July 1966 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



91 



South Africa Republic (Contd.): 



Atlantic Ocean : baleen whales. May 1 

 through October 31; sperm whales, March 1 

 through October 31. (United States Consul, 

 Cape Town, May 20, 1966.) 



South -West Africa 



MAY RAISE PILCHARD CATCH QUOTAS: 



Although the results of the work of the new 

 South -West African commission of enquiry 

 into the fishing industry are not yet known, 

 expansion plans among fishing companies ap- 

 pear to indicate that the commission will ap- 

 prove a rise in pilchard catch quotas from 

 their present level of 90,000 tons for each of 

 the 8 factories. Suid Kuene Visserye's (Wal- 

 vis Bay) annual report showed that the com- 

 pany ordered construction of 7 fiberglass and 

 one wooden fishing vessel at a cost of US$1.2 

 million. The vessels will be built in Cape 

 Town, South Africa. A fishing industry spokes- 

 man also indicated that a second Walvis Bay 

 company is completing extensive modifica- 

 tions of its processing plant, almost certainly 

 with an expansion of capacity. The spokes - 

 man noted that all South-West African plants 

 already possess excess capacity and could 

 easily step-up production with little, if any, 

 expansion of plants. Most technical experts 

 in South Africa seem to agree that South-West 

 African quotas could rise at least to a total of 

 1,000,000 tons (presently 720,000 tons) with 

 no harm to the supply of pilchards. Among 

 the questions undoubtedly facing the commis- 

 sion of enquiry, however, is whether to allo- 

 cate the increase to existing factories or to 

 new companies. 



In a speech before the South-West Africa 

 Legislative Assembly, Administrator W. 

 Duplessis pointed out the profits of the fish- 

 ing industry in 1965. Increased world demand 

 for fish meal and oil brought profits to a new 

 peak. Fish meal production was valued at 

 $27.7 million while the value of canned fish, 

 principally anchovies, was $19.1 million. The 

 steady increase in demand for fish oil prompted 

 construction of storage tanks to hold 23,000 

 gallons at Walvis Bay. The market for spiny 

 lobsters also increased, partly because of 

 lower Australian production. The administra- 

 tor called for more attention by domestic fish- 

 ermen to the white fish industry which, thus 

 far, has been exploited by foreign fishing fleets 



off the coast of South-West Africa; neverthe- 

 less, the white fish catch by fishermen was 

 1.6 million pounds in 1965, double that of the 

 previous year. 



Preliminary reports on the 1966 fishing 

 season are even rosier. Fish meal prices 

 are approximately 20 percent higher than in 

 1965 and the entire 1966 production of fish 

 oil already has been sold at prices equal to 

 those last year. A new development is the 

 experimental canning of anchovies in soya 

 sauce for the Japanese market. (United States 

 Embassy, Pretoria, April 29, 1966.) 



Turkey 



SPONGE EXPORTS, 1965: 



Turkish sponge exports in 1965 totaled 38 

 metric tons of which 34 tons went to Greece, 

 with the remainder going to North America, 

 Italy, Sweden, Japan, Canada, and Denmark. 

 (Alieia, April 1966.) 



U.S.S.R. 



DISCOVERY OF NEW PACIFIC 

 OCEAN PERCH STOCKS: 



A Soviet exploratory vessel discovered 

 large concentrations of Pacific Ocean perch 

 in the central Bering Sea. A factory stern 

 trawler was despatched to the new grounds to 

 begin the perch fishery in mid-May 1966. 



^ V 1^ -^ -V- 



INDIAN O C EAN TUNA FISHING: 



The Soviet tuna factoryship Leninskii Luch 

 returned to her homie port of Vladivostok af- 



Fig. 1 - Soviet tuna factoryship, sisteiship to Leninskii Luch, 

 built in Japan in 1965. 



