For over a month we have witnessed an intense campaign of accusations against the Spanish fishermen who, along with many other nationalities, fish in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.

A campaign in which strong language and means were used, with the only purpose of singling out Spain as the sole responsible for the current situation of the stocks in the North West Atlantic and denouncing the so-called "disgraceful practices" of the "Estai" vessel.

As regards these accusations of depleting the stocks of the Grand Banks, let us analyze the two annexed tables to shed some light on the truth. The first one refers to the fishing of cod from 1977 to 1993. The second one to the catches of flatfish from 1990 to 1993, the four years which preceded the closing of this fishery.

On 11 May 1994, at the House of Commons session (see Hansard) when the amendments to the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act were approved and a moratorium on cod fishing had been established two years before, these sentences could be heard with respect to Canadian fishermen:

"Newfoundland vessels in the same area manned by observers were directed to leave the area because their cod bycatch was over 11%, which is over twice the allowable limit."

"The captains had dumped their cod bycatch of some 22,000 kilograms while fishing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There were no observers aboard the vessels."

"Vessels without observers appeared to have dumped their catch of undersized redfish overboard. Neighbouring ships reported sailing through three or four miles of waters covered by dead juvenile redfish."

What a pity indeed that, contrary to some little turbot of our acquaintance, they did not have finger tips to cling to the sea bottom waiting for a hero to save them at the 11th hour.

As concerns the different accusations uttered against the Captain and crew of the "Estai", double sets of records, secret compartment, fish size, forbidden species, these have been too well denied by European Union spokesmen as well as a British inspector who registered the "Estai" upon her arrival at the Port of Vigo.

The summary report, which can be obtained from NAFO, read: "This detailed examination of the vessel and the rest of her cargo in Vigo did not reveal any offenses under European Union or NAFO Regulations. Furthermore, all available evidence suggests that the unsubstantiated but publicly proclaimed allegations made against the "Estai" by Canada are false."

Moreover, the inspection of the said vessel in December 1994 and January 1995, on two occasions by Canadian inspectors and one by European Union inspectors, did not reveal any infraction, whether books, catches or nets were concerned.

As concerns the alleged net of the "Estai" so carefully displayed in New York, attention should be given to its tendency to shrink after being fished out of the sea. The mesh sizes reported in Parliament and subsequently in that city did not concur. Are two nets involved? Whom was it borrowed from in St. John's? Could it have been wrongly measured intentionally?

The aforementioned British inspector points out in his report: "the composition of the catches on board was consistent with a legal mesh size and no fish beneath the retention size corresponding to the legal mesh size were found in the catch". Moreover the aforementioned inspections at sea and at Vigo revealed that all the fishing gear of the Estai was legal according to NAFO regulations.

Last but not least, one must point out the violations by Canada of the most basic rules of International Law, of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the agreements which regulate security at sea and the Charter of the United Nations.

The Canadian authorities proceeded to the illegal arrest with the use of force of a fishing vessel flying the Spanish flag, to cut the warps and the net respectively of two other vessels, thus seriously endangering the security of the vessel and her crew and they have continuously and dangerously interfered with the Spanish fishing activity on the high seas in total disregard of the UNCLOS and NAFO conventions.

Moreover Canada has withdrawn its commitment to accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice on fisheries conflicts.

Efforts were made to justify these illegal acts on the basis of alleged goals of conservation of the Greenland halibut, when it is generally known that, in spite of scientific criteria which indicated the feasibility of a 40,000 TN catch, the European Union accepted a TAC of 27,000. Another matter is the totally anomalous distribution of the quotas, a 300% increase for Canada and 90% reductions for the European Union, which proves the falsehood of this alleged conservationism and a decisive purpose on the part of Canada to keep on fishing the lion's share.

 
C O D (1)
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Years Total       Canada      %          Spain       %
      Catches     
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1977  386.596     174.741     45.19      30,867      8.07
1978  456.275     291.052     63.00      16.989      3.72
1979  477.279     369.788     77.47      24.774      5.19
 
1980  494.642     417.874     84.48      16.726      3.38
1981  507.178     432.143     85.20      26.035      5.13
1982  590.009     522.522     88.56      20.325      3.44
1983  591.226     519.255     87.82      21.789      3.68
1984  568.320     471.679     82.99      26.494      4.66
 
1985  567.619     466.008     82.09      29.234      5.15
1986  625.866     459.699     73.45      49.628      7.92
1987  546.438     452.407     82.79      31.129      5.69
1988  555.000     467.300     84.32      33.460      6.02
1989  512.000     425.400     83.20      30.261      5.85
 
1990  441.000     396.500     89.79      14.547      3.40
1991  350.000     308.500     88.28      13.757      4.00
1992  191.934     173.000     90.13       9.965      5.20
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(1)  Excluding fishing by Greenland (Denmark) and the USA.

American Plaice, Witch Flounder, Yellowtail Flounder
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Years Total       Canada      %          EU    %           Spain       %
      Catches
============================================================================
1990  82.000      55.000      67.07      3.968 4.83        891         1.08
1991  79.000      54.000      68.35      5.515 6.98        2.350       2.97
1992  60.000      37.000      61.66      2.971 4.95        1.607       2.67
1993  32.000      26.866      83.44      1.158 3.61        526         1.63
1994  ------      ------      --M O R A T O R I A--        -----       ----
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Sources:  The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and NAFO