Number of vessels 



10 



'Sj. %. '9j.'S;^ 'Sj, <». <9. <S(, 'A, <S5, <ao 's„ 's~ 'S>^ 'S^ *q. *o ^o 



Figure 1. Bulgaria. Number of high-seas fishing vessels, ranked by tonnage, 1975-92 



gross tonnage, even though it only has 24 

 units. 



The data obtained from 

 Lloyd's of London (appendix 3) 

 agree with those from the U.S. 

 Navy, except that for 1992, 

 Lloyd's lists 21 trawlers rather 

 than the 19 listed in Office of 

 Naval lintelligence's compilation 

 of July 1993. 



The composition of the 

 Bulgarian high-seas fishing fleet 

 has barely changed for almost 2 

 decades (figure 1), but beginning 

 in 1990, the reduction of 7 vessels 

 is readily apparent. The number 

 of fishery support vessels, 

 however, has not changed at all 

 (figure 2). Fluctuations in the 

 gross registered tonnage of the 



high-seas fleet over the past 17 years are 



given in appendix 3 . 



The 10 vessels having less than 500 gross 

 tons are actually small coastal vessels with 

 slightly over 100 gross tons each. Half of 

 them were purchased recently (1990) from the 

 former Soviet Union; the other half is much 

 older (4 cutters were bought from the former 

 East Germany in 1965). All 10 

 most likely fish in the Black Sea, 

 but detailed information on their 

 deployment is lacking. 



The 24 vessels which have 

 over 500 gross tons are divided 

 into 2 groups: one, composed of 

 19 large stern factory trawlers, 

 conducts fishery operations on the 

 high-seas; the second, consisting 

 of 5 large base ships, supports the 

 fishing operations of the first 

 group. In fact, each of these 

 vessels has over 2,000 gross tons 

 (appendix 2). 



A, High-seas Fleet 



In March 1964, Bulgaria purchased its first 

 large stern factory trawler of the TROPIK 

 class and entered the high-seas fisheries 

 (appendix 1). This purchase was followed by 



Number of vessels 



■OOver 4,000 GRT 



/7Z 



n 



7777777i 



1_L 



'%\'->/%'%\\\\\\\%\'\\\'% 



Figure 2. Bulgaria. Number of high-seas fishery suppoit vessels; 1975-92. 

 187 



