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Message to the Senate Transmitting the United States- Brazil Agreement on Shrimp.
June 11, 1975

To the Senate of the United States:

With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith the Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil concerning Shrimp. Also enclosed are an Agreed Minute, a related exchange of notes concerning compensation, an exchange of notes concerning interim undertakings, and translations of the Brazilian notes. These documents were signed at Brasilia on March 14, 1975.

The Agreement establishes a basis for regulating the conduct of shrimp fishing in a defined area off the coast of Brazil. Such regulation will help to conserve shrimp resources and will provide an interim solution to problems which have arisen over jurisdiction over those resources.

The measures prescribed in the Agreement will safeguard the economic interests of the shrimp industries of both countries and protect from prejudice their respective legal positions on the extent of coastal state jurisdiction over ocean fisheries under international law. The interim nature of the Agreement reflects the expectation that this underlying question may in the near future be settled by general international agreement on the law of the sea.

A more detailed explanation of the Agreement is contained in the report of the Department of State which also accompanies this message.

This Agreement will contribute to maintaining and strengthening the friendship and cooperation which have long characterized relations between the United States and Brazil. I recommend that the Senate give it early and favorable consideration.
GERALD R. FORD
The White House,
June 11, 1975.

NOTE: The agreement and accompanying papers are printed in Senate Executive D (94th Cong., 1st sess.).