Iti' 160' lii' ISC' 



Figure 14.— Soviet herring fishing area. 



fleet increased again in 1964 and had 100 to 150 

 trawlers and many support ships. 1 believe a maximum 

 annual catch of 150,000 to 200,000 tons was achieved 

 in 1964. 



In 1965 the herring expedition showed a normal 

 buildup and reached 100 to 150 ships shortly after the 

 first of the year. In late February, however, this fishery 

 was abandoned, reportedly because of adverse weather. 



The size of the fishery changed drastically in 1966. In 

 early December 1965, a small fleet of trawlers began 

 reconnaissance fishing on the herring grounds in the 

 central Bering Sea. By January, only about 15 trawlers 

 and a few support vessels were active. In late January 

 Soviet sources reported that the trawlers had not located 

 enough herring to support a fishery, and by 

 mid-February operations were ended. The failure of this 

 fishery in 1966 reportedly caused economic difficulties 

 for the Far East Fisheries because herring products were 

 relied upon for a large margin of profit. 



During the early years of this fishery, the herring 

 were lightly salted in barrels aboard the trawlers and 

 transferred to base ships which stored the barrels of 

 salted herrmg in refrigerated holds. By 1964 the new 

 multipurpose Zakharov-d^ss factory ships began to 

 appear in this fishery, and the trawlers then delivered 

 their catches directly to the factory snips where the 

 herring were lightly salted and then canned in 1 1 -pound 

 tins. 



PACIFIC OCEAN PERCH FISHERY 



The most extensive and perhaps the most productive 

 Soviet enterprise off Alaska is the trawl fishery for 

 rockfish, primarily ocean perch (fig. 15). Ocean perch, 

 according to Rybnoe Khozyaisto (1961), is considered a 

 valuable food fish in the Soviet Union and is marketed 

 fresh, refrigerated, and frozen. The largest portion of the 

 catch must be frozen or salted because the fish are 

 caught by the distant-water fleets far from consumer 

 markets. 



The Soviet ocean perch fishery off Alaska began in 

 1960 when 25 to 30 trawlers fished along the edge of 

 the Continental Shelf in the eastern and central Bering 

 Sea (Lestev. 1961). In succeeding years, fishing 

 expanded throughout the Gulf of Alaska, along the 

 Aleutian Islands, and to the coasts of British Columbia 

 and the Pacific Northwest States. In recent years, the 

 ocean perch fleets have had nearly 200 vessels at a time. 



All classes of trawlers in ihe Soviet Far East fish for 

 Pacific ocean perch off Alaska. Side trawlers, primarily 

 SRT's, are the principal type in the Gulf of Alaska, and 

 BMRT factory trawlers are the principal type along the 

 Aleutian Islands. The trawlers fish in areas where 

 reconnaissance vessels have previously located large 

 concentrations of perch. The trawls are fished just off 

 the seabed, generally along the edge of the Continental 

 Shelf, at depths of 80 to 150 fathoms. Side trawlers 



23 



