37 



Q. Several years ago "customary international law" was revised 

 to extend coastal state fishing rights from 3 miles to 200 

 miles, so obviously the boundaries of territorial waters 

 are not sacred. What would you think of an international 

 agreement between the U.S. and Russia that treats the Donut 

 Hole as internal waters and bars foreign fishing activity 

 in those waters? 



A. Since 1982, the living marine resource provisions of the 

 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea have 

 generally served the international community well. The 

 United States accepts the Convention as reflecting 

 customary international law, with the exception of its deep 

 seabed mining provisions. The Convention resolved most of 

 the fundamental issues concerning the use of the oceans and 

 we have an interest in continuing the consensus which was 

 achieved with the Convention. The Convention does not 

 answer every question, and consequently, we must negotiate 

 to resolve outstanding issues. But we must do so within 

 the framework of the Convention. 



Q. How do we assure that U.S. fishermen are allocated an 



equitable share of fisheries resources if the U.S. becomes 

 a member of NAFO? , 



A. We have already begun informal discussions with some NAFO 

 members on the issue of an equitable NAFO harvest share for 

 U.S. fishermen. The organization is divided into two 

 groups. The first argues that non-parties to the NAFO 

 Convention who have fished on stocks of species regulated 

 by NAFO, in the NAFO Regulatory Area, should not be given a 

 quota if they join the organization. To do so, in their 

 view, would reward those whose fishermen have disregarded 

 NAFO rules. The second group of NAFO members supports 

 small, reasonable quota shares for new members who join the 

 organization. As a practical matter, until stocks of fish 

 regulated by NAFO rebound, catches in the NAFO Regulatory 

 Area will be small, regardless of a fleet's quota share. 

 We would hope that our small but traditional fishery in the 

 NAFO area would be recognized by NAFO members and we will 

 seek reasonable quota shares for U.S. fishermen. However, 

 the most reliable means of obtaining a satisfactory quota 

 share is to send a well-prepared, strong, effective 

 delegation to the annual , NAFO meeting each year. 



i 



Q. Has the new Administration undertaken a review of NAFO, and 

 if so when can we expect to receive implementing 

 legislation? 



A. As part of the overall review of environmental policies 

 required under Presidential Review Directive 12, the 

 Clinton Administration concluded that accession to the 

 Convention on Future Multilateral Cooperation in the 

 Northwest Atlantic Fisheries, which established NAFO, was 

 consistent with the national interest. The Administration 

 welcomes H.R. 3058, introduced September 14, 1993, by 

 Chairman Studds, which is consistent with the 

 Administration's approach to implementing the Convention. 

 While there has been no interagency review of this bill, we 

 do not anticipate objections to it since it is 

 substantially similar to previous Executive Branch 

 proposals, namely that which was forwarded to Congress in 

 August, 1992, by the Bush Administration. 



