Figure 16.— Soviet eastern Bering Sea king crab fishing area. 



first 3 years of the fishery the catch increased 

 accordingly-from 620,000 crabs in 1959 to over 3.4 

 milhon crabs in 1961. In 1962 the trend reversed itself, 

 and, in spite of annual increases in the amount of gear, 

 the catch dropped from 3 million crabs in 1962 to just 

 over 2.2 million crabs in 1965. In 1966, the decline 

 halted and the catch rose to over 2.5 million crabs. 



The Soviets fish for eastern Bering Sea king crabs in 

 the same manner as the Japanese. The Soviet fishery, 

 however, has been entirely on that area of the 

 Continental Shelf north of the Alaska Peninsula and has 

 not extended to the Pribilof Islands area as has the 

 Japanese. Also, the Soviet fishery is about 2 months 

 shorter than the Japanese fishery. 



The Soviets fished for king crabs in the Gulf of 

 Alaska on two occasions, but both of those ventures 

 were short lived. In mid-June 1963, two crab fleets 

 moved from the Bristol Bay flats into the western Gulf 

 of Alaska and fished tangle nets in the Chirikof Island 

 area southwest of Kodiak Island. The United States 

 protested this incursion and contended that the coastal 

 State has sovereign rights to certain natural resources 

 (including king crabs) on the Continental Shelf beyond 

 the limits of its territorial waters in accordance with the 

 Geneva International Convention on the Continental 

 Shelf-to which the U.S.S.R. was a signatory. The 

 Soviets withdrew their crab fleets back into the Bering 

 Sea by mid-July. Soviet officials reported that 2,200 

 tons of king crab were taken in the Gulf of Alaska in 

 1963. In April 1964 one of the Soviet crab fleets again 

 appeared in the Gulf and fished tangle nets near Chirikof 

 Island. The United States again protested, and the Soviet 



crab fleet was withdrawn to the Bering Sea within 3 

 weeks. According to the Soviets, the brief 1964 fishery 

 in the Gulf yielded 1 ,600 tons of king crabs. 



The threat of further Soviet king crab fishing in the 

 Gulf of Alaska was forestaOed in February 1965 when 

 the United States and the Soviet Union entered into 

 agreement governing Soviet fishing for king crabs on the 

 Continental Shelf off Alaska during 1965-66. The 

 agreement, similar to the one with the Japanese, 



King crab being removed from Soviet tangle nets in eastern 

 Bering Sea. Picker boats are used to retrieve tangle nets and their 

 catches of crab. The crab are removed from the net as it is 

 brought aboard the picker boats and are delivered to factory 

 ships for canning. 



27 



