40 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 28, No. 10 



the Five Year Plan (1966-1970), production of 

 freshwater fish in the Delta will increase to 

 25,000 metric tons. The 1965 catch was 9,000 

 tons. (TJ, S. Embassy, Bucharest.) 



Soviet Union 



FIRST-HALF 1966 

 CATCH UP SLIGHTLY 



Soviet fishermen landed about 3.2 million 

 metric tons of fish, shellfish, and other 

 aquatic products during the first half of 1966, 

 only 2 percent more than during the first half 

 of 1965. Despite this, the sales of fishery 

 products increased 8 percent over January- 

 June 1965. It indicates better utilization of 

 catch and progress in removing the bottle- 

 necks of recent years. ( Pravda .) 



(Editor's note: The growth rate of the catch 

 during the first half of 1966 was the lowest 

 since 1960.) 



:^ >!« :ic ?lc 5^; 



CATCH OF PACIFIC OCEAN PERCH 

 ROSE IN 1965 



Soviet fishermen landed 276,100 metric 

 tons of Pacific oceanperchin 1964 and 384,000 

 tons in 1965. They fish for perch on three 

 major grounds: the Bering Sea, the Gulf of 

 Alaska, and along the Aleutian Islands. The 

 catches for these 3 areas are: 





1965 1964 



Bering Sea 



Aleutians 



Gulf of Alaska . . 



. . (Metric 

 9,100 

 64,500 

 310,400 



Tons) . . . 



10,500 



55,500 



210,100 



Total 



384,000 



276,100 



In 1964 --103 Soviet fishing vessels (ex- 

 clusive of support ships and including only 

 medium and stern factory trawlers) operated 

 in the Pacific ocean perch fishery; in 1965, 

 the number was 115. In 1966, an estimated 

 115-120 vessels were landing Pacific ocean 

 perch from the three fishing grounds and, in 

 addition, some of the vessels moved south to 

 fish for ocean perch and Pacific hake off the 

 coasts of Oregon and Washington. (U.S.S.R. 

 Ministry of Fisheries.) 



>|c ^ :^ ;^ >}: 



NEW OCEAN PERCH FISHERY 

 OFF NORTH KURIL ISLANDS 



In early August 1966, the Far Eastern Fish- 

 eries Administration began to fish for Pacific 

 ocean perch off the North Kuril Islands (south 

 of Paramushir Island). This fishery is still 

 in an experimental stage and only 1 or 2 Sak- 

 halin large stern freezer trawlers are fishing 

 the area. Average daily catches run about 50 

 metric tons; the highest daily catch exceeded 

 70 tons. As a result, other vessels will prob- 

 ably be sent to the area. The extent of the 

 resource is not known. It is impossible to 

 say now how many vessels it will support. 



;Ic >!« ;[« ^c >[c 



BUDGETS 66% FOR 

 FISHERY INVESTMENTS 



The Soviet Union plans to budget 2,921 

 million rubles (US$3,242 million) as capital 

 investment in her fishing industry and fleet 

 during the present 5-Year Plan (1966-1970), 

 or about $650 million a year. These sums do 

 not include funds to build houses for fisher- 

 men, fishery workers, and administrators. 

 The level of 1966-1970 capital investments 

 is 66 percent higher than during the 1960- 

 1965 period--when about 1,760 millionrubles 

 (US$1,954 million) were invested in the in- 

 dustry (or about $352 million per year). 

 (Rybnoe Khoziaistvo. ) 



***** 



TUNA FACTORY MOTHERSHIP 

 WORKS INDIAN OCEAN 



The Soviet tuna factory mothership, the 

 Svetlii Luch, departed the fishing base on 

 Shikotan Island at the end of August 1966 for 

 several months' operation in the Indian Ocean. 

 It stopped first in the Southern Kuril Islands 

 where a large Soviet fishing fleet catches Pa- 

 cific saury to obtain bait. The species sought 

 are tuna and, for the first time, squid. 



The vessel was bought from Japan in 1965, 

 with 4 other identical vessels, for about US$20 

 million. The terms were 30 percent down, 

 the rest in semiannual payments of 5 percent 

 of the total price. The Luch-class of tuna 

 motherships has a capacity of about 5,300 

 gross tons and accommodations for a crew of 

 180; the vessels are 115 meters long andean 

 operate for about 4 months without resupply- 

 ing. 



