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Recent developments concern-
ing fishing fleets in the North
Atlantic have been front page
news. Matters of conservation,

~ tegulation and international fish-
ing agreements between coun-
tries harvesting the oceans are

| Of interest to Canadians.

__ We reprint here some steps
being taken by these countries.
The article is by Valentin Belov,

eputy Head of the Administra-
tion for Fish Conservation, Re-
Production and Regulation of
Fisheries of the USSR Ministry
of Fisheries.

4 The member countries of the
Nac mational Commission on
Orth-West Atlantic Fishery

(ICNAF) and the North-East

Atlantic Fishery (NEAFC) held a
Conference on international con-

4 trol of North Atlantic fisheries in

€ningrad in early March 1975.
. The participants included the
_S0viet Union (who proposed the
Conference), USA, Canada and
and 14 European states.

_, After the introduction of the’
ae enforcement systems of
‘le ICNAF and the NEAFC in

_ 1971 and 1970, the Soviet Union,,

Ogether with other countries,
mek an aetive part in internatio-
hal controls. For this purpose
th ‘conservation authorities of

© USSR have 6 special sea-
80ing vessels with an unlimited

Tange and 36 government in-

SPectors. Fishing vessels are

: peeked both at sea and in

Orts: .
‘es

~. QUALITATIVE
NEW: CHANGES

a the past few years, qualita-
tex Changes took place in fish-
wy regulations. Basically new
*gulation measures — catch
Wotas for the main food fishes

_ _ Were introduced in the ICNAF

a NEAFC areas. These
. anges in fishery regulations
quired further improvement in
as forms and methods of con-

Pearce:

,

16 NATIONS TAKE PART IN JOINT TALKS

Soviet fishing fleet in operation.
servation and fish management, t

otrs carrying out checks at sea and in ports.

The character and means of
fishing as well as types of food
fishes are very similar for the
north-western and the north-
eastern ports of the Atlantic. The
same fishermen and inspectors
work both in the ICNAF and the
NEAFC areas. Unjustified differ-
ences.in the forms and methods
of international control, how-
ever, still persist in these areas.

That is why the conference
centred on questions of the uni-
formity and improvement of in-
ternational fishery control on
both sides of the Atlantic. It
also discussed and accepted a
number of proposals to be- later
approved by the ICNAF and the
NEAFC. 5

For instance, the rules of re-
search fishing in the conventio-
nal area were defined. It was de-
cided that vessels which. are en-
gaged in continuous research
fishing in the conventional area

will be issued (on a_ national
basis) special permission, these
vessels will be reported to the
commission and will not be
checked by international inspec-
tors provided they have a per-
mit conforming to the Commis-
sion-approved form. At the same
time, an international inspector
has the right to check the activ-
ities of a vessel temporarily en-
gaged in research while she is
fishing.

BETTER
INSPECTION

Up tilt now there have existed
two different forms of the act
(report) of inspection used in the
ICNAF and the NEAFC. Today,
a new common form has been
worked out which will help to
inspect fishing vessels more cor-
rectly and thoroughly.

It was decided to preserve the

Facotry ship and trawlers operating in the Atlantic. To enforce con-
he USSR has 6 special vessels with unlimited range and 36 inspec-

national principle of keeping the
fishing log; which includes the
necessary minimum of informa-
tion; to free small vessels en-
gaged in coastal fishing from
keeping of the fishing logs.

The conference worked out a
common questionnaire to be
used by international inspectors
while checking fishing vessels in
the ICNAF and NEAFC areas.
This questionnaire will also be
used in the South- East Atlantic
where international control was
introduced on July 1, 1975.

The U.S. delegation submitted
for discussion a licence scheme

~ (supported by the Canadian re-

presentatives) that- essentially
provides for the introduction of
an international system of licen-
ses under the aegis of the
ICNAF Secretariat. This move
failed to receive support because
the majority of the delegations
felt that this system was extre-
mely complicated, cumbersome

Rational use of world’s fisheries

and would create unjustified ob-

stacles for fishermen.

The program of the presence
aboard fishing vessels of foreign
observers (experts in fishing)
suggested by the U.S. and Cana-
dian delegations failed to get
unanimous support as a number
of countries have difficulties ac-
commodating such observers on
the vessels due to the lack of
free living space. Apart from
this, the tasks and the status of
the observers had not yet been
sufficiently defined by the time
of the Leningrad conference. A
Soviet proposal was approved by
which inspectors can at any time
come aboard a fishing vessel and
check the means of fishing and
the quantity and quality of the
catch. :

FUTURE
DISCUSSIONS

The proposals on licenses and
foreign observers, which .are of
certain interest in terms of rais-
ing the efficiency of control, will
be studied in detail and discuss-
ed by the next session of the
ICNAF to be held in some
months. Unfortunately, the im-
portant question of a unified
method of measuring the size of
holes in nets was not considered
due to lack of time.

The conference proceeded in a
business-like manner and in the
spirit of cooperation and mutual
understanding. Some delegations
included inspectors directly en-
‘gaged in international control.
They had an opportunity to es-
tablish - personal . contacts with
their counterparts from other
countries and compare notes on
the practical aspects of the
work.

The decisions of the confer-

ence, particularly concerning the
improvement and unification of
methods of control, will no
doubt raise the efficiency of the
international fishery
sions in dealing with the ques-

tions of the rational use of the

world’s fisheries.

_ Canadian-Soviet fishing agreements —

deere

eine following press release.
as issued by the Department
External Affairs concerning

_‘anadian-Soviet fishing agree-
Ments, gee

% Bo a

AWA — Canadian and
viet delegations met in Otta-
& from Aug. 25 to 27, to dis-

CUss fisheries matters of mutual
Concern,

Both sides recognized that it
aa imperative to ensure strict
fence to and implementa-
the of measures agreed within
for eaternational Commission
er} € Northwest Atlantic Fish-

&s (ICNAF), particularly in
a of the urgent need to main-
Ch, and restore the stocks. The
adian and Soviet delegations
©€d to establish new methods
fee Were ration to achieve this
di rollowing a review of past

pecnces in this field, the two
ced . undertook to develop pro-
om Tes that would lead to a
ing non understanding of catch

*rmation on which implemen-

. regarding

tation of quotas is based, and
that would ensure that future
differences, should any arise,
could. be satisfactorily and
promptly resolved.

To this end technical experts
of the two countries will meet
from time to time for further
consultations -and coordination
of information, with the next
such meeting to be held in Sep-
tember. It was agreed to recom-
mend to the two governments
the establishment of a Joint
Fisheries Consultative Commis-
sion to carry out the following
functions:

e to review problems referred
to it by the two governments
the implementation
of agreed measures, and to make
recommendations for the resolu-
tion of such problems; ?

e to facilitate the coordina-
tion of statistical and scientific
information;

e to improve bilateral cooper-
ation under the ICNAF Scheme

of Joint International Enforce-

ment;
e to provide for an improved

exchange of information with
regard to areas of concentration
of fishing operations of both
countries and promote other co-
operative measures for the pur-

Anchovy fishing in the Black
Sea. Photo shows the seiner’s
purse nets hauling in 50 tons

at one time.

pose of preventing damage to
fishing gear and of facilitating
the settlement of any claims
arising from such damage;

e other functions that may be
assigned to it by the two gov-
ernments.

In connection with the estab-
lishment of the proposed Joint
Commission, the two _ sides
further agreed to ensure the
prompt discontinuance of a fish-

ery when the national quota al-’

location for. the stock in ques-
tion has-been taken. Upon the
effective establishment of such
provisions and the other proce-
dures referred to above, Soviet
fishing vessels will be granted
renewed access to Canada’s At-
lantic ports.

It’ was understood that the
role of the proposed Commis-
sion would have to be reexam-
ined in the light of future devel-
opment in fisheries relations
between the two countries.

‘Both countries attach great
importance to their future co-
operation in the field of fisheries.
Each side expressed its readi-
ness to meet at an early oppor-

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 26, 1975—Page 7

tunity in order to consider the
elaboration of a bilateral agree-
ment on fisheries cooperation
that would establish the terms
and conditions governing con-

tinued fishing by the Soviet fleet _

in waters off Canada’s coasts,
taking into account anticipated
legal and jurisdictional changes
in the regime of fisheries man-
agement in such waters and tra-
ditional Soviet fishing.

The two sides reviewed the -
Canadian proposals for the con-—

servation and management of
fish stock off Canada’s Atlantic
coast first advanced at the June

1975 meeting of ICNAF and
scheduled for further discussion

at the special ICNAF meeting to

be held at Montreal in Septem- —

ber.

The Soviet delegation was
chaired by Mr. Aleksey A. Vol-
kov, Deputy Chief of External
Relations Department, Ministry
of Fisheries; the chairman of the

Canadian delegation was Mr. L.

H. Legault, Director General,
International Fisheries and Ma-
rine Directorate, Department of
the Environment. — :

commis- —