(2) Partially satisfactory agreements are those written agreements which the United States, at the time of the negotiation of the agreements, feels do not fully meet United States requirements and those tacit agreements with nations, as evidenced by the practice of fishing vessels of those nations, which meet the following require

ments:

(a) Vessels do not conduct any directed fisheries for living resources of the continental shelf on the United States continental shelf.

(b) Vessels avoid concentrations of living resources of the continental shelf and, when a concentration is encountered in the course of their fishing operations, the vessels take immediate steps to avoid the concentration in future tows.

(c) When vessels take any incidental catch of living resources of the continental shelf, the living resources of the continental shelf are immediately returned to the sea with a minimum of injury and the amount and disposition of such catch is promptly recorded in the vessels' official log.

(d) Catch and disposition data on incidental catches of living resources of the continental shelf is made available to the United States upon request to aid in the appropriate management of living resources of the continental shelf stocks.

Regulations adopted by international fisheries commissions which have the effect of reducing and controlling the incidental catch of living resources of the continental shelf may be considered as partially satisfactory agreements.

*

Dept. of State File No. P74 0135-0817. The specific enforcement procedures were set forth as follows:

. . . Specific enforcement procedures fall into three groups, with respect to three categories of vessels: those whose flag states have an agreement with the United States which satisfies our living resources of the continental shelf conservation requirements; those whose flag states have an agreement with the United States which partially satisfies our living resources of the continental shelf conservation requirements; and, those whose flag states have no agreement with the United States on living resources of the continental shelf.

A. Countries having satisfactory agreements with the United States. Vessels of these nations will not be boarded and inspected under the living resources of the continental shelf law unless: (1) a directed fishery for living resources of the continental shelf is observed which is not permitted by the agreement, or (2) in the judgment of the enforcement officer on scene, the vessel is violating the terms of the agreement in such a way as to give the enforcement officer reason to believe that living resources of the continental shelf are being taken in excess of that authorized by the agreement, or (3) such boarding is expressly provided for in the agreement.

B. Countries having agreements with the United States which are partially satisfactory. Vessels may be boarded and inspected when the enforcement officer has reason to believe the vessel is taking living resources of the continental shelf.

(1) If the vessel is found to be fishing with gear designed specifically to catch living resources of the continental shelf, whether or not any living resources of the continental shelf have actually been taken, the vessel shall be seized for violating 16 U.S.C. 1081 et seq.

(2) If the vessel is found to have retained living resources of the continental shelf abroad, it shall be seized for violating 16 U.S.C. 1081 et seq. Retention of living resources of the continental shelf is defined as processing, otherwise saving, or, in the judgment of the enforcement officer, failing to return promptly to the sea with a minimum of injury.

(3) If the vessel is found to be resetting its gear in an area of concentration of living resources of the continental shelf, it shall be seized for violating 16 U.S.C. 1081 et seq. An area of concentration of living resources of the continental shelf is defined as an area where the vessel has recently completed a haulback which resulted in the incidental catch of more than the number of individual specimens of living resources of the continental shelf tabulated by species in the attachment. Areas where United States fishermen set their gear in a directed fishery for living resources of the continental shelf would generally be expected to be areas of concentration and enforcement officers should be especially alert for excess incidental catches in these areas. Foreign vessels boarded in these areas even though not found to be taking living resources of the continental shelf, should be clearly warned that they are fishing in a likely area of concentration.

(4) If the vessel is not fishing in an area of concentration of living resources of the continental shelf, and is taking prompt action to return living resources of the continental shelf to the sea with a minimum of injury, the vessel should be reminded of the United States law prohibiting the foreign taking of living resources of the continental shelf.

C. Countries not having an agreement with the United States. Vessels of countries not having an agreement on living resources of the continental shelf with the United States may be boarded and inspected when the enforcement officer has reason to believe the vessel is taking living resources of the continental shelf.

(1) If the vessel is found to be fishing with gear designed specifically to catch living resources of the continental shelf, whether or not any living resources of the continental shelf have actually been taken, the vessel shall be seized for violating 16 U.S.C. 1081 et seq.

(2) If the vessel is found to have retained living resources of the continental shelf aboard, as defined above, it shall be seized for violating 16 U.S.C. 1081 et seq.

(3) If the vessel is found to be resetting its gear in an area of concentration of living resources of the continental shelf, as defined above, it shall be seized for violating 16 U.S.C. 1081 et seq.

(4) If the vessel is found to have taken an insubstantial catch, less than the number of specimens tabulated by species in the attachment, and is taking prompt action to return the living resources of the continental shelf to the sea with a minimum of injury, and the catch appears to be neither deliberate nor repeated, the vessel shall be warned that repeated catches will subject the vessel to seizure under United States law.

(5) If the vessel has taken catches of living resources of the continental shelf over two or more boardings, the catches shall be considered to be repeated catches and the vessel shall be seized for violating 16 U.S.C. 1081 et seq.

The figures entered above are preliminary and subject to revision. Where no figure appears opposite a particular specie, the figure is being developed and will be published as soon as possible.

U.S.-U.S.S.R.

Bilateral Agreements

On February 19, 1974, the Department of State received an Aide Memoire from the Embassy of the Soviet Union in Washington requesting the Department's approval of a proposal to exchange Soviet fishing vessel crews by debarking crew members in United States ports from special passenger vessels or vessels reequipped for that purpose for further transfer by air to the Soviet Union. The Department of State, in a reply note dated April 10, 1974, said that it had reviewed the terms of the 1970 bilateral agreement on Certain Fisheries Problems on the High Seas in the Western Areas of the Middle Atlantic Ocean, as amended and extended (TIAS 7009, 7043, 7574; 21 UST 2664, 22 UST 113, 24 UST 663), and particularly paragraph 8(e) which reads in part: "Entry of all [Soviet] vessels. . . may be provide rest for or make changes in personnel of such vessels ." The Department said that it considers that "large-scale change

to

of crews of vessels entering port or the exchange of crews of vessels not entering port as proposed in the Soviet Aide Memoire are not activities which were intended to be within the scope of paragraph 8(e) of the Agreement." The Department stated that it would be willing to consider such a proposal in the context of a meeting for the purpose of modifying the Agreement as provided for in paragraph 13 of the Agreement.

Dept. of State File Nos. P74 0062-1874 and P74 0033-0115. See also the 1973 Digest, Ch. 7, § 4, pp. 257-259.

On December 31, 1974, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed, through an exchange of notes (TIAS 7981; 25 UST; entered into force December 31, 1974), to extend the Agreement as broadened and extended on June 21, 1973 (TIAS 7664; 24 UST 1603; entered into force July 1, 1973; see the 1973 Digest, Ch. 7, § 4, pp. 258-259).

The United States and the Soviet Union also agree, through the same exchange of notes, to extend three agreements reached on February 21, 1973: (1) on certain fisheries problems in the northeastern part of the Pacific Ocean off the U.S. coast (TIAS 7573; 24 UST 631); (2) relating to fishing operations in the northeastern Pacific Ocean (TIAS 7572; 24 UST 617); and (3) relating to fishing for king and tanner crab (TIAS 7571; 24 UST 603). For details on these agreements, see the 1973 Digest, Ch. 7, § 4, pp. 257-258.

U.S.-Brazil

The Offshore Shrimp Fisheries Act of 1973 (P.L. 93–242; 87 Stat. 1061), approved on January 2, 1974, implements the 1972 Shrimp Fishing Agreement between the United States and Brazil (TIAS 7603; 24 UST 923; entered into force February 14, 1973. See the 1973 Digest, Ch. 7, § 4, pp. 260-261.) The Agreement establishes a basis for conservation of the shrimp resource off the coast of Brazil.

Prior to the passage of the Offshore Shrimp Fisheries Act there was no legislation under which the United States could regulate its nationals and vessels in high seas fisheries in general or the high seas shrimp fishery in particular. The Act empowers the Government to impose such regulation in the case of the shrimp fishery within the designated area. The Act:

1. Defines the agreement area, the shrimp species to which conservation measures apply, the persons and property subject to the law and its penalties.

2. Provides for a limited number of annual permits, with the permit fees to cover the cost of carrying out the Agreement. Permits are

issued on certain terms and subject to refusal or revocation after hearing by a final and binding decision of the Secretary of Commerce.

3. Provides for voluntary prepayment of permit fees by fishermen and for an Offshore Shrimp Fisheries Fund composed of permit fees, appropriated funds, minimum penalties imposed, and miscellaneous income, out of which the United States will pay enforcement expenses provided for by the Agreement.

4. Requires shrimpers to keep a log of operations and to make certain reports to the Secretary of Commerce.

5. Forbids unpermitted shrimping in the Agreement area, transshipment of shrimp to an unlicensed vessel within the area, assaulting a boarding officer, shrimping by more than 160 vessels within the area at one time, fishing in contravention of Annex II of the Agreement, or failing to keep, or falsifying logbooks.

6. Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to assess penalties against violators and to issue all regulations necessary to implement the Agreement and other provisions of the Act.

7. Authorizes such appropriations as may be required to supplement the contributions of vessel owners, through permit fees, to the Fund for payment of enforcement expenses and for the cost to the U.S. Government of administering and enforcing the Agreement, the Act, and the implementing regulations.

Section 2 of the Act defines the limits of the area to which the Agreement applies so as to include essentially all of the major grounds traditionally fished by U.S. shrimp trawlers off the coast of Brazil and in a way which does not coincide with jurisdictional limits as they would be drawn by either party, although it is entirely beyond 12 nautical miles from shore and therefore in the view of the United States entirely on the high seas.

Section 15 of the Act provides a list of species of crustacea (including several crab species and lobster) and mollusks that are included as continental shelf fishery resources of the United States. The phrase "Continental Shelf fishery resource" is defined to mean living organisms belonging to sedentary species, i.e., “organisms, which at the harvestable stage, either are immobile on or under the seabed or are unable to move except in constant physical contact with the seabed or the subsoil of the Continental Shelf ..

The provisions of the Act, except Section 15, are to expire on June 15, 1975.

For background and analysis, see House Report No. 93-687, 93d Cong., 1st Sess., Dec. 1, 1973.