My Visit To Russia by Steve Medeiros

An article appeared in our newsletter a few months ago that described the Russian ships that had been given permission to “park” in the West Passage of Narragansett Bay during the winter while they purchased and stored sea herring. I then received several e-mails from members. They wanted to know more. Were they harmless fishing boats? On Friday, December 7, I received a call from David Beutel , our contact at Sea Grant, who is always looking to work with RISAA. He asked if I would be interested in touring the Dauriya the following morning. I needed some time to think about this invitation, so in about 2 seconds I told him yes! I met Dave in Wickford at the Cap’N Bert (URI Research Vessel) at 8 on Saturday morning. Joining us for the trip to the Russian ship was Kathy Castro , also from the URI Sea Grant, and a dozen marine fisheries students. We arrived to learn that we would enter the ship through the steep sloping loading ramp in the stern of the ship. We were ferried, four at a time, by a small boat from the Cap’N Bert to the Dauriya , and once aboard, climbed the steep, rusty ramp to the upper deck - and into another world. We were met by Nikolai, the 23 year old 4th Mate and 1st Navigator of the ship, who, since he was the only person who spoke English reasonably well, would be our tour guide. Another crew member was assigned to bring up the rear of our group, to be sure none of us ventured off. FACTS AND OPERATIONS Nikolai explained that the 350’ merchant vessel Dauriya was built in Poland in 1962 and is the last of 13 vessel of its class still in operation today. It operates in the U.S. under an “Internal Waters Processing Permit” and the U.S. company representing them is Mayflower International, Ltd. based in South Carolina. The ship will take sea herring and mackerel, underutilized fish here in New England, back to Russia where it will be processed and used as food, mostly for Russians, but some is shipped to West Africa. These are not the same anadromous river herring that arrive in the Bay’s waters each spring. It is estimated that there are 3 to 4 million tons of sea herring and mackerel, but U.S. fishermen only take approximately 100 tons of herring and 25 tons of mackerel each year. Foreign ships have been visiting New England waters since 1984. Since that time we’ve seen ships from East Germany, Bulgaria, Portugal and Russia. Local commercial fishermen will catch the sea herring, and then sell the catch to the Russians. The fish are “suctioned” from the holds of the fishing boats into the holds of the Dauriya where they are flash frozen and stored. No processing is done aboard the Dauriya, and the ship is not allowed to discharge any pollutants while in our waters. Every 3 or 4 weeks, the Dauriya will leave anchorage and sail beyond the 12 mile limit. There it will pass the fish over to another ship, discharge waste, and take on provisions. (Another, smaller Russian ship, the Captain Gorbachev , is also permitted to anchor with the Dauriya, but was not present at the time of my tour.) Normally, at this time of the year, the herring are being caught “just outside” of the Bay, but because of the unseasonably warm weather we have had, the fish are still being taken off Nantucket. Usually, by the end of December, the local boats will switch from herring to mackerel, but that also will not be the case this year. THE CREW Nikolai said that current crew was 89 which included four women. An attempt to ask Nikolai what the women’s duties consisted of went unanswered, presumably because of the language barrier. We did meet one lady at the end of our tour who is the cook in the officer’s area. The crew serves aboard the ship for tours of 9 months. During this time they work “as long as it takes” to process the arriving catch. They are not allowed to go ashore. They are not allowed sick time off. For this work, they receive $800 total for nine months! Nikolai said it was “Good to work on fishing boats!” and that his current tour started off Norway. We visited the crew’s mess and lounge which consisted of several rusty tables, a small stage with a partially torn and dirty hanging old movie screen, and two speakers that would be put to shame by even the smallest American’s home computer sound system. I noted several videotapes on a shelf, all with Russian writing, but easily recognized one as the “X-Files Movie.” Nikolai said that Russians like American movies. Our tour continued and we saw many of the cabins and areas that would be expected on a working ship, like hoists, cranes, tool shops, engine rooms, etc. One area though, had the most impact on us, and it told the whole story of what the sailor’s life was really like - the medical department. HOSPITAL The ship’s “hospital” consisted of several tiny rooms. We saw the doctor’s office which looked much the same as the other crew areas (rusty, dirty, needing paint and cleaning). We visited the operating room that had a single operating table with a dirty sheet that had dried blood on it, dirty tools in a tray, and an absence of medicine and essentials like bandages, etc. The sink just outside of the operating room (where I imagine the doctor washing his hands and then holding them up for a nurse to put on the sterile gloves) was filthy and stained. At the end of the corridor was a small room with an antique dentist chair. The round spitting bowl that is attached to the chair had soiled gauze and other debris in it. On a table beside the chair was a tray of dirty dental tools. Everything looked as if it were in an ancient horror museum instead of aboard a ship in the modern world! Then we were on the real reason for our visit - to see how the fish were processed. We were lucky to see the crew freezing fish while we were aboard (see photos). THE PROCESS The fish are mechanically dropped into stainless trays which move along conveyor belts. Crew members, stationed along the belt, manually fit loose fish neatly into the passing trays. Crew member removes tray of herring and places it into slots of freezer unit where they are “quick” frozen. There were dozens of these “units” visible. After a 2-1/2 hour freezing, another crew member removes the frozen trays from the unit and places them on a conveyor belt that moves the trays to ships storage freezers. I noted that works moved quickly and non-stop while were were there. Close-up of frozen tray of sea herring We were escorted to the bridge, where we met the captain and were shown the ships radar and other navigational instrument. Nikolai, the ship’s navigator, proudly explained how to use the sextant to navigate the stars, a tool he still uses. Our three hour tour ended with a farewell meal of Russian bread, cookies and tea in the officers’ mess. The cook/waitress was a grandmotherly Russian lady who insisted that Dave Beutel and myself pose with her arms around us for a photo “with American men” that she had someone take with her own camera. I took close to 100 photos while aboard the Dauriya, and while I was grateful for the tour, I couldn’t wait to get back in America.