250 Escudos FAO - World Fisheries Conference

The 1984 World Fisheries Conference, held in Rome under FAO auspices, was convened in direct response to mounting evidence that global fish stocks were collapsing under industrial pressure. Portugal's participation was not incidental — the country's fishing industry, particularly its cod operations off Newfoundland and in northern waters, had been in crisis since extended maritime exclusion zones cut off traditional grounds in the late 1970s. The coin was struck in two die varieties, catalogued separately by Gomes as R 140.01 and R 140.02.