Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Working together

The fishing wars between Canada and Portugal had already diminished in intensity over the past few years. Now, they may be at an end:
Federal Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan signed a bilateral pact with his Portuguese counterpart Wednesday, praising the nation whose fishermen he once called pirates and whose vessels Canada has seized and cited for multiple fisheries violations.

The two leaders vowed to work together to bring order to the lucrative fisheries in international waters after years of sparring over illegal fishing in the North Atlantic, including the detention of one Portuguese boat in St. John's, N.L...

Regan said the Portuguese have already started restricting fishing activity in waters outside Canada's exclusive 200-mile limit that are managed by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, or NAFO.

As the article indicates, Portugal's record is far from perfect. But the willingness of the two governments to work together should make it a lot easier to ensure compliance in the future, in addition to defusing the past conflicts. Kudos all around.

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