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DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(78)323
Vol.1978/0120

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(78)323final.
Brussels,5July197°«
RenewaloftheLoméConvention
Supplementary memorandum onsea-fishing
(submittedtotheCouncilbytheCommission)
COM(78)323final.

RenewaloftheLomeConvention
Supplementary memorandum onsea-fishing
TheCommission memorandum onthefutureACP-EECnegotiations
fortherenewaloftheLom6ConventionstatedthattheCommission
intendedtopresentasupplementary memorandum onsea-fishing assoon
asitwasinpossessionofalltherelevantfaots. ,
Althoughthecurrentdiscussions inthisspherewithcertain
ACPStateshavenotyetteenconclusive,theCommissionfeelsithas
sufficientinformationatitsdisposalto"beabletopresentthe
attachedmemorandum.
Thismemorandumconcernsessentiallythefishingaotivitiesof
vesselsflyingtheflagsoftheMemberStatesoftheCommunityinthe
watersoftheACPStates,whichactivitieswillofnecessityhavean
effectonthedevelopment ofthefishingindustrytotheadvantage
oftheACPStatesthemselves.
Moreover,theCommissionfeelsthatthisindustryisvery
importantindeedforanumberofACPStatesandthemeansofcooperation
providedforinthenewConventionshouldheaimedinparticularat
developingit.

Pishing mwaters within the jurisdiction of
ACP States
I.Present state ofaffairs
A.Situation under the Present Convention
When the Lome Convention wasnegotiated ,fishing was governed
only "by "bilateral agreements "between certain Member States (France ,Italy )
and certain ACP States .Pishing was the subject ofaJoint Declaration
annexed totheConvention ,which contains two elements :
-theCommunity iswilling ,through theEDF ,toencourage the
development oftheACP States *fishery andrelated industries ;
-theACP States undertake nottodiscriminate "between oragainst
Member States oftheCommunity infavour ofother countries .
Difficulties nevertheless arose inthis sphere ,and oneMember
State has hadtocease fishing toall intents and purposes inWest African
waters .
B.ITew situation inthe fisheries sphere
The situation has changed due tothe evolution ofthe law ofthe
sea onwhich aspecial United Nations Conference hasbeen working for
several years now .Within theframework ofthis Conference ,ageneral
consensus hasemerged with regard tothepossibility for coastal states
tocreate aneconomic zone upto200miles offtheir coast andtoexercise
sovereign rights within this zone with regard totheutilisation ,
conservation andmanagement ofliving resources •Asaresult many
fishing areas onthehigh seas ,traditionally accessible toall ,will
now come under the jurisdiction ofthecoastal States ,among them ACP States .
OntheEEC side there hasbeen afundamental change inthat the
Council ,byitsResolution of3November 1976 ,hasdecided that onthe
onehand Member States would extend their fishing zones to200miles and
that onthe other hand thenegotiations toobtain fishing rights in
third country zones would beaCommunity matter .
Furthermore ,theInformal Composite Negotiating Text (iCNT )which .
isthebasis forwork inthe Conference onthe Law ofthe Seaprovides
forthepossibility fordeveloping coastal States torequest compensation
for thegranting offishing rights tothird countries .
Consequently ,thepublic share ofthis compensation will be ,-
charged totheCommunity .

2.
C.TheCurrentNegotiations
On5December1977"theCouncilauthorized -theCommissiontoopen
negotiations withcertainWestAfricanACPStates(Senegal,Mauritania,
Guinea-Bissau ,CapeVerde)..
Numerouspreliminary contactshave"beenmadewiththecountries
concernedandthenegotiations properwill"beginsometimeduringthe
year.Theywillconcernfishingrightsfor1979»andpossiblylonger.
OneoftheconcernsontheCommunitysidewillbethatthereshouldbe
continuity "betweenthesenegotiations andthegeneralarrangements for
fishingwhichwill"bedefinedinthenewconventioii.
II.FishingunderthenewConvention
A.Advantages *
Thereareseveralreasonswhythepresentarrangements on
fishingshould "beretainedanddevelopedinthenewConventionsothatwhat
hasalready "beenachievedcan"bepreservedandadaptedtothenewsituation
in.theCommunityandintheworldandaocounttakenoftheincreased
interestbeingshownonbothsidesinthisactivity.
1°ThepresentConventioncontainsaJointDeclaration on
intentandprinciplesinthisspecificfieldandtheir
continuity mustbeassured.
2°Pishingoffersasourceofproteinwhichisofgrowing .
importancefortheACPStatesand,forthisreason,it
deservesspecialtreatmentinEECcooperationwiththosei
countries(satisfaction ofbasicneeds).
3°PishingbyCommunityvesselsoffthecoastofACPcountries
canprovideasourceofincomeforthosecountriesinthe
formofcompensation.FortheCommunityitmeansanoteworthy
additiontofishresourcesatatimewhentheyarewaning
inotherareas.
Consequently ,itisproposedthatfishingshouldbeincluded
inthetextofthenewConventioninamoreintegratedfashionthanjust
ina"JointDeclaration".
/.

3.
B.Provisionstobemade
1°TheremustbenoconfusionbetweenthequestionofCommunity
vesselsengaginginfishingactivitiesinwaterswithinthejurisdiction of
.ACPStates,includingtherelatedcompensation ,andthequestionofthe
financialandtechnicalassistancewhichtheCommunitymayprovidethrough
theEDPfortheACPStatestodeveloptheirownfishingactivities.The
latterpointisamatterforEDPnationalandregionalprogramming andthe
interestsinvolvedcanbebroughtupfordiscussioninthatcontext.
Thisdistinction beingmadeitwouldbeusefulifinthenew
Conventionitcouldbestatedasexplicitlyaspossiblethatoneofthe
importantobjectivesofEEC-ACPcooperationisapolicyforthedevelopment'
oftheACPStates'fishingindustry.
2°Astofishingactivities byCommunityvesselsinwaterswithinthe
jurisdiction ofACPStates,theCommunitycouldsuggest,tobeginwith,
thattherelationstobeestablished betweentheCommunityandtheACP
Statesinthefieldoffishingbebasedonthefollowingprinciplesasthey
emergedfromthe3rdUnitedNationsConference ontheLawoftheSea.
*recognition oftherightofcoastalStatestoextendtheir
fishingzoneto200nauticalmiles;
*responsibility ofthecoastalState(s)regardingthe
management andconservation offisheryresources;
*theprinciplethatothercountrieshaveaccesstothesurplus
leftunfishedbythecoastalStates,accountbeingtakenof
relevantcriteria;
*theprincipleofwhatcompensation thecoastaldeveloping
countriesgrantingfishingrightstodevelopedcountriescan
legitimately expect.
Provisionstobeinsertedinthetextoftheconvention would
repeattheprincipleof"willingnesstonegotiate"andnon-discrimination ,
underequalconditions ,againsttheCommunityonthepartoftheACP.
StatesbutthistimeinrespectoftheCommunityandnoteachindividual
MemberStateasinthepresentannex.
Compensation ,whichwouldbe,asthenameimplies,ona
doutdesbasis(contractbasedonreciprocity),wouldhavetobekept
separatefromtheaidandtechnicalassistancefundsprogrammedunder
theEDP,evenwheresuchfundsareappliedtofisheriesprojects
(seeB.l#above).'
/

The effective implementation atCommunity level ofthese twoprinciples
would enable theCommunity –while respecting fully the sovereignty of
theACP States concerned andunder the "best conditions –toopen
negotiations with those partners inwhose waters itisengaging or ,would
like toengage ,infishing activities *
Inthis connection ,theACPshould provide theCommunity ,on
request ,with thefollowing information ,which would ensure "transparency "
,inthis sphere :
–laws ,regulations anddecisions ofallkinds onterritorial
waters ,fishing zones andexercise ofthe different fishing
activities with therelevant rules ;
–information onfishery resources ingeneral ,thetotal allowable
catch (TAC)"byspecies within themeaning oftheComposite Text ,
theproportion caught bythenational fishing industry andthe
proportion remaining available assurplus forother countries ;
-information onthe allocations offishing rights forthese
surplus quantities toother countries ,interms ofthenumber
ofvessels authorized tofish and/ortonnes ofthecatch for
each year ;
-information onthe conditions onwhich foreign fishing vessels
areauthorized toengage intheir activities .
If,having studied allthis information ,theCommunity applies
forfishing rights ,they shall begranted –byvirtue oftheprinciples .
subscribed tobythe ACP States –onthebest conditions accorded toa
non-member country (l)anduptotheavailable quantities within the
relevant TACs .
IftheCommunity 'sapplication involves aquantity inexcess
ofthat available ,the "willingness tonegotiate "onthe part ofthe
ACP countries would involve anundertaking tomake gradual provision for
areasonable amount ofCommunity fishing asandwhen theACP States'
official international commitments sopermit .
3® Régional aspects
Allhigh-sea fishing hasaregional aspect since itcannot
belimited tothefishing zone ofasingle country ,especially where the
country 'scoastline isshort .What ismore ,stocks offish axeoften to
befound onboth sides ofthe limits ofnational fishing zones ,andthe
highly migratory species ,such asthetuna-family ,move along the coast ,
inparticular that ofWest Africa .
. ;•/•
(l)With thepossible exception ofother developing countries ,forinstance
inthe same sub-region .

Promtheview-point oftheAGPStatesitisthereforeintheir
corrononinteresttoestablishacoordinated policyfortheconservation and
exploitation ofstockswithintheframeworkofregionalcooperation
(possiblywithEDFregionalaid).
FromtheCommunitypointofview,giventhatthemigratoryspecies
inparticulararefishedbythesamevesselsmovinginwaterswithinthe
jiirisdiction ofseveraldifferentcountriesaswellasonthehigh–seas,itisdefinitelyintheCommunity'sinteresttobeabletonegotiatethe
relevantfishingrightseitherinaregionalcontextorwitheachcoastal
State,but'byreferencetothisregionalcoordination .
Thesedifferentpossibilities couldbesketchedoutina
frameworktexttobeincludedintheConvention :
-stipulatingthat,wherebilateralagreementsexist,the
Partiesundertaketotakeaccountoftheregionalaspectof
certainfishingactivities ,particularly inrespectoffees,
theobligationtolandcatchandtotakenationalseamenon
board,andcompensation ;
-expressingapreferenceforregionala.greementsenoouraging the
development' ofcooperation amongACPStates;
-encouraging greatercollaboration betweencoastalStatesand
flagStateswithininternational andregionalconventions ,for
exampleregardinghighlymigratoryspecies.