HARRY TRUMAN LIBRARY Papers of NATHANIEL DAVIS The proposed fisheries convention. The object of this convention is to establish a joint Costa RicanAmerican cormission to make a scientific study of the nature and extent of the fishing resources of Costa Rican and adjacent waters in order to provide the necessary basic scientific information on which to develop a fisheries policy or program, including the possible desirability of limitations on catch, closed seasons, and the like. said no one presently knows the answers to various scientific questions dealing with fish population, bait, etc. and the purpose of this convention is to find those answers in order that subsequent action may be taken intelligently. The President interrupted to say that he had understood that the convention involved a concession of some sort. replied that it involved no concession to anyone. Neither Costa Rica nor the United States was giving away anything; we would simply agree to make a joint study which would have value to both or us. said the best answer to the allegation that Costa Rica was giving away something was that the proposed convention follows very closely a sinilar one recently entered into with Mexico and he knew very well that the Mexican dovertiment never gives away anything.
The President laughed and then reparked that Costa Rica had no scientists. said know that and that undoubtedly the commission would plan to use the services of scientists of our own fish and wild Life Service but that an international comission is necessary to direct the work in order that it might have proper au thority to carry on its activities and to require fishermen and offic of both countries to urnish such information as the commission night require of then. The question of customs duties. This had been injected into the discussions some time after they had first been started. recognized that the matter was one of importance to Costa Rica but was not one that could be considered in connection with the fishing treaty. It would have to be discussed with an entirely different set of officials and in entirely different circumstances. said that tariff concessions are no simple matter. Costa Rica and the cannot stt down at the table and in a couple of yours decide that we will waive duties on some particular Costa Rican product. Any tartir concessions We give would have to be generalised under our most favored nation policy and would also have to be related very