August 1966 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



77 



refrigerated side trawler, 4 refrigerated fish 

 transports, 3 factory base ships, 4 cargo and 

 supply ships, 2 fuel and water carriers, and 

 one seiner-type vessel which was not rigged 

 for fishing. This compares to 141 vessels 

 sighted during May 1966 and 178 in June 1965. 



Fig, 1 - Soviet factory -type stem trawler fishing in the Northwest 

 Atlantic. 



The fleet was dispersed in large groups a- 

 long the 50- and 100 -fathom curves from 

 southeast of Nantucket Lightship (off Massa- 

 chusetts) to the southeast part of Georges 

 Bank, but about 25 vessels operated inter- 

 mittently in the vicinity of Cultivator Shoals 

 (northern Georges Bank). 



The principal species taken by the Soviets 

 appeared to be whiting (silver hake) and less- 

 er amounts of herring. The Soviets apparent- 

 ly were exerting maximum fishing effort in 

 areas where whiting and herring are normal- 

 ly found in abundance, yet their catches were 

 only moderate to poor. 



Romanian : One Romanian factory stern 

 trawler was sighted among the Soviet fleet on 

 the southeast part of Georges Bank. Two of 

 those vessels were observed on Georges Bank 

 in late summer and early fall of 1965. 



Polish : No vessels were sighted. 



, ;!c 5!< sli >l! ;[c 



OFF MID-ATLANTIC: 



Soviet : No vessels were sighted during 

 June off the mid-Atlantic coast of the United 

 States. The large Soviet fleet fishing off the 

 mid -Atlantic in May 1966 moved north to 

 Georges Bank accounting for most of the in- 

 crease in that area. Some vessels left for 

 Soviet ports to discharge their catch in fro- 

 zen or processed form. 



^ :{c ;!c Jfi sic 



IN GULF OF MEXICO 

 AND CARIBBEAN: 



Cuban : No Cuban vessels were reported 

 fishing off U.S. coasts. Most of Cuban high- 

 seas fishing operations take place off the 

 Mexican coast where during the so-called 

 "Campeche Patrol," the U.S. Coast Guard 

 sighted 15 Lambda -class Cuban fishing ves- 

 sels northwest of Progresso (Mexico) during 

 its patrol from May 3 to May 11, 1966. They 

 were fishing alongside 30 Mexican fishing 

 vessels. 



Fig. 2 - Cuban Lambda -class fishing vessel fishing on the Cam- 

 peche Bante off Mexico . 



Soviet : Most Soviet vessels operating out 

 of Cuba are fishing with the Cuban fleet in the 

 general area of the Campeche Banks on the 

 wide Continental Shelf north of the Yucatan 

 Peninsula. Their number was estimated at 

 no more than about 12. Occasionally, how- 

 ever, those vessels do approach U.S. coasts. 

 On May 6, a large modern refrigerated car- 

 rier was sighted anchored about 20 miles 

 west of Anclote Keys (northwest of Tampa, 

 Fla.) accepting fish from 2 medium stern 

 trawlers. Because of darkness (11 p.m.), it 

 was not possible to get vessel names or ob- 

 serve the species transferred. 



Norwegian : On June 5, a U.S. shrimp ves- 

 sel observed a Norwegian fishing vessel op- 

 erating about 30 miles south southwest of 

 Tampa, Fla., near Egmont Key. 



^ :■!« ;]< :J: :^i 



OFF PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

 (Washington and Oregon States): 



Soviet : The Soviet fleet (consisting of 

 stern trawlers, side trawlers, and support 

 vessels that had in previous months been 

 fishing for ocean perch off the coast of Ore- 

 gon) spent the month of June off the coast of 

 Washington fishing for Pacific hake. 



At the start, they were working off of Will- 

 apa Harbor, Wash., and from there worked 

 up the coast of Washington to as far north as 

 La Push, Wash. Apparently the few boats that 

 were left to work off Willapa Harbor found 



