A little Stink About a Lot of Fish

A superpower confrontation took place on the high seas last week. Ironically, it showed that U.S.-Soviet relations are not quite as strained as some of the hand-wringing post-mortems over the Russian rejection of new U.S. SALT proposals might suggest. American Coast Guardsmen boarded and seized two Russian fishing vessels--an encounter that gave both countries plenty of opportunity for belligerent muscle flexing. Neither jumped at the opportunity.

The incident began when the Coast Guard cutter Decisive ordered the Taras Shevchenko to heave to in waters about 130 miles southeast of Nantucket Island, Mass. Commander Alan B. Smith suspected that the Russian ship had been violating the U.S.'s new 200-mile fishing zone. Three Coast Guardsmen and two agents of the National Marine Fisheries Service scampered up the trawler's rope ladder and split into two teams. One hurried below to check the ship's cleaning and packing facilities and its refrigerated hold; the other team headed for the skipper's cabin to inspect the ship's log. The record of the trawler's fishing activities disclosed that the Shevchenko had significantly exceeded the permitted limit on river herring--a protected species. According to the log, most of the fish had been transferred to the trawler's mother ship, which was already outside the 200-mile zone, but 16 tons had been loaded onto a second cargo vessel, the Antanas Snechkus, which was still in U.S. waters.

The Shevchenko's skipper, Alexsandr Gupalov, was handed a card advising him in Russian of his right to remain silent and to legal counsel. Ten hours later, after the Coast Guard's request to seize the trawler had been approved by President Jimmy Carter, the boarding party informed Gupalov that his ship was now under U.S. command. As the Stars and Stripes were run up its mast, the trawler started toward Boston harbor. Two days later the cutter Reliance brought in the Snechkus and its cargo of allegedly illegal herring. At week's end the Shevchenko was still tied up in Boston, while the Snechkus was heading back to sea--but only after surrendering its 16 tons of frozen river herring as evidence of an illegal catch.

Both Washington and Moscow did their best to signal the world that nothing extraordinary had happened. Said Jody Powell, presidential press secretary: "This is not an act of war. It involves violations of maritime law." The Russians also remained studiously calm. Soviet newspapers completely ignored the matter for days, and Kremlin officials were conciliatory in their normal dealings with American diplomats.

Adequate Warning. One reason for low-keyed Soviet reaction may have been the Kremlin's recognition that its trawlers had indeed been poaching. Since March 1, when the U.S. extended its offshore fisheries jurisdiction from twelve to 200 miles, Russian trawlers have been cited for 53 violations. Three Soviet incidents were considered so serious that the Coast Guard recommended seizing the ships. Permission, however, was denied by the President, following State Department advice.

Administration officials explained they wanted to go slow until the Kremlin had been given adequate warning of the U.S.'s intention to act tough. Another reason for White House caution was Secretary of State Cyrus Vance's presence in Moscow during part of the period when the Coast Guard wanted to strike. It would have been diplomatically unwise to risk embarrassing the Kremlin at the very moment when Vance was trying to revive the long-stalled SALT negotiations. The U.S., however, did warn the Soviet embassy in Washington that "future violations [by Russian vessels] would make their ships subject to seizure."

When the Coast Guard later encountered the Shevchenko and the Snechkus, seizure was recommended by the State Department, and the President gave the green light. Carter explained his action to reporters who stopped him outside the First Baptist Church of Calhoun, Ga., where he was observing the Easter holidays. "We just had to draw the line somewhere," the President said.

Political pressure from New England was another factor in Carter's decision. The region's fishermen were enraged when the State Department at first refused to endorse Coast Guard recommendations that Soviet trawlers be seized. Thundered an editorial in New Hampshire's Manchester Union Leader. "Are we going to crawl to the Russians at the expense of U.S. interests? How about a little immediate action?"

Late last week U.S. Attorney James Gabriel brought Gupalov into federal court in Boston, where the husky Russian captain and his ship were formally charged with fishing for prohibited species and failing to keep proper records. If found guilty, Gupalov could go to prison for up to one year and be fined as much as $100,000; the ship could be confiscated, along with its gear and its entire 397-ton cargo of frozen fish.

Whatever the outcome of the actions against the Shevchenko, Washington's message to Moscow was apparently received loud and clear. The news agency Tass announced late last week that the Kremlin has given Soviet fishing captains "instructions on strict observance" of the U.S. 200-mile zone.

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