The World - News from April 2, 1989

Canada and France settled a decade-old dispute involving fishing rights in the seas around the French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, which lie just 15 miles southwest of Newfoundland. Under the agreement, French fishermen will have an annual quota of more then 42,000 tons of fish in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the banks off the islands over three years. The two nations also agreed to send a dispute over boundaries in the region to binding arbitration by a five-member international panel. The dispute began in 1977 when Canada proclaimed an economic zone of 200 miles and France responded by declaring an identical zone around the islands.