74 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 28, No. 8 



U.S.S.R. (Contd.): 



PACIFIC FISHING FLEET ADDITIONS: 



By 1970, the Far Eastern Fisheries Ad- 

 ministration at Vladivostok plans to buy 40 

 large factory stern trawlers for its Pacific 

 fisheries. This will more than double the 

 number of large stern trawlers operating in 

 the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea as of 

 June 1966. How many of these new stern trawl- 

 ers fish off U.S. coasts will depend on the 

 pace with which the U.S.S.R. develops fishing 

 grounds elsewhere in the Pacific and Indian 

 Oceans. During the latter part of 1965 and 

 early part of 1966, the Pacific Research In- 

 stitute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography 

 (TINRO) sent 3 fishery research expeditions' 

 to explore various Pacific areas: the Conti- 

 nental Shelf off Mexico; probably off western 

 South America; off Australia, New Zealand; 

 and elsewhere in the South Pacific as well as 

 in the Indian Ocean. Almost 20 fishery re- 

 search and exploratory vessels have been en- 

 gaged in these expeditions --the largest num- 

 ber ever employed under a single Soviet fish- 

 ery research program. The results are not 

 yet known, but on the success or failure of 

 these explorations will largely depend how 

 intensive the Soviet fishing effort off United 

 States Pacific shores in the future will be, 



A pattern of Soviet fishing operations is 

 emerging. The Soviets have developed the ca- 

 pability to capture and utilize a diversity of 

 marine species indistant waters, and will un- 

 doubtedly continue to search out and develop 

 new resources. This expansion into virgin 

 grounds and little exploited resources will con- 

 tinue for several years to come, with concom - 

 mitant additions to the Soviet fleet of larger 

 vessels of broad range and great fishing capa- 

 bility. The pattern appears to involve intensive 

 fleet concentration on a single species on one 

 ground for relatively short periods. It re- 

 sults in a temporary increase of average land - 

 ings . When fishing drops off, fleet effort is then 

 diverted to the same species elsewhere, or to 

 other species inthe same general area. This 

 does not preclude exploitationof the first spe- 

 cies on the original grounds at some future date 

 should the stocks rebuild. 



FAR EASTERN FISHERIES RECEIVE 

 TWO NEW FACTORY STERN TRAWLERS: 



At the end of May, the Kamchatka Fisher- 

 ies Administration received two new large 



factory freezer sterntrawlers constructed in 

 the Nikolaev-on-the-Black-Sea Shipyards. 

 Both are about 3,200 gross tons, Maiakovskii 

 class. One of them, the Voskhod, made a call 

 at the port of Burgas, Bulgaria, where it loaded 

 lumber for Cuba. In Cuba it picked up sugar for 

 the U.S.S.R., which it will unload in Kamchatka 

 prior to engaging in fishing in the North Pacific . 

 The second trawler, the Trudovie Rezervy, was 

 brought to Kamchatka by a Leningrad fishing 

 captain. ( Kamchatskaia Pravda , May 30, 1966.) 



Editor's Note: These additions to the Kam- 

 chatka fleet are the first of the 1 2 new stern 

 trawlers that will be delivered to Kamchatka 

 by 1970. Another trawler was delivered to the 

 Sakhalin Fisheries Administration in mid - 

 April 1 966. With the new additions, the U.S.S.R. 

 now operates 38 large factory sterntrawlers 

 from its Far Eastern fishing ports. In 1 959, the 

 U.S.S.R. had only one large stern trawler inthe 

 Pacific. Soviets will most likely use these fac - 

 tory trawlers inthe oceanperch and other 

 bottomfish operations off United States coasts. 

 Other additions will be used in expanding So - 

 viet Pacific fisheries. 



NEW OCEANOGRAPHIC VESSEL: 



During the second International Oceano- 

 graphic Congress held in Moscow, the Soviets 

 described to the Congress participants ano- 

 ceanographic vessel recently built in East Ger- 

 many for the Soviet Union. The Akademik 

 Kurchatov, constructed at the Mathias -Thesan 

 shipyard in Wismar, is a 370-foot vessel, has 

 a 6, 680 -ton displacement, and is manned by a 

 crew of 84. The ship has 22 research labora- 

 tories, will accommodate 84 scientists and 

 technicians, and is equipped with a helicopter. 

 The Akademik Kurchatov is the world's largest 

 oceanographic vessel, and is assigned to the 

 Institute of Oceanography of the Soviet Aca- 

 demy of Sciences. 



The first cruise of this research vessel will 

 probably take place in the Atlantic Ocean where, 

 with the U.S.S.R. oceanographic vessel Vitiaz, 

 geophysical research will be carried out. A 

 group of East German oceanographers has 

 been invited to participate on this cruise. 



The East German shipyard has an order 

 for 2 more similar oceanographic vessels for 

 the U.S.S.R. to be delivered inthe next few 

 years. (U.S. Embassy, Moscow, June 10, 1966.) 



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