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Aquacultural Engineering 2 (1983) 313-315

B o o k R e v i e w

A C r i m e A g a i n st t h e W o r l d - M e m o i r s o f a R u s s ia n S e a C a p ta i n. B yV l a d il L y s e n k o , t r a n s la t e d b y M i c h a e l G l e n n y . V i c t o r G o l l a n c z L t d ,L o n d o n , 1 9 8 3 . 2 5 4 p p . P r ic e : 9 . 9 5 .I h a v e r e a d A C r i m e A g a i n s t t h e W o r m f r o m c o v e r to c o v e r . I t is a c o m -p e l li n g s t o r y w h i c h is l i k e l y t o a r o u s e a v a r i e t y o f e m o t i o n s i n all t h o s ew h o r e a d i t. W h i ls t i t d o e s n o t c o n t a i n a n y d a t a o f a n a q u a c u l t u r a ln a t u r e I f e e l s u r e t h a t i t w i ll b e o f v e r y g r e a t i n t e r e s t t o m a n y o f t h er e a d e r s o f A q u a c u l t u r a l E n g i n e er in g . A n y o n e n o t c o n v in c e d o f th e n e e df o r a q u a c u l t u r e a n d w h o t h i n k s t h a t th e s ea s ' n a t u r a l p r o d u c t i o n i ss u f f i c ie n t s h o u l d r e a d th i s b o o k . T h o s e w h o s e i n te r e s t o r i n v o l v e m e n ti n a q u a c u l t u r e is s u p e r f i c i a l o n t h e g r o u n d s t h a t i t is o f n o v e l r a t h e rt h a n f u n d a m e n t a l i m p o r t a n c e s h o u ld r ea d t h is b o o k . A q u a c u l t u r i s t ss u r e o f t h e i r d i s c ip l i n e a n d d e d i c a t e d t o t h e n e e d t o e s t a b l i s h i ts t e c h -n o l o g ic a l b a s e w il l d r a w f r o m t h i s b o o k s u s t e n a n c e a n d n e w i n f o r m a -t i o n w i t h w h i c h t o c o n v i n c e t h o s e w h o a r e le ss c o m m i t t e d .I n a n e a r l y p a r t o f h is m e m o i r s a s a se a c a p t a i n t h e a u t h o r d e s c r i b e st h e c o n s e q u e n c e s o f t h e R u s s i a n f i sh e r y p l a n w h i c h is b a s e d o n c a t c h e sr a t h e r t h a n l a n d in g s . I n th e e a r ly 1 9 6 0 s , h a v in g a l re a d y d e s t r o y e d m a n yo f t h e i m p o r t a n t f is h s t o c k s in th e B a r e n t s S e a , t h e R u s s i a n f l e e te x t e n d e d t h e ir f i s hi n g g r o u n d s a l o ng t h e w e s t c o a s t o f N o r w a y , a r o u n dt h e B r i t is h I sl es , o f f S p i t z b e r g e n , a r o u n d I c e l a n d a n d o f f t h e c o a s t o fN e w f o u n d l a n d . A d e s c r i p t i o n o f t h e f i sh e r y f o r A r c t i c h e rr in g o f f t h ec o a s t o f N o r w a y a n d t h e K o l a P e n in s u l a s h o u l d s u f f i c e a s a n e x a m p l eo f t h e ir ' m e t h o d s o f h ar v e st in g ' . T h e a u t h o r w a s t h e c a p t a i n o f a313Aquaeultural Engineering (2) 1983- Applied Science Publishers Ltd, England,1983. Printed in Great Britain

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314 Book reviewrefrigerating factory vessel supplied by a fleet of purse-seiners. Usingthe purse-net as much as 50 tonnes of fish were taken in a single catch.The seiners were described as being 'numerous' whilst Lysenko's vesselwas the only factory ship. Its refrigerating capacity was such that itcould only take 8 tonnes of fish in a processing cycle that too k 4 h.A captain of a purse-seiner would therefore have to dump the remainderof his fish but would immediately set o ff to catch anothe r 40-50 tonnes.Meanwhile another seiner would come alongside and would not be ableto unload anything at all, but would 'have to jettison his entire cargobefore sailing away again to repeat the whole insane process'. ByLysenko's calculations barely 30% of the fleets catch was landed. Thesame mindless destruction of demersal fish on the Georges Bank, offthe east coast of the USA, is described in another example. Catchingvessels supplying shore installations fared no better. Vessels wouldunload, weigh their catch and receive a receipt for the amount landed.The factory manager, swamped with raw material, would then simplydump the fish off the jetty! Lysenko draws the conclusion that of theRussian's reported catch of 9-10 million tonnes only a third is used atall, whilst the stocks in the sea are ravaged. The wastefulness does notend after the fish have been processed as the catching side of theRussian fishing indus try is not effectively coordinated with a distribu-tion network. Indeed, Lysenko describes how barrels of salted herringaccumulated in Murmansk to such an extent in the late 1960s thatthere was no room left in the port. This 'problem' was solved by taking300 00 tonnes out on to the tundra, pouring paraffin over it andburning it !

Also described is the Russian's complete disregard of other countriesfishing limits. As the stocks near to home were exploited to extinctionthe fleets merely went further abroad. Lysenko documents numerousexamples of how the Russians plundered other countries fish stocks.Indeed, Chapter 1 begins with a description of the arrest of Sovietvessels on the Patagonian shelf by the Argentines in 1977. Neither dothe Russians recognise the need to let juvenile fish live in order to grow.Lysenko describes how fleets of huge deepwater trawlers fish inshorenursery grounds harvesting 70 tonnes a day of m o i v a (immature whitingonly 4 in in length)!

This book should be in the library of every fisheries college. It willcreate much interest and discussion. Some may argue that there hasbeen exaggeration for the purpose of sensationalism. I doubt whether

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Boo k review 315

t h i s i s i m p o r t a n t e v e n i f i t w e r e t h e c a s e . I f o n l y a f r a c t i o n o f t h i sb o o k ' s c o n t e n t s a r e t r u e it i s t h e m o s t r e m a r k a b l e c o n d e m n a t i o n o f t h ew a y m a n h a s m i s u s e d o n e o f h i s m o s t v a lu a b l e r e s o u r c e s .

M . G . P o x t o n