The area which is covered by this review comprises the Southern Part of the Indian Ocean (the southern part of FAO Statistical Areas 51 and 57) located beyond the equatorial zone (southward from 20 °S in the Area 51 and southward from 10 °S in the Area 57) (see Figure 1). Numerous long-term studies of YugNIRO were undertaken in the equatorial zone of the Indian Ocean (Mascarene Plateau, Saya-de-Malha bank, Chagos Archipelago, etc.), in the Antarctic part of the Indian Ocean (the CCAMLR Convention area), FAO Statistical Area 58, and in the adjacent areas of the Atlantic Ocean (Agulhas Plateau), but this work is not considered in this review. All the vessels operated under the flag of the USSR (until 1991) and since 1992, under the flag of the Ukraine.
The operations described here were undertaken by organizations located in the territory of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic during the USSR era. These organizations operated under the aegis of the Ministry of Fisheries of the USSR (Minrybkhoz SSSR[4]) until 1991 and from 1992, under the control of the Ministry of Fisheries of Ukraine[5]. During the Soviet era the research, scouting and exploratory fishing expeditions undertook research programs that were approved and financed by the Ministry of Fisheries of the USSR. From 1992 on, the operations of all the vessels mentioned in the report in the Southern Indian Ocean have been commercial or exploratory cruises and were financed by ship owners and operators. Fisheries statistics presented here for operations subsequent to 1992 consist of the catches of Ukrainian flag vessels which prior to this date were recorded in the catches of vessel operators located in the territory of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
This review includes results from fishing and scouting operations that were aimed exclusively at exploration and fisheries research of marine living resources of deep-water species, i.e. those whose life cycles and distribution is connected completely or partially with seamounts, deeper banks and the continental slope, etc. Research activities and fishing operations of the pelagic species inhabiting the area under review (including species forming temporary associations near seamounts), research with tuna long-lines for tuna and associated species, use of lift nets for Atlantic saury (Scomberesox saurus), longlining for pelagic squids and pelagic midwater trawling outside of seamount areas are not considered in this report. Neither Soviet era expeditions organized by Academy of Sciences of the USSR nor expeditions with submersibles for the study of fish behaviour of the seamounts of the Southern Indian Ocean are considered in this review.
To give an indication of commercial fishing operations in the southern Indian Ocean, information relating to the catches of distant water fishing countries that has been taken from the FAO Reported Landings data base is given in Appendix III together with the names of Soviet (Ukraine) fishing vessels that had operated in that area.
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[3] The address for all authors
is: Southern Scientific Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography
(YugNIRO). 2, Sverdlov St., Kerch, 98300, Crimea, Ukraine. [4] In full; Ministerstvo rybnogo khozyajstva SSSR. [5] Note: the Ministry of Fisheries of Ukraine has changed its status several times. It was called the State Committee for Fisheries of Ukraine then then revereted to being a Ministry and recently has been called the State Department for Fisheries (in the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine). |
