Soviet big business: The rise and fall of the state corporation Sovrybflot, 1965-1991

Abstract

This article explores the economic policies of Sovrybflot, the Soviet fishing fleet, which was consolidated in 1965 within the USSR Ministry of Fisheries and oriented to a maritime fishing framework of 200-mile exclusive economic zones, implemented by the United Nations. The present study, which draws on accounting records and other primary documents held in the Russian State Archive of the Economy, argues that the Red Multinational Sovrybflot enlarged the USSR’s economic impact on fisheries and helped to create Red Globalisation. However, Sovrybflot acted in the global market under the financial parameters established by Soviet accounting practices, which produced discrepancies (covered by the state) between planned and real losses. The dissolution of the USSR, combined with the privatisation of Sovrybflot and the loss of public financial support, led to a decline in the Soviet maritime and fishing presence worldwide and forced the company into bankruptcy.