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THE MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION COMPENDIUM

BILATERAL / UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
Volume(s) 1-3; pages 3504-3507


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Amendment to the Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Relating to the Consideration of Claims Resulting from Damage to Fishing Vessels or Gear and Measures to Prevent Fishing Conflicts, Washington, 1975


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Done at Washington 26 February 1975


Entered into force 1 April 1975


Primary source citation: 26 UST 167, TIAS 8022


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FEBRUARY 26, 1975

His Excellency VLADIMIR M. KAMENTSEV, Chairman of the Delegation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

EXCELLENCY:

I have the honor to refer to the Agreement between our two Governments relating to the Consideration of Claims Resulting from Damage to Fishing Vessels or Gear and Measures to Prevent Fishing Conflicts, signed at Moscow on February 21, 1973, and to propose that Annex II as enclosed with this note be substituted for Annex II of that Agreement as originally set forth in the Protocol of June 21, 1973. If the foregoing proposal is acceptable to Your Excellency, it is proposed that this note together with your reply shall constitute an Agreement between our two Governments which shall enter into force on April 1, 1975. Accept, Excellency, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration.

William L. Sullivan, Jr. Acting Chairman of the Delegation of the United States of America

Enclosure: Annex II. ANNEX II MEASURES TO PREVENT FISHING CONFLICT IN THE WESTERN AREAS OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN OFF THE COAST OF NORTH AMERICA

1. This Annex applies to the waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North America.

For purposes of this Annex,

‘fishing vessel’ means any vessel engaged in the business of catching fish;

‘vessel’ means any fishing vessel and any vessel engaged in the business of processing fish or providing supplies or services to fishing vessels.

2. Fishing vessels shall be registered and marked in order to ensure their proper identification at sea in accordance with the regulations of each Government. The competent authorities of each Government shall inform the competent authorities of the other Government of the system of registration and marking used.

Each fishing vessel shall carry on board an official document, issued by the competent authority of its country, showing the name, if any, and description of the vessel, its nationality, its registration letter or letters and number, and the name of the owner or of the firm of association to which it belongs.

Each fishing vessel shall carry a national flag in good condition to be shown at the request of the competent authorities.

The nationality of a fishing vessel shall not be concealed in any manner whatsoever.

3. Subject to compliance with the International Regulations for Prevention of Collision at Sea all vessels shall conduct their operations so as not to interfere with the operations of fishing vessels, or fishing gear.

Vessels arriving on fishing grounds where fishing vessels are already fishing or have set their gear for that purpose shall inform themselves of the position and extent of gear already placed in the sea and shall not place themselves or their fishing gear so as to interfere with or obstruct fishing operations already in progress.

No vessel shall anchor or remain on a fishing ground where fishing is in progress if it would interfere with such fishing unless required for the purpose of its own fishing operations or in consequence of accident or other circumstances beyond its control.

Except in cases of force majeure no vessel shall dump in the sea any article or substance which may interfere with fishing or obstruct or cause damage to fish, fishing gear or fishing vessels.

No vessel shall use or have on board explosives intended for the catching of fish.

In order to prevent damage, fishing vessels engaged in trawling and other fishing vessels with gear in motion shall take all practicable steps to avoid nets and lines or other gear which is not being towed.

(1) When nets belonging to different fishing vessels get foul of each other, they shall not be severed without the consent of the parties concerned unless it is impossible to disengage them by other means.

(2) When fishing vessels fishing with lines entangle their lines, the fishing vessel which hauls up the lines shall not sever them unless they cannot be disengaged in any other way, in which case any line which may be severed shall where possible be immediately joined together again.

(3) Except in cases of salvage and the cases to which the two preceding subparagraphs relate, nets, lines or other gear shall not, under any pretext whatever, be cut, hooked, held on to, or lifted up, except by the fishing vessel to which they belong.

(4) When a vessel fouls or otherwise interferes with gear not belonging to it, it shall take all necessary measures for reducing to a minimum the injury which may result to such gear. The fishing vessel to which the gear belongs shall, at the same time, avoid any action tending to aggravate such damage.

4. With respect to nets, lines and other gear anchored in the sea, fishing vessels shall comply with the rules set out below in this paragraph.

Gear shall be marked sufficiently to indicate its position and extent. The ends of lines to which fishing gear anchored in the sea is attached should be marked with buoys. The westernmost (meaning the half compass circle from the south through the west to and including north) end buoy should be fitted with two flags one above the other or one flag and a radar reflector, and the easternmost (meaning the half compass circle from the north through east to and including south) end buoy should be fitted with one flag or radar reflector. The westernmost end buoy may be fitted with one or two white lights, and the easternmost end buoy may be fitted with one white light. On gear extending more than 1

miles additional buoys should be placed at distances of not more than 1 mile so that no part of the gear extending 1 mile or more is left unmarked. Each additional buoy should be fitted with a flag or radar reflector and may be fitted with one white light. The flagpole of each buoy should have a height of at least 2 meters above the buoy. Each buoy should be marked so that ownership may be determined.

Fishing vessels operating gear anchored in the sea shall, when they are present, notify approaching vessels of the position and extent of gear.

Fishing vessels using mobile gear shall:

(1) Maintain a continuous visual and radar watch for markers indicating the position and extent of gear anchored in the sea.

(2) Avoid areas where gear is known to be anchored in the sea during periods of reduced visibility and hours of darkness.

5. The American side will inform the Soviet fishing fleet, through the Chief of the joint expeditions of the Main Fishery Administration ‘ZAPRYBA’, of the known locations of fixed fishing gear on a timely basis by transmitting daily messages by radio in the following manner:

The message transmitted on the first day of each month shall be a summary report containing a complete description of the fixed fishing gear located along the entire coast as of date, without referring to earlier messages, and shall be numbered as follows:

01 01 75 (for 1st January 1975)

01 02 75 (for 1st February 1975) etc.

Subsequent daily messages concerning changes occuring in the locations of the fixed gear described in the first message for the current month shall be numbered in the order in which they are transmitted during that month; thus for January 1975:

 

1 1 75
2 1 75
31 1 75;

 

where the first two figures indicate the sequence number of a message during that month. The summary and daily messages shall indicate both the type and location of the fixed fishing gear.

TRANSLATION

Washington, D.C., February 26, 1975

His Excellency W. L. Sullivan, Jr., Acting Chairman of the Delegation of the United States of America.

Excellency:

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency's note of today's date, which states as follows:

[For the English language text, see p. 3504.]

I have the further honor to confirm the aforesaid understanding in the name of the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and to agree that Your Excellency's note together with this reply shall constitute an Agreement between our two Governments.

Accept, Excellency, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration.

V.M. Kamentsev Chairman of the Delegation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics