Hon. FRED BRADLEY,

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

OFFICE OF FOREIGN LIQUIDATION COMMISSIONER,
Washington, March 20, 1947.

Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries,

House of Representatives.

DEAR MR. BRADLEY: I have your letter of March 10, 1947, in which you raise certain additional questions on the wartime repair and conversion work under lend-lease on vessels of the Soviet fishing fleet.

Apparently I did not have a full understanding of your original inquiry, since I thought that my earlier letter contained the information you desired. In appraising the effect of wartime lend-lease assistance to the Soviet fishing fleet upon its postwar competitive position, which I understand from your letter is what you have in mind in making your inquiry, we have made a distinction between (1) additions to the Soviet fishing fleet and (2) maintenance and repair work on existing vessels of the fleet. We have considered this a necessary distinction in measuring change in the status quo caused by lend-lease aid furnished during the war.

As I indicated in my eralier letter, there was considerable maintenance and repair work on the existing Soviet fishing fleet, aside from the project for withdrawal of two fishing vessels from the fishing fleet and conversion of a total of three Soviet-owned cargo vessels into canneries under lend-lease. This repair and maintenance work was done in the United States because of a shortage of the necessary facilities in Russia and the other allied countries, and were often extensive in scope because of strenuous wartime operating conditions and hazards and because of undermaintenance of the vessels by the Russians in the early war years. It was certainly not the intention of my earlier letter to underestimate the value to the Soviet Government of this lend-lease assistance in maintaining wartime production of her fisheries; but I felt that this type of work fell into a different category from the conversion work for the purpose of appraising the competitive position of the Soviet fishing fleet in the postwar period.

The three Soviet-owned cargo vessels converted into canneries under lend-lease were the following: the Menjinski, the Chernyshevski, and the Aima Ata, the first two having been converted in Hurley Marine Works, Oakland, Calif., and the third having been partly converted under lend-lease at the Northwest Ship Repair Yard, Portland, Oreg. The lend-lease conversion work on the latter was terminated on August 17, 1945, and the conversion later carried to completion by the Russians on a cash basis.

In answer to the request in the next to the last paragraph of your letter, I enclose herewith detailed data on all lend-lease repair or conversion work done on vessels of the Soviet fishing fleet. You will note that the first eight vessels appearing in the list you submitted in your letter are covered in the report and that a number of additional vessels are also covered. The last eight vessels listed in your letter are not covered because they are not vessels of the Soviet fishing fleet. They were included in the Pacific Marine Review article because they were Soviet vessels on which the Hurley Marine Works had made repairs, and the article was a general report on fish repair work of that company on Soviet vessels, whether or not in the fishing fleet. Sincerely yours,

CHESTER T. LANE, Lend-Lease Administrator.

86697--49-- pt. 1- -46

EXCERPT FROM ADDRESS OF HON. THOR C. TOLLEFSON, REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WASHINGTON BEFORE THE NATIONAL FISHERIES INSTITUTE, THE WALDORF-ASTORIA, APRIL 15, 1947

The nations of the world are building ships of very kind in order to share in this harvest, but our own country is sadly lacking such facilities. In order to inform America's fishing industry on the world competition which faces in the future, Chairman Bradley has secured information regarding the number of fishing vessels of all types that were either wholly or partly converted with the use of lend-lease funds in our several Pacific Coast shipyards during the war. Most of the vessels that were converted were Russian vessels. It is not my purpose to criticize today what happened during the war to meet war emergencies. We all know that the Russian armies need food and the conversion of the Russian vessels into fishing boats were designed to meet this emergency. But fishing vessels have a fairly long span of life and you people in this industry must face the fact that Russia is today well equipped with vessels converted in part with our own funds to fish the waters of the world.

I bring you this information not in the spirit of criticism, but in order to warn America's fishing industry that you must be on your toes if you expect to meet world competition. I will admit frankly that it was rather amazing to the members of the committee to learn how many fishing vessels had been converted beginning at the height of the war for Russia under lend-lease. The names of these ships are rather difficult for me to pronounce, so I will not attempt to name them. Suffice it to say that 26 vessels of tonnage varying from 260 gross tons to over 10,000 gross tons were brought from Russia to our Pacific Coast shipyards and converted into the most modern type vessels.

Among them were 9 cannery ships which we understand are sometimes known as "mother" ships. These ships can go to the various waters of the world and canning can be done on board these vessels. One captain of one of these ships made this statement proudly as the ships was turned over to him "This is the largest finest cannery ship in the world which will require a personnel of approximately 1,000 men to man and operate her." But there is not one vessel, there are 26 vessels. Now in addition there were 7 refrigerated ships varying in tonnage from 1,400 gross tons to over 3,000 gross tons. Also there were 2 trawlers and one large whaler with three whale killer boats to catch the whales for processing on the mother ship. In addition there were two sealer boats for taking certain types of seals.

The information Chairman Bradley secured indicates that only three of the cannery ships were converted entirely with lend-lease funds: Conversion of most of the others were undertaken under lend-lease but at the close of the war, funds were supplied by Russia to complete the outfitting of the vessels. It is my understanding that these vessels were also outfitted with miscellaneous appliances such as netting.

"You in the industry must, therefore, face the situation that today Russia has an over-all total of 26 vessels converted in American shipyards, and the total amount of money from all sources expended for the conversion of these vessels we understand to be some $21,000,000. I am sure the United States fishing industry does not want to take all of the fish in the world or be selfish, but as one of the world's principal maritime nations, it behooves us to fairly compete with other nations. I am afraid most of us do not realize the importance of taking and using the produce of the sea. Whether cannery, refrigerator, or other types of ships are the most efficient means of catching and processing these fish is a matter which you in the industry can best determine. I understand that there are some different schools of thought that we can operate most efficiently through shore plants. I'm not telling you what to do, but I am merely taking this opportunity to point out that you are facing some real competition.

We have information that other nations are rapidly equipping vessels and plants to share the harvest of the sea. Reports reach our committee that a number of French vessels are now being constructed in the United States for the French Government. Norway is rapidly replenishing her fleet and England, we understand, has a 25 percent increase in her fleet. We are assisting Japan in rebuilding her fishing industry. We have already built 16 purse-seine type vessels for China and some 21 additional ships are ready to be sent there so you can expect competition not only from Russia but from France, Great Britain, Norway, and China. In Japan we are assisting those people to reestablish their fishing