32 



the Law of the Sea until it is explicit in terms of protecting the 

 agreements we already have in place. We need to assure the con- 

 tinuation of the vast fishery resources of the North Pacific. 



Let me move on to another subject. We have seen television cov- 

 erage of the Italian and French driftnet fishing vessels in the Medi- 

 terranean. You said we may use the Coast Guard. We did use the 

 Coast Guard the first time we saw a Chinese vessel with a driftnet 

 in the North Pacific. I do not think there is any "may" about it. We 

 have instructed the Coast Guard. I believe we do enforce that the 

 driftnet moratorium in our waters, the waters in which our U.S. 

 fleets operate. 



I understand there has been no such action in the Mediterra- 

 nean. On Saturday we got word that 60 Spanish fishing vessels at- 

 tacked French tuna vessels that were using driftnets in excess of 

 the limit allowed under the U.N. moratorium. What are we going 

 to do about assuring that the driftnet moratorium is not eroded in 

 waters in which we have not traditionally used the Coast Guard? 

 Has the administration been involved at all in documenting the il- 

 legal driftnet usage in the Mediterranean? 



Ambassador Colson. Senator, I think I can say with some vigor 

 that the administration has been on top of this throughout. We are 

 dealing with the problem of illegal activities by fishermen that are 

 violating the rule of their own country. The French fishermen are 

 violating French rules and the European Community rules. The 

 French Government is not complicit in this, just as the Italian Gov- 

 ernment is not complicit in the fact that there are some Italian 

 fishermen that may be violating the rules. 



Now, there are questions about the amount of, or about the credi- 

 bility of some of the evidence that is being brought forward. There 

 are a lot of political allegations being made in this, and one of the 

 things that the administration wants to be sure of, if we go forward 

 to take the next step under the 1992 Driftnet Enforcement Act — 

 which would start the process leading to trade sanctions — is that 

 we have good, clear, clean evidence that is credible, and not just 

 allegations coming out of some of the European press about what 

 is going on, or allegations coming out of some of the other press 

 that is interested in this issue. 



Senator Kerry. If one of you would yield just for a minute, it is 

 my understanding that we have launched an investigation; have 

 we not? 



Ambassador Colson. Yes, and we are keeping on top of it. We 

 are using our law enforcement assets. 



Senator Kerry. When did we launch the investigation? 



Ambassador Colson. I think it has been an ongoing investiga- 

 tion. 



Senator Kerry. Have we ascertained that there are about 700 

 Italian vessels using driftnets in the Mediterranean? 



Ambassador Colson. Senator, that number is used, and it is an 

 old number. It is a number that is premoratorium. The question is 

 the length of the net. We use driftnets in the United States. The 

 question is, are they shorter than 2.5 kilometers long? 



Senator Kerry. Greenpeace has asserted that there are over 700 

 vessels currently using driftnets to fish for swordfish in the Medi- 

 terranean. This is current. 



