APPENDIX VI APPENDIX 
46 
Thus, the area off the coast of the United States on both the Pacific 
and Atlantic coasts is one of the most important fishing grounds in the 
world for the Soviet fishing fleets. Without a specific agreement with 
regard to the continuation of Soviet fishing in these waters and some 
guarantee for the future, it appears unlikely--in the absence of an 
effective multilateral Law of the Sea Treaty--that the Soviet Union will 
accept United States claims to jurisdiction over a 200-mile zone. It is 
more likely that the U.S.S.R. would be willing to accept greater regula- 
tory authority by the United States in these waters and reduce their 
fishing effort if they are not obligated to accept the principle of 
exclusive jurisdiction or sovereignty over fisheries. If that course of 
action is not acceptable to United States government officials, a 
serious confrontation over the fishing rights issue with the Soviet 
Union could result. Still, the possibility exists that the Soviet 
Union, faced by the prospect of an increasing number of nations assert- 
ing jurisdiction over a 200-mile fisheries zone, will also claim such 
jurisdiction. The Soviet Union would thus gain control over important 
cod fishing areas in the Barents Sea and of productive fishing areas in 
the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. 
In the Gulf of Mexico there is a minimum of foreign fishing off the 
United States coast although, as mentioned before, there are several 
hundred United States flag vessels fishing off the coast of Mexico and 
other Caribbean coastal nations. The Mexican government has declared a 
200-mile fishing zone, and has stated its intent to enforce its author- 
ity over this zone. With the extensive Mexican fishery for shrimp off 
its eastern coast, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to negotiate 
satisfactorily for a continuation of United States shrimping in waters 
under Mexican jurisdiction for any prolonged perior of time. Only the 
few Mexican boats which fish off the coast of Texas and the small number 
of Cuban boats which wander into the northern Gulf of Mexico will be 
affected by the United States extension of jurisdiction. 
The major fishery agreement on the Atlantic coast affected by the 
extension of jurisdiction is the International Convention for the 
Northwest Atlantic Fisheries. The Commission is composed of 17 members 
including such technologically advanced fishing nations as Canada, the 
U.S.S.R., and Japan, and such developing Eastern Bloc nations as Romania 
and Bulgaria. The United States is clearly required by the FCMA to 
renegotiate this treaty. Setting aside the case of Canada, it is 
unlikely that many other distant-water fishing nations will readily 
accept the 200-mile extended jurisdiction of the United States. Such 
refusals will lead to protracted negotiations. The negotiations are 
likely to take the form of time-consuming bilateral negotiations in 
which the United States requests nations to accept an agreement required 
by the FCMA, the General International Fisheries Agreement (GIFA). It 
can be anticipated that some of the smaller nations, wishing to maintain 
good relations and fishing privileges within the United States’ zone, 
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VI 
