totaled 4.6 million pounds (International North Pacific 

 Fisheries Commission, 1964). The Japanese effort was 

 reduced to two factory ships and six longline vessels in 

 1964. They began fishing when the season opened on 

 March 25 and within a few weeks, because of poor 

 catches, shifted emphasis to fisliing for sablefish. The 

 1964 catch of halibut by Japanese longliners in the 

 eastern Bering Sea was only 261,000 pounds 

 (International North Pacific Fisheries Commission, 

 1965a). 



The longline fishery for sablefish was confined to the 

 central and eastern Bering Sea in the early 1960's and 

 was extended into the Gulf of Alaska in late 1963. It has 

 been a small-scale fishery involving no more than six 

 vessels at any given time. The vessels operate as 

 independent units which freeze their own catches and 

 remain on the grounds for 1 to 3 months. Upon 

 achieving maximum cargoes of up to 3 tons, they return 

 to their home ports. 





Japanese longline vessel fishing for sablefish in the Gulf of 

 Alaska. Japanese longliners in the Gulf operate as independent 

 units, fishing and processing their own catches until fully loaded, 

 and then returning to Japan. 



SOVIET FISHERIES 



The Soviet Union has become a dominant power in 

 world fishing in the last 10 years. During this period, the 

 Soviets have acquired fleets of ultramodern fishing, 

 processing, and support vessels; Soviet fisheries have 

 been expanded from inland and local coastal waters to 

 all oceans of the world; and the annual Soviet landings 

 have increased from 2.9 million tons^ (Bouchard, 1964) 

 to 5.9 million tons (Lyles, 1968). Further growth of 

 Soviet fisheries is signified in the current 5-year plan 

 which would raise the annual catcii to 9.6 million tons 

 by 1970. 



Of increasing importance to this tremendous growth 

 have been fishery resources of the vast Continental Shelf 

 off Alaska, exploited by the Soviet Far East Fishery 

 Administration. The Soviet Far East is an economic 

 region encompassing the coastal Siberian provinces along 

 the Pacific Ocean. Fishing has become tlie most 

 important industry in this region (Kravanja, 1964) and 

 in 1965 accounted for nearly 35 percent of the total 

 U.S.S.R. fishery landings. The Far East is divided into 

 six administrative provinces. The headquarters for the 

 Far East Fishery Administration is in Vladivostok, and 

 subordinate units are located in the provinces. 



Fishing in Russia during czarist days was principally 

 from shore in small sailing or rowing craft, but after the 

 1917 Revolution the Communist regime began 

 expanding and mechanizing the Soviet fishing fieet 

 (Shparlinskii, 1959). The Far East began operating its 

 first large trawlers in 1929, but growth of the fisheries 



Quantities in the Soviet section of the report which have 

 been taken from cited references have been converted from 

 metric tons to short tons. 



was slow prior to World War 11 and all operations were 

 close to the Siberian coast. After the war, the Soviets 

 reexamined their fisheries and began a program of large 

 capital investment in standardized vessel construction, 

 utilizing proven fishing and support vessel designs. Soviet 

 shipyards were expanded to meet increased 

 requirements. It quickly became evident, however, that 

 they could not keep pace with the construction needs, 

 and contracts were granted outside ihe U.S.S.R. to 

 shipyards in Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, 

 Poland. Sweden, Japan, the United Kingdom, East 

 Germany, and West Germany (Borgstrom, 1965). 



The 5-year plans for 1946-50 and 1951-55 allocated 

 to the Far East region nearly 35 percent of the total 

 Soviet investment in the fishing industry-of the SI. 3 

 billion provided during that 10-year period, the Far East 

 received S461 million. The 7-year plan for 1959-65 

 showed a striking increase in capital investment; S2.2 

 billion was allocated to the entire Soviet fishing 

 industry. By the end of that period, the Far East 

 received $728.7 million, or 3i percent of the total 

 (Kravanja, 1964). As a result, the Far East acquired large 

 numbers of modern trawlers and support vessels capable 

 of extended operations in distant waters. The Soviet 

 fisheries in the Pacific thus had a major transformation. 



The Far East fisheries grew rapidly in respect to both 

 area and landings. As late as 1950, Soviet fishing areas 

 were principally in coastal and inshore grounds. Only 36 

 percent of all Far East landings were taken from distant 

 areas. Within 10 years, however, distant-water fisheries 

 had become the major producers and in 1960 accounted 

 for 80 percent of all Far East landings (Mairova and 

 Vagner, 1965). Landings by the Far East fleets increased 

 from about 407,000 tons (Kravanja, 1964) in 1950 to 

 over 2 million tons in 1965-an amount equivalent to 



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