403 
2. In the Atlantic, the expansion went first southwest (off 
Canada— 1956, off New England—1961, off Mexico—1962) and 
then south (off West Africa—1962, off Argentina—1966). 
Both of these major moves had one common characteristic: they 
were directed away from Soviet shores. The introduction of large 
vessels with refrigeration and (later on) freezing capability, canning 
lines, and fishmeal reduction plants, as well as the addition of mother- 
ships, floating canneries and other longrange support vessels, have 
been instrumental in this expansion of fishing operations. Catches 
by major fishing areas are illustrated in figure 4a. 
Atlantic Ocean 
Catch statistics in table 3 show that the Atlantic Ocean remains 
the basic fishing ground of the Soviet Union. In 1973, almost 4.6 
million metric tons, or 53 percent of the total catch, was harvested 
from Atlantic waters. This percentage has been on the increase during 
the past 10 years (from 46 percent in 1964). As the total Soviet 
high seas catch has increased, the ratio of the Atlantic catch has 
increased even more (fig. 5). 
The Soviet catch in the Northwest Atlantic doubled in the last 
10 years to 1.4 million tons in 1973 as U.S.S.R. fishermen moved 
in force into the traditional fishing grounds of U.S. and Canadian 
fishermen. The fisheries of this area are managed by the International 
Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF), of which 
the U.S.S.R. has been a member since 1956. The Commission, consist- 
ing of 17°member countries, was established in 1949 to investigate, 
protect and conserve the fisheries of the Northwest Atlantic by 
establishing catch quotas for certain species of fish which could be 
taken from the treaty area. During the last few years, so many new 
nations have increased their ICNAF catch so rapidly that a serious 
overfishing problem developed, endangering several key species 
(haddock, mackerel, herring, and flounder). As a result, the Commis- 
sion is drastically lowering the total allowable catch quotas. During 
the recent (September 1975) speciai meeting in Montreal, the Com- 
mission reduced the 1976 catch quotas in the waters off U.S. coasts 
(ICNAF subareas 5 and 6) to 650,000 tons, or by 22 percent.‘ 
At the same time, Canada closed all of its Atlantic ports to the 
Soviet fishing fleet and kept them closed until the Soviets promised, 
in bilateral negotiations, to reduce their future catches off Canada 
by 40 percent (for details, see appendix 3). It can therefore be safely 
predicted that Soviet catches in the Northwest Atlantic, having 
reached their zenith in 1973, will continue to decline. 
A similar situation exists in the Northeast Atlantic which provides 
almost one third of the Soviet Atlantic catch and one-fifth of the 
total catch. (See fig. 7.) 
“The total allowable catch in the ICNAF subareas 5 and 6, covering the waters from the Gulf of 
Maine to Cape Hatteras, decreased from 924,000 metric tons in 1974 to 850,000 tons in 1975 (or by 
8 percent) and to 650,000 tons in 1976 (or by 30 percent of 1974 quota). 
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