Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the European Economic Community Concerning Fisheries off the Coasts of the United States, Washington, 1984 Done at Washington 1 October 1984 Primary source citation: TIAS 11033 AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY CONCERNING FISHERIES OFF THE COASTS OF THE UNITED STATES THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY (hereinafter referred to as "the Community"), CONSIDERING their common concern for the rational management, conservation and achievement of optimum yield of fish stocks off the coasts of the United States; RECOGNIZING that the United States has established by Presidential Proclamation of 10 March 1983 an exclusive economic zone within 200 nautical miles of its coasts within which the United States has sovereign rights to explore, exploit, conserve and manage all fish and that the United States also has such rights over the living resources of the continental shelf appertaining to the United States and anadromous species of fish of United States origin; RECOGNIZING that the Community has been co-operating for the rational management and conservation of the living resources off the coasts of the United States and that Community fishermen traditionally have been co-operating in the development of these resources under the Agreement between the Government of the United States and the European Economic Community concerning fisheries off the coasts of the United States, signed 15 February 1977; and DESIROUS of establishing reasonable terms and conditions pertaining to fisheries of mutual concern over which the United States has sovereign rights to explore, exploit, conserve and manage; HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS: ARTICLE I The purpose of this Agreement is to promote effective conservation, rational management and the achievement of optimum yield in the fisheries of mutual interest off the coasts of the United States, to facilitate the rapid and full development of the United States fishing industry and to establish a common understanding of the principles and procedures under which fishing may be conducted by nationals and vessels of the Member States of the Community for the living resources over which the United States has sovereign rights to explore, exploit, conserve and manage. ARTICLE II As used in this Agreement, the term: 1) "living resources over which the United States has sovereign rights to explore, exploit, conserve and manage" means: all fish within the exclusive economic zone of the United States (except highly migratory species of tuna), all anadromous species of fish that spawn in the fresh or estuarine waters of the United States and migrate to ocean waters while present in the United States exclusive economic zone and in areas beyond national fisheries jurisdictions recognized by the United States and all living resources of the continental shelf appertaining to the United States; all finfish, molluscs, crustaceans, and other forms of marine animal and plant life, other than marine mammals, birds and highly migratory species; a) one or more stocks of fish that can be treated as a unit for purposes of conservation and management and that are identified on the basis of geographical, scientific, technical, recreational and economic characteristics; and a zone contiguous to the territorial sea of the United States, the seaward boundary of which is a line drawn in such a manner that each point on it is 200 nautical miles from the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea of the United States is measured; c) any other activity that can reasonably be expected to result in the catching, taking or harvesting of fish; d) any operations at sea, including processing, directly in support of, or in preparation for, any activity described in subparagraphs a) through c) above, provided that such term does not include other legitimate uses of the high seas, including any scientific research activity; any vessel, boat, ship, or other craft that is used for, equipped to be used for, or of a type that is normally used for: b) aiding or assisting one or more vessels at sea in the performance of any activity relating to fishing, including preparation, supply, storage, refrigeration, transportation or processing; species of tuna which in the course of their life cycle, spawn and migrate over great distances in waters of the ocean; and any mammal that is morphologically adapted to the marine environment, including sea otters and members of the orders Sirenia, Pinnipedia, and Cetacea, or primarily inhabits the marine environment such as polar bears. 1. ARTICLE III The Government of the United States is willing to allow access for fishing vessels of the Member States of the Community to harvest, in accordance with terms and conditions to be established in permits issued under Article VII, that portion of the total allowable catch for a specific fishery that will not be harvested by United States fishing vessels and is determined to be available to fishing vessels of Member States of the Community in accordance with United States law. 2. The Government of the United States shall determine each year, subject to such adjustments as may be necessitated by unforeseen circumstances affecting the stocks and in accordance with United States law: a) the total allowable catch for each fishery based on optimum yield, taking into account the best available scientific evidence, and social, economic and other relevant factors; b) the harvesting capacity of United States fishing vessels in respect of each fishery; c) d) 3. the portion of the total allowable catch for a specific fishery to which access will be provided, on a periodic basis each year, to foreign fishing vessels; and the allocation of such portion that may be made available to the Community. The United States shall determine each year the measures necessary to prevent overfishing while achieving, on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from each fishery in accordance with United States law. Such measures may include, inter alia: a) b) c) d) e) 4. designated areas where, and periods when, fishing shall be permitted, limited, or conducted only by specified types of fishing vessels or with specified types and quantities of fishing gear; limitations on the catch of fish based on area, species, size, number, weight, sex, incidental catch, total biomass or other factors; limitations on the number and types of fishing vessels that may engage in fishing and/or on the number of days each vessel or the total fleet may engage in a designated area for a specified fishery; requirements as to the types of gear that may, or may not, be employed; and requirements designed to facilitate enforcement of such conditions and restrictions, including the maintenance of appropriate position-fixing and identification equipment. The Government of the United States shall notify the Community of the determinations provided for by this Article on a timely basis. |