In 1954 the United Nations Statistical Commission decided that fish catches should be assigned to the country of the flag flown by the fishing vessel. This concept was adopted by all member agencies of the Coordinating Working Party on Fishery Statistics (CWP) at its Ninth Session (1977) and defined more precisely at the CWP’s Tenth Session (1980) as follows:
The flag of the vessel performing the essential part of the operation catching the fish, should be considered the paramount indication of the nationality assigned to the catch data and this indication overridden only when one of the following arrangements between a foreign flag vessel and the host country exists:a) the vessel is chartered by the host country to augment its fishing fleet; orWhen governments negotiate joint ventures or other contracts in which vessels of one country land their catches at ports of another country or unload their catches to vessels of another country and the one of the above-mentioned criteria is applicable, the assignment of nationality to such catches and landings data should be specified in the agreement.b) the vessel fishes for the country by joint venture contract or similar agreements (as opposed to the ad hoc practice of a vessel selling catches to a foreign vessel or landing catches at a foreign port) and the operation of such vessel is an integral part of the economy of the host country.
This formulation had, it appears, worked quite well, except in the area of charters and joint ventures. The Eighteenth Session of CWP (Luxembourg, 6-9 July 1999) refined the criteria further by seeking to strengthen the role of the flag State even more and endeavouring to eliminate some of the uncertainties surrounding joint ventures and charters. The revised formulation which was adopted by the CWP reads:
The flag State of the vessel performing the essential part of the fishing operation shall be responsible for the provision of catch and landing data.Where a foreign flag vessel is fishing in the waters under the national jurisdiction of another State, the flag State of the vessel shall have at all times the responsibility to provide relevant catch and landing data. The only exceptions to this shall be:
(a) where the vessel undertakes fishing under a charter agreement or arrangement to augment the local fishing fleet, and the vessel has become for all practical purposes a local fishing vessel of the host country;In any situation where there is uncertainty as to the application of these criteria, any agreement, charter, joint venture or other similar arrangement shall contain a provision setting out clearly the responsibility for reporting catch and landing data, which shall be reported to the flag State, and, where relevant, to any coastal State in whose waters fishing operations are to take place or competent subregional, regional or global fisheries organization or arrangement(b) where the vessel undertakes fishing pursuant to a joint venture or similar arrangement in waters under the national jurisdiction of another State and the vessel is operating for all practical purposes as a local vessel, or its operation has become, or is intended to become, an integral part of the economy of the host country.
