112 



COMMONWEALTH OF 



THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS 



Statement of Jesus C. Borja 



June 1, 1995 



23 

 ufacture. " Eventually, during a shakedown cruise, the vessel 



was boarded by the U.S. Coast Guard and ordered ashore. 



This event spelled the end of Marianas Fisheries, Inc. Our 

 people were shocked to learn that the Federal Government intended 

 to control our waters, even to the extent of excluding our own 

 people from fishing in them. Although the restrictions applied 

 to the Olwol in 1979 were suspended by Presidential Proclamation 

 4726, the incident put a damper on local efforts to start commer- 

 cial fisheries operations and there have been few such efforts 

 since. 



The Government of the Commonwealth has sought at every op- 

 portunity to clarify its rights with respect to the fisheries 

 resources surrounding its islands. The Commonwealth in 1980, 

 less than two years after its government was established, enacted 

 its Marine Sovereignty Act. This Act established a 12-mile ter- 

 ritorial sea and asserted jurisdiction over the living and non- 

 living resources in a 200-mile exclusive economic zone in confor- 



23 



Ironically, the Olwol had been procured by the United States 



from the Government of Japan for the people of the Northern Mari- 

 anas in partial settlement of claims for damages inflicted by 

 Japan during World War II. 



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