protection. These vessels operate in the 

 Russian fishing grounds in the Japan, 

 Okhotsk, and Bering Seas. 



In January 1990, the USSR received the 

 first vessel, Komandor, which was registered 

 in Vladivostok and deployed in Arctic waters. 

 The Komandor (88.3 meters long) is equipped 

 for towing and rescue work in severe 

 weather, and has a helicopter landing pad. 

 The second vessel was bought by 

 PRIMORRYBVOD and went to the Far East 

 in February 1990. The third and fourth 

 vessels both arrived in the Far East in mid- 

 1990. 



These four vessels {Komandor, Kherluf 

 Bidstrup, Manchzhur, Shkipper Gek), 

 however, are insufficient to protect the 

 Russian Far Eastern fisheries. It was 

 expected that the conversion of several 

 defense facilities to civilian production might 

 allow the USSR Ministry of the Shipbuilding 

 Industry to begin producing specialized 

 fishery protection vessels in Russian 

 shipyards.-" The current status of this plan, 

 however, is unknown. 



East Germany: The former German 

 Democratic Republic has been building 

 factory trawlers in its STRALSUND People's 

 Shipyard for the past 35 years. Known as the 

 ATLANTIK-class stern factory trawlers, these 

 highly adaptable vessels are capable of 

 catching large quantities of fish anywhere in 

 the world's oceans. 



The Germans have redesigned the 

 ATLANTIK prototype three times and each 

 modernized version was avidly bought by the 

 Soviets. The first version, the ATLANTIK I 

 class was constructed from 1966-76; the 

 second, the ATLANTIK II or PROMETEI 

 class, was built from 1971-83; the third, the 



ATLANTIK III or ORLENOK class, was 

 built from 1981-87; and the fourth, the 

 ATLANTIK IV or MOONZUND class, was 

 introduced in 1988. Its construction 

 continued until 1991 when STRALSUND 

 stopped building fishing vessels. 



Of an estimated 600 ATLANTIKs built at 

 Stralsund, over 500 trawlers were sold to the 

 former Soviet Union. Together with Soviet 



domestic construction and imports of similar 

 vessels from Poland, the German trawlers 

 constituted the backbone of the Soviet high- 

 seas fishing fleet. When the USSR broke up, 

 the ATLANTIKs were divided among the 

 successor republics (table 2). 



The last Soviet order was for 45 

 ATLANTIK IV supertrawlers of which the 

 East German shipyard built and consigned 33 

 units. The deliveries were stopped in 1991 

 when the East Germans, now unified with the 

 Federal Republic of Germany, began to 

 demand payment in hard currencies which the 

 Russian Federation could not provide.'' 



Seven of the 12 undelivered supertrawlers 

 are in the process of being released to Russia. 

 These 7 MOONZUND-class vessels were 

 ordered as part of a previous multi-vessel 



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