July 1966 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



97 



By the end of May, 8 Japanese factory 

 trawlers had entered the Gulf of Alaska and 

 were fishing from near Kodiak Island west- 

 ward to the Unimak Pass region. Catches 

 consisted mainly of ocean perch with Alaska 

 pollock second in abundance. At least 4 ad- 

 ditional factory trawlers operated along the 

 eastern and central Aleutians during the month, 

 taking mainly ocean perch and Alaska pollock. 



A second fish- meal factoryship with 29 ac- 

 companying trawlers joined her predecessor 

 on the outer Bristol Bay grounds in early 

 May. The two fleets, with a total of 59 trawl- 

 ers, fished primarily north of Unimak Island 

 throughout the month. 



The two shrimp factoryships, with 24 ac- 

 companying trawlers, remained throughout 

 the month on the proven grounds north of the 

 Pribilof Islands. 



In late May one of the Japanese king crab 

 factoryships and her five tangle-net setting 

 trawlers shifted from north of Port MoUerto 

 just east of the Pribilof Islands. The Japan- 

 ese began commercially exploiting stocks of 

 blue king crab ( Paralithodes platypus ) near 

 the Pribilofs last year. The second Japanese 

 king crab fleet (1 factoryship and 5 trawlers) 

 fished primarily north and west of Port Mol- 

 ler during May. 



VIOLATIONS OF U.S. TERRITORIAL SEA : 



The incidence of violations of U. S. terri- 

 torial waters in Alaska by foreign fishing 

 vessels increased sharply during the first 

 few months of 1966. The number of reported 

 violations through early May had exceeded 

 the total of such violations reported in 1965. 

 This year 17 incidents of unlawful entry by 

 foreign vessels have been reported as com- 

 pared with 13 such violations in 1965, 17 in 

 1964, and 18 in 1963. 



In 1963 and 1964, the alleged offenders 

 were about equally divided between the Japan- 

 ese and Soviets. Beginning in 1965 a greater 

 proportion of offenses were charged to Soviet 

 vessels, and in 1966, of the 17 violations re- 

 ported to date, 15 are attributed to Soviet 

 vessels. 



Actual fishing by foreign vessels within 

 our territorial sea has also become more 

 prevalent this year. In 1964, the year Sena- 

 tor Bartlett's bill prohibiting such fishing 



became Public Law 88- 308 . none of the Japan- 

 ese or Soviet vessels detected in our waters 

 was engaged in fishing. Last year in only 2 

 of the 13 incidents were the vessels fishing 

 within the territorial sea. This year Soviet 

 vessels have been fishing during 5 of 15 re- 

 ported incursions into our waters. 



BOARDING OF SOVIET 

 KING CRAB FACTORYSHIPS : 



In accordance with the provisions of the 

 U. S.-U.S.S.R. agreement on king crab fish- 

 ing, signed in early 1965, Management Agents 

 of the U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 

 and U.S. Coast Guard officers boarded three 

 Soviet king crab factoryships operating in the 

 eastern Bering Sea on various dates in April 

 19 66. The boarding party in each case was 

 well received and was given information on 

 the Soviet Bristol Bay canned pack for this 

 season. Each vessel has an automated three - 

 line cannery; the canning is supervised by a 

 trained fishery technologist. The factory- 

 ships are supplied by 12 picker boats (each 

 manned by about 10 men) which set and pick 

 the tangle nets. The crews of the factory- 

 ships and picker boats exceed 600, many of 

 them women cannery workers. 



LOSSES OF U.S. KING CRAB POTS : 



Nearly $20,000 worth of U. S. king crab 

 pots have reportedly been destroyed by Soviet 

 trawlers in the Shumagin Islands area since 

 mid-February of 1966. Shortly after a Soviet 

 shrimp fishing fleet of 14 medium freezer 

 trawlers moved into the Shumagin Islands, 

 the U.S. fishermen in the Sand Point area be- 

 gan reporting losses of pots caused by the 

 Soviet vessels. By April, losses in the Shu- 

 magins totaled 64 pots (each valued by our 

 fishermen at $200 to $300). The losses oc- 

 curred outside U. S. territorial waters. 



OFF PACIFIC NORTHWEST (Washington 



and Oregon States): ___^__ 



Soviet: In the first week of May, an addi- 

 tional 8 large factory stern trawlers joined 

 the Soviet fleet of 7 stern trawlers which were 

 fishing off the southern Oregon coast at the 

 end of April. (One of the new additions was 

 a Tropik - or RTM-class factory stern trawl- 

 er which is suited to tropical as well as north- 

 ern waters, and is air-conditioned. The rest 



