Fisheries Convention

 

 

Article 1

(1) Each Contracting Party recognizes the right of any other Contracting
Party to establish the fishery r‚gime described in Articles 2 to 6 of the
present Convention.

(2) Each Contracting Party retains however the right to maintain the
fishery r‚gime which it applies at the date on which the present
Convention is opened for signature, if this r‚gime is more favourable to
the fishing of other countries than the r‚gime described in Articles 2 to
6.

Article 2

The coastal State has the exclusive right to fish and exclusive
jurisdiction in matters of fisheries within the belt of six miles
measured from the baseline of its territorial sea.

Article 3

Within the belt between six and twelve miles measured from the baseline
of the territorial sea, the right to fish shall be exercised only by the
coastal State and by such other Contracting Parties, the fishing vessels
of which have habitually fished in that belt between 1st January, 1953
and 31st December 1962.

Article 4

Fishing vessels of the Contracting Parties, other than the coastal State,
permitted to fish under Article 3, shall not direct their fishing effort
towards stocks of fish or fishing grounds substantially different from
those which they have habitually exploited. The coastal State may enforce
this rule.

Article 5

(1) Within the belt mentioned in Article 3 the coastal State has the
power to regulate the fisheries and to enforce such regulations,
including regulations to give effect to internationally agreed measures
of conservation, provided that there shall be no discrimination in form
or in fact against fishing vessels of other Contracting Parties fishing
in conformity with Articles 3 and 4.

(2) Before issuing regulations, the coastal State shall inform the other
Contracting Parties concerned and consult those Contracting Parties, if
they so wish.

Article 6

Any straight baseline or bay closing line which a Contracting Party may
draw shall be in accordance with the rules of general international law
and in particular with the provisions of the Convention on the
Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone opened for signature at Geneva on
29th April, 1958.

Article 7

Where the coasts of two Contracting Parties are opposite or adjacent to
each other, neither of these Contracting Parties is entitled, failing
agreement between them to the contrary, to establish a fisheries r‚gime
beyond the median line, every point of which is equidistant from the
nearest points on the low water lines of the coasts of the Contracting
Parties concerned.

Article 8

(1) Once a Contracting Party applies the r‚gime described in Articles 2
to 6, any right to fish which it may thereafter grant to a State not a
Contracting Party shall extend automatically to the other Contracting
Parties, whether or not they could claim this right by virtue of habitual
fishing, to the extent that the State not a Contracting Party avails
itself effectively and habitually of that right.

(2) If a Contracting Party which has established the r‚gime described in
Articles 2 to 6 should grant to another Contracting Party any right to
fish which the latter cannot claim under Articles 3 and 4, the same right
shall extend automatically to all other Contracting Parties. Article 9

Article 9

(1) In order to allow fishermen of other Contracting Parties, who have
habitually fished in the belt provided for in Article 2 to adapt
themselves to their exclusion from that belt, a Contracting Party which
establishes the r‚gime provided for in Articles 2 to 6, shall grant to
such fishermen the right to fish in that belt for a transitional period,
to be determined by agreement between the Contracting Parties concerned.

(2) If a Contracting Party establishes the r‚gime described in Articles 2
to 6, it may, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 2, continue to
accord the right to fish in the whole or part of the belt provided for in
Article 2 to other Contracting Parties of which the fishermen have
habitually fished in the area by reason of voisinage arrangements.

Article 10

Nothing in the present Convention shall prevent the maintenance or
establishment of a special r‚gime in matters of fisheries:

(a) as between States Members and Associated States of the European
Economic Community,
(b) as between States Members of the Benelux Economic Union,
(c) as between Denmark, Norway and Sweden,
(d) as between France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland in respect of Granville Bay and the Minquiers and
the Ecrehos,
(e) as between Spain, Portugal and their respective neighbouring
countries in Africa,
(f) in the Skagerrak and the Kattegat.

Article 11

Subject to the approval of the other Contracting Parties, a coastal State
may exclude particular areas from the full application of Articles 3 and
4 in order to give preference to the local population if it is
overwhelmingly dependent upon coastal fisheries.

Article 12

The present Convention applies to the waters adjacent to the coasts of
the Contracting Parties listed in Annex I. This Annex may be amended with
the consent of the Governments of the Contracting Parties. Any proposal
for amendment shall be sent to the Government of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland which shall notify it to all
Contracting Parties, and inform them of the date on which it enters into
force.

Article 13

Unless the parties agree to seek a solution by another method of peaceful
settlement, any dispute which may arise between Contracting Parties
concerning the interpretation or application of the present Convention
shall at the request of any of the parties be submitted to arbitration in
accordance with the provisions of Annex II to the present Convention.

Article 14

(1) The present Convention shall be open for signature from 9th March,
1964 to 10th April, 1964. It shall be subject to ratification or approval
by the signatory Governments, in accordance with their respective
constitutional procedures. The instruments of ratification or approval
shall be deposited as soon as possible with the Government of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

(2) The present Convention shall enter into force upon the deposit of
instruments of ratification or approval by eight signatory Governments.
If, however, on 1st January, 1966, this condition is not fulfilled, those
Governments which have deposited their instruments of ratification or
approval may agree by special protocol on the date on which the
Convention shall enter into force. In either case the Convention shall
enter into force with respect to any Government that ratifies or approves
thereafter on the date of deposit of its instrument of ratification or
approval.

(3) Any State may at any time after the Convention has come into force
accede thereto upon such conditions as may be agreed by it with the
Contracting Parties. Accession on the conditions agreed shall be effected
by notice in writing addressed to the Government of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

(4) The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland shall inform all signatory and acceding Governments of all
instruments of ratification or approval deposited and accessions received
and shall notify signatory and acceding Governments of the dates on which
and the Governments in respect of which the present Convention enters
into force.

Article 15

The present Convention shall be of unlimited duration. However at any
time after the expiration of a period of twenty years from the initial
entry into force of the present Convention, any Contracting Party may
denounce the Convention by giving two years’ notice in writing to the
Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The latter shall notify the denunciation to the Contracting Parties.

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Conventions: Chronological Index 1951-1970, Flora and Fauna – Biodiversity conventions, Marine and Coastal conventions, North-East Atlantic Fisheries Convention.