420 
Another interesting fact, which is immediately observable from table 
3, is the rapid growth of the larger fishing vessels. Their number 
almost doubled (from 397 in 1969 to 710 in July 1974 and 760 
in October 1975), while the number of smaller fishing vessels below 
500 GRT increased by less than 10 percent. In terms of gross tonnage, 
the ratio is even more disproportionate. This development cor- 
responded perfectly to Soviet needs during the early 1970’s: as their 
fisheries expanded to ever-more distant fishing grounds—as far as 
off the shores of South Africa, New Zealand or Mexico—the need 
for vessels with greater endurance, longer cruising range, greater horse- 
power and more amenable living and working quarters was escalated. And 
so did the construction of vessels which satisfied these requirements—the 
large stern trawlers. An additional incentive was the fact that a large stern 
trawler can catch 6-7 times the amount of fish which a small or medium 
side trawler can, but its crew is only about 3 times as large. 
STERN FACYORY TRAWLERS—THE BACKBONE OF THE FISHING FLEET 
During the last 20 years, the Soviets acquired about 760 large 
stern trawlers, either built in domestic shipyards, or purchased abroad. 
This addition, an average of 40 large stern trawlers per year, each 
of which can catch as much as 10,000 metric tons of fish in a 
good year, has greatly contributed to the continually increasing Soviet 
fisheries catch. Stern trawlers are a wideranging and important part 
of the Soviet fishing fleet; in 1975 they represented, in terms of 
tonnage, over 60 percent of all fishing vessels and almost one third 
of the entire fisheries fleet. 
In the 1950’s, Soviet interest in modernizing its fleet led to the 
acquisition of the blueprint of a stern factory trawler, a British innova- 
tion. First, the U.S.S.R. ordered 24 stern factory trawlers from the 
Kiel shipyards in West Germany. Once these were delivered, the Soviet 
Union began its own production (in the Nikolaev shipyards on the 
Black Sea and later in the Klajpeda shipyards on the Baltic). Poland 
and East Germany soon followed suit. All three countries are now 
engaged in mass production of stern factory trawlers. Most Polish- 
and East German-built trawlers have been delivered to the Soviet 
Union, enabling the Soviets to expand their high seas fisheries rapidly. 
In the Atlantic, the Soviet fishing fleet appeared off Canada 
(Newfoundland Banks) in 1956, off New England (Georges Bank) 
in 1961; as early as the next year, the Soviet vessels were sighted 
in the Gulf of Mexico. By 1966, Soviet fishermen were operating 
off Argentina. 
Table 4 gives the current breakdown of the Soviet large stern 
trawlers by type, class, number and the country of construction. 
The PUSHKIN-class of refrigerated stern factory trawlers (Soviet 
designation RRT) was delivered by Federal Republic of Germany 
shipyards in 1956-58. The original Soviet stern trawlers only had 
refrigerated holds (with a capacity of 800 metric tons). Their sig- 
nificance lies in the fact that they served as prototypes for similar 
vessels constructed in Soviet, and later in Polish and East German 
shipyards. The PUSHKIN-class refrigerated stern trawlers are gradually 
being phased out or converted into freezer trawlers. 
