382. 
fishing fleet when measured in gross registered tons. This is an indica- 
tion that the Soviets support their worldwide, distant-water fisheries 
with vessels larger than those of any other nation, including Japan. 
These larger vessels, on the other hand, not only increase the costs 
of fishing operations enormously, they also lower the average produc- 
tivity per gross ton. 
The total number of Soviet high-seas fishing vessels is about 4,450. 
Many of these vessels were purchased in Poland, the German 
Democratic Republic, and in West European countries. A total of 
about 780 large stern factory trawlers currently fish under the Soviet 
flag, representing an estimated investment of about 2 billion rubles. 
The Soviet fishing fleet is the largest in the world, both by number 
of vessels and gross tonnage. Comprising over 4,500 high-seas, distant- 
water vessels totaling in excess of 6 million GRT, it represents more 
than 50 percent of the world’s high-seas fishing fleet tonnage estimated 
at 11-12 million GRT. The U.S.S.R. fleet outranks the second largest 
fishing fleet—that of Japan—both by number of vessels and by ton- 
nage, but not by the amount of fish caught. 
The average annual catch of Soviet fishermen per gross registered 
ton is comparatively low because the Soviets use fishery support 
(non-fishing) vessels much more extensively than any other country 
in the world. In 1973, the Soviet fishery fleet managed to catch 
on the average only about 1.6 metric tons of fish per gross registered 
vessel ton. This was about one-fifth what Japanese fishermen caught. 
Even U.S. fishermen, operating on small but efficient vessels, landed 
on the average almost 4 times as much per gross ton as did Soviet 
fishermen. 
After the 1917 Revolution, the Communist regime began to 
modernize the obsolete fishing fleet left over from Tsarist Russia. 
In the first 5 Year Plan (1928-32), priority was given ‘to the 
development of a trawler fleet. Subsequent S-year plans anticipated 
further modernization, but were severely hampered by internal polliti- 
cal strife and ultimately by World War II, when the existing fleet 
was practically annihilated. 
Although the first post-World War II 5 Year Plan (1946-50) pro- 
vided for the reconstruction of the fishing fleet, serious efforts did 
not begin until 1955. Most Soviet fishing vessels were then built 
‘in East Germany, which was occupied by the Soviet Army, and sent 
to the U.S.S.R. as war reparations. Although the German Democratic 
Republic remains to this day one of the main suppliers of fishing 
vessels,’ the Soviet Union also buys vessels from a number of other 
countries. In addition, a considerable number of fishing vessels are 
being constructed in domestic shipyards. 
The new fleet has the ability to operate far from Soviet shores. 
This distance gradually increased from an average of 200 miles in 
1950 to over 4,000 miles in the late 1960’s. 
An important factor in the development of this high-seas fleet has 
been the introduction of the so-called stern factory trawler, a British 
invention. These vessels are capable of handling a much larger quan- 
tity of fish and operating at sea for up to 1 year. They are equipped 
with processing facilities, including fishmeal plants which reduce fish 
offal into fishmeal used in feeding cattle, chickens, and other domestic 
animals as well as mink. 
‘The East German shipyards delivered 1,077 high-seas fishing vessels by June 1976. 
