments concluded an 

 agreement allowing 5 fishing vessels owned 

 by the Atlantis company of Gdansk to operate 

 in Angola's exclusive economic zone in the 

 southeastern Atlantic.^* 



Argentina: Poland reportedly signed a 

 bilateral fisheries access agreement with 

 Argentina in 1974." Details regarding the 

 implementation of this agreement are not 

 available, but the FAO catch statistics show 

 no Polish catch in the southwestern Atlantic 

 (FAO statistical area 41) until 1976. The 

 Polish catch grew phenomenally in that area 

 from 2,700 t in 1977 to 357,900 t in 1983. 

 The increases in the catch were unaffected by 

 the Falklands conflict although some Polish 

 fishing vessels were damaged or possibly 

 sunk by both the British and the Argentines.^** 

 The Polish high-seas fleet, with the 

 permission of the Argentine Government, at 

 first transshipped its large catch in Argentine 

 ports. Only when the Argentine fishing 

 industry observed how large the Polish catch 

 was did they withdraw permission for such 

 transhipments (figure 4).^" Press reports 

 indicate that as many as 70 Polish vessels, the 

 majority of the high-seas fleet, were fishing 

 just outside the Argentine 200-mile zone after 

 1977.^^' There is no information available on 

 the current state of the Polish-Argentine 

 bilateral agreement, but a recent article claims 

 that the arrangement is still in existence.*' 



Canada: In the early 1980s, Poland received 

 cod allocations from Canada, and was allowed 

 access to the Canadian 200-mile fisheries 

 zone. As the "Canadianization" of the 

 Atlantic coast fisheries proceeded, however, 

 Polish fishery catch allocations in the 

 Canadian EEZ declined."- Unusually severe 

 ice conditions prevented cod fishing in 1990. 

 Polish cod fishing off Canada was 

 discontinued in 1991, because the DALMOR 

 company, the principal Polish company 

 fishing in Canadian waters, sold the vessels 

 engaged in that fishery."^ Unconfirmed 

 reports indicate that several Polish vessels 

 again fished outside Canada's EEZ in 1993. 



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