1. Remote and immediate facts to introduce the latest Fridays.

In its edition of Friday June 30th, the Globe and Mail reproduced the announcement made by a Scientific study to the effect that seals are feeding on 6.9 million tons of fish and other prey yearly.

Thus the Premier of Newfoundland will have to agree today with the Ambassador of Spain who strongly contradicted him at the first and last luncheon they ever had together, after the monthly meeting of the E.U. Ambassadors held at the residence of the Irish Ambassador, on November 9th 1993, which was then under the Greek Presidency of the E.U.

On that occasion, the Ambassador of Spain strongly rejected the agressive language used and the blunt accusations made by Mr. Clyde Wells against the Portuguese and Spanish fishing fleets, accusing them of being the main source of the disappearance of the cod on the Atlantic coast.

The present figures now released by Mr. Tobin, on the 28th of June, at Cap-aux-Meules (Que.) corroborate Dr. Pardos' position and refutal made clear to Mr. Clyde Wells: 3.2 million tons (46%) are consumed in Artic waters, 2.8 million tons (40%) in Newfoundland waters and approximately 1 million tons (14%) in the Gulf of St. Lawrence are also consumed by seals. The atlantic cod -whose disappearance was so nastly blamed on the Spanish and Portuguese by The Hon. Clyde Wells at the afore-mentioned luncheon- represented 88.000 tons in Newfoundland, 54.000 tons in the Gulf of St-Lawrence while most of the cod consumed was 1 to 2 years old (10 to 20cm in length).

When the Ambassador of Spain replied to Mr. Wells at the luncheon on November 9th 1993 that, besides the global and interdependent society we already live in, the changes in water temperatures, the increase of the seal population and the mismanagement of the Canadian authorities proper for over 17 years were perhaps the most important factors which had to be thoroughly investigated and confirmed before making such strong allegations against two friendly and allied countries, he was on the right track of the studies recently carried out and the figures subsequently announced by Mr. Tobin on June 28th last.

Although the purpose of the Hon. Brian Tobin was on this occasion to justify the beginning of a campaign to allow once more the cull of seals, the figures produced simply confirmed the affirmations which the Ambassador of Spain had made over two years before, to the Premier of a Province which was to become, 15 months later, the main scenario for the act of piracy perpetrated against the Spanish trawler ESTAI, her crew and Master.

But there is more. In the Québec daily newspaper "Le Devoir" dated July 1st last, the figures quoted are even more significant: seals have consumed 1.200.000 tons of artic cod and 620.000 of atlantic capelin. So in addition to the thesis maintained by the Ambassador of Spain on November 9th, 1993, Mr. Tobin has to admit (besides "mouth to mouth" kisses to sweet trouts and some peculiar "utterances" to the Vice-President of the E.U., Sir Leon Brittan) that the only signs of recovery in the fish stocks are found in haddock and precisely TURBOT in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (See the "Globe and Mail" of Friday, June 30th).

2. Friday June 23rd 1995.

But on that occasion, on Friday June 23rd, on the eve of the Patron Saint Day of the King of Spain -there is always an important Spanish date behind every Canadian move- Ms. Mewdell divulged publicly an information which was well known at least by Canadian and E.U. authorities: it was the inspection carried out -another coincidence?- only 3 days prior to the meeting at the G-7 between the E.U. representatives and Canadian authorities at a breakfast meeting on the 17th in Halifax. There was agreed to accord even less importance to this fact in view of the scarce amount of alleged overcatch found during the inspection (just over 10 tons or half the size of a normal truck load).

However, the announcement by Ms. Bonnie Mewdell was made, once more, on a Friday evening -the AFP press release from their Washington office, where it was leaked and subsequently reproduced in a Canadian press release at 16:51:00 on the evening of the same Friday in Ottawa, in the traditional Tobin style, stating that:

* 1st. A search was carried out on board a Spanish fishing vessel, the "Patricia Nores" by a "Canadian destroyer crew".

* 2nd. The vessel was stopped on the tail of the Grand Banks, just outside Canada's 200-mile limit.

* 3rd. Illegal merchandise was found -again like the ESTAI?- in a "secret hold" aboard the vessel and that the amount of the overcatch was no more no less than 11 tons, adding the unfounded allegation that the "Spanish government has agreed with the Canadian findings!".

* 4th. And to sum up this common Tobin language style, that "Le chalutier devra faire face à la musique quand il sera revenu à son port d'attache", declared Ms. Mewdell.

"Démarches" were made by the Spanish Embassy with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and ADM Mr. Juneau, who was unavailable either at his home, office or cellular phone -this time running out of batteries-. Finally, the Ambassador located Mr. Di Gangi, because Mr. Dubois was on holidays and, naturally, being a Friday, Mr. Duval was not home. Finally, Mr. Di Gangi who did not have a clue about the incident, gathered more information and around midnight confirmed, in part, the contents of the press releases to the Ambassador.

The fact that the 11 tons of turbot (compared to the 1.200.000 reportedly consumed by the seals in the last scientific report?) were something important for DFO was confirmed by the fact that the Delegate of the Commission was reportedly saying that he was being persecuted on his diplomatic Arctic Tour by Minister Tobin.

In any case, this other version of another perfect Friday was the excuse or the perfect alibi, in the best tradition of the DFO to hamper the negotiations, once more, initiated in Brussels, at the Canadian request, in order to reach an agreement on quotas for 1966 and beyond.

To make a long story short, we must never forget that with Canadian experts, specially from DFO, you never know which stage of the operation you are at: negotiations, conversations, intonations or perhaps declarations toward total confusion or "chaostion"!

3. On that very same Friday, the 23rd of June.

Coincidentally, the Norwegian authorities who had been approached long ago and had reached agreements through some legal instruments played by the Canadian music players, with a symphony different from that of the Moroccan approach, disclosed, practically simultaneously, a protest from Oslo against the E.U. alleging illegal fishing of turbot by Spanish vessels, while summer flounder was the only species allowed to be catched.

Does all that resemble, with a perspective now of a few months of reflection, another global move, such as the one which coincided with the negotiations... declarations... intonations... that time in Brussels, after the seizure of the ESTAI, sparking around South Africa, Ireland, the UK or even Senegal chasing the only depredators of the oceans from the Iberian peninsula? Are we once more, on this last Friday of June, facing another general Canadian simple and pure orchestration? For what purpose? With which targets? With what aims?

Our feeling is that there are too many Fridays on the DFO's records and probably too many hidden agendas as well!

4. Friday the 30th of june: the target reached!

This whole operation, since the very start, also had a precise beginning: the passing of the Legislation of Bill C-29, its approval by the Ottawa Parliament in 3 days, and so on and so forth. In this very case, the target, the aim, the purpose was: TO CANCEL POSSIBLE NEGOTIATIONS on an Agreement on the sharing of quotas, to be submitted at the next NAFO meeting in Dartmouth, N.S. in September, together with the E.U. and Canada.