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by Soviet vessels fishing with mobile trawl gear in the area. It was 
agreed to establish six localities off Kodiak Island on the high seas 
(beyond 3 miles) where the operation of Soviet trawl gear would 
not be conducted during periods when U.S. crab fishermen were ac- 
tively engaged in fishing for king crab with pot gear. 
This arrangement has worked well and has served to minimize gear 
losses to U.S. fishermen. The agreement has been renegotiated, 
modified and extended at 2-year intervals. In July 1975, it was made 
a part of the “‘Fisheries Agreement.”’ Similar provisions are also in- 
cluded in the bilateral agreement which the United States has con- 
cluded with Japan and Poland. 
KING CRAB AGREEMENT 
In early 1965, the United States negotiated a bilateral agreement 
with the Soviet Union relating to their king crab fisheries in the 
eastern Bering Sea. Earlier, in 1964, the United States had negotiated 
a king crab agreement with Japan. 
The Convention on the Continental Shelf adopted at the 1958 
Geneva Conference on the Law of the Sea defines the living resources 
on the continental shelf over which the adjacent coastal states have 
exclusive sovereign rights of exploitation. On the basis of this Conven- 
tion, the United States initially claimed the king crab (later in 1968 
the tanner crab also) as constituting a continental shelf resource. 
The Soviet Union also claims the king and tanner crabs to constitute 
a continental shelf resource. Japan does not and claims the crabs 
to be high seas resources. 
Following the general international practice of giving due considera- 
tion to the existence of established fisheries whose sudden termination 
would cause economic distress, the United States agreed to permit 
the continuation of the Japanese and Soviet fisheries for king crab 
but under U.S. control. The agreement with Japan notes the difference 
in legal views between the United States and Japan but sets aside 
this issue without prejudice to their respective legal positions. Also 
taken into account at this time was the fact that American fishermen 
were not able to fully utilize the king crab in the eastern Bering 
Sea. 
The bilateral agreements with Japan and the Soviet Union 
established catch and size limitations and prohibited the taking of 
young crabs and female crabs. Provisions for the collection and 
exchange of scientific data so that the resource could be carefully 
monitored were also included. 
Since the initial signing of the crab agreements (the tanner crab 
was included in the quota negotiations in 1971), the United States 
has drastically reduced the catch quotas of both countries in succeed- 
ing negotiations. These reductions were negotiated since the resource 
was being overfished. In addition, the use of tangle nets (gill nets 
weighted to fish on the sea bottom) by the foreign fleets was phased 
out and eventually prohibited for conservation reasons. Tangle nets 
tend to indiscriminately catch crabs of all sizes, sexes and in soft- 
shelled condition and were a contributing cause to fishery-associated 
mortality. Only the use of pots which are nondestructive to the 
resource is now authorized. 
