Soviet Fishing in the Barents Sea and the North Atlantic

Abstract

F ISHERY products provide the average Soviet citizen with one-third of his total consumption of animal protein. Some reports place the figure as high as 40 percent.' In recognition of this contribution, Soviet planners have invested heavily in state fishing fleets and bases ever since the inauguration of the five-year plans. National landings have doubled since 1950 and tripled since 1930, but fishermen have yet to satisfy government demands. The national diet is in need of more protein, and planners continue to find the fishing industry a most convenient medium through which to meet this need. Its commendable record of plan fulfillment contrasts sharply with the consistent failure of the livestock industry to reach predetermined goals. The increased landings recorded by the Soviet fishing industry reflect mainly a more intensive exploitation of maritime fisheries. Seven-eighths of the 1,020,000 tons2 of fish landed in 1913 were obtained from domestic lakes, rivers, and inland seas; the remainder came mostly from the shallow waters close to the Arctic and Pacific shores. Today maritime waters contribute about three-quarters of the 3,250,ooo-ton annual catch, and national vessels regularly visit banks far from Soviet coasts. Significantly related to the successful exploitation of high-seas fisheries is the northern coast of European Russia. In 1913 this region sheltered subsistence fishermen dependent on handlines and canvas craft; today it harbors highly mechanized fishing fleets and specialized labor from all parts of the Union. Annual landings have increased more than twenty times, and the port of Murmansk has evolved from a tiny settlement into the largest industrial fish harbor in the Soviet Union. Americans commonly associate the Soviet Barents Sea coast either with interventionist troops in World War I or with lend-lease in World War II. Few realize that this coast is the home of one of the world's great fishing fleets and industries. Information in English on the Barents Sea fisheries is scarce, dated, and perfunctory. The present paper attempts to fill, at least partly, this gap in the literature.