Northern (N): Soviet Union (NS). Negotiations on Fishing Rights Between Soviet Union and UK

A file of correspondence and treaty material on negotiations over a fishing agreement between the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. The file contains the text of the agreement, which allowed British vessels to fish three miles off certain areas of the coast of northern Russia, and was signed in May 1956. The file also discusses British justifications of the agreement, which offered fewer concessions than the recently-expired agreement signed in 1930; a question in the British Parliament on the agreement, concerning the British attitude to the Soviet claim of a twelve-mile limit for its territorial waters; and the announcement of the agreement to British captains. Other topics covered include the presence of mines in the east of the area covered by the agreement; the level of ceremony to attach to the ratification of the agreement; and the indefinite delay of ratification following the deterioration in Anglo-Soviet relations in November 1956.