The Soviets increased their emphasis on whaling in 

 1963 when two new modern factory ships joined the old 

 converted factory ship. These three ships, with 46 killer 

 vessels, began whaling along the western Aleutians in 

 March; by August Soviet killer vessels were hunting 

 whales throughout the Aleutian Islands and in the Gulf 

 of Alaska. Wlialing continued into September. A fourth 

 fleet operated briefly off Alaska in 1963; it hunted 

 whales off the Pacific Northwest and in the Gulf of 

 Alaska while en route to Vladivostok from the 

 Antarctic. 



In 1964 the Soviet North Pacific whaling expedition 

 lasted from March into September. One fleet worked 

 primarily along the Aleutian Islands westward to the 

 Siberian coast, and two fleets ranged from the 

 north-central Bering Sea to off southeastern Alaska. 

 Again in 1964, another fleet hunted ofT Alaska while en 

 route from the Antarctic to Vladivostok. A marked 

 difference in 1964 was that the Soviet whaling fleets 

 remained farther offshore, rarely being sighted within 20 

 miles of the coast. 



The same three fleets operated in the North Pacific in 

 1965. After they left from Vladivostok in April, the 

 fleets apparently found good hunting in the central 

 North Pacific and remained in that area for several 

 weeks, because the first whaling vessels did not appear 

 off Alaska until mid-May. It was not until June that 

 vessels from two other fleets appeared off Alaska. The 

 latter fleets ranged throughout tiie Gulf of Alaska and 

 by mid-July had joined the third fleet along the Aleutian 

 Islands. The three fleets operated along the Aleutians for 

 the remainder of the expedition except t~or the last part 



of July and about the first 3 weeks of August when one 

 fleet hunted off the coast of southeastern Alaska. 

 According to Soviet sources, the fleets returned to 

 Vladivostok in November. Another fleet again hunted 

 briefly off Alaska while en route home from the 

 1964-65 Antarctic whaling season. 



The Soviets reported tliat five whaling fleets were to 

 operate in the North Pacific in 1966. Three fleets left 

 Vladivostok in May. One of those fleets operated along 

 the Aleutian Islands in May, June, and July; the other 



Soviet whale killer vessel hunting whales in the North Pacific 

 Ocean. A fleet of about 12 killer vessels accompanies a factory 

 ship. The whales are killed by harpoons shot from guns on the 

 bow of the killer vessels. 



^ b_l I L 



Figure 18. -Soviet whaling areas. 



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