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[SHARK FISHING IN THE SOVIET UNION] Promysel akuly, lov i obrabotka [i.e. Shark Harvesting, Fishing and Processing]

Berezin, N.

Moscow: Snabtekhizdat, 1932. Item #1417

53, [2] pp.: ill. 22x15 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Small tears of the spine with minor fragments lost, creases of the back cover, p. 54 soiled, pale private stamps on the title page and p.54, pencil marks on margins and colored pencil number on the back cover, otherwise good.

First and only edition. One of 2000 copies. Scarce.
Constructivist design was likely produced by technical editor S. Shkol’nikova.
Given the narrow focus of shark fishing in different countries, the Soviet writer Nikolai Berezin proposed a more rational use of sharks. This work is the first among his publications. All of them were devoted to the Soviet fish industry and such topics as the processing, preservation, storage of fish, and fish products. Some works were approved as textbooks for factory workers.
Akin to other fields of the national economy, the Soviet fishing industry experienced forced development since the first five-year plan (1928-1931). Authorities raised issues of rational use of fishing vessels and seafood processing factories, expanding the geography of catch, increasing the capacity of workers, and introducing new fishes and marine animals into circulation.
By the early 1930s, there were two active areas of shark harvesting in the USSR. In the Barents Sea, fishermen caught the gurry shark and the spiny dogfish; the latter was also harvested in the Black Sea. Far Eastern waters were evaluated as a promising direction for shark harvesting, which was later commenced and further developed. In this book, the author defined the key factors for the successful launch of shark harvesting in the Pacific Ocean and nearby seas.
According to the author, the USSR, like Iceland, was mainly focused on obtaining shark liver fat. He also mentioned that China targeted fins, America used sharks for their leather, and Japan hunted sharks for their meat. To rationalize, Berezin suggested following all these directions and using as many materials as possible. He referred to the instructions from the Madagascar fishery and contemporary foreign and Soviet articles. The bibliography is listed at the end of the book.
In separate chapters, Berezin elaborates on obtaining different parts of sharks and the peculiarities of their preparation. Special attention is paid to liver fat, the study of which achieved significant progress at that time. This chapter is supplemented with a scheme and photos of special equipment used abroad. Also, an expanded table on the chemical and physical characteristics of shark liver fats is given. The chapter on shark fins features simplified schemes of shark anatomy and outlines of shark leather. In the last text, Berezin describes the benefits of using by-products in the pharmaceutical, leather, and chemical industries.
Overall, an interesting source on the early Soviet fishing industry that preceded the rapid development of Soviet shark harvesting.

No copies found in Worldcat.

Price: $750.00