U.S. Craft Was Set to Fire To Halt Soviet Fishing Boat

Jan 18, 1972 A United States Coast Guard icebreaker obtained permission to fire warning shots to stop a Soviet vessel from escaping capture in the Bering Sea this morning, the Coast Guard said today.

The Soviet vessel, the Lamut, flagship of an 80‐boat fishing fleet, had been accused along with a second vessel of having violated United States fishing regulations. A Coast Guard boarding party was on the vessel when the reported attempt to flee in the ice‐filled waters took place, according to a Coast Guard spokesman, Lieut. Comdr. Gilbert Shaw.

But no shots had to be fired because the icebreaker Storis was able to block the escape route of the Lamut, the spokes man said.

The Coast Guard said that the other Soviet vessel, the Kolyvan, had not sought to flee from custody. At last report, the spokesman said, the Storis, the Lamut, and the Kolyvan were stationary at a point east of Saint Matthew Island. There were reports that the Soviet crews were balking at orders to continue south to Adak in the Aleutian Islands.

The incident is the latest in a series in recent days that has attracted publicity and cast a shadow on United States Soviet relations. But the White House said neither the fishing boat chase nor the expulsion from the Soviet Union last week of Representative James H. Scheuer, Democrat of the Bronx, would affect President Nixon's plan to visit Moscow in May.

The Bering Sea affair followed an attempt by the Storis to take custody of two Soviet vessels and escort them to the naval station at Adak.

According to Commander Shaw, the Storis observed the two vessels about 6 P.M. yesterday (midnight, Eastern standard time) transferring fish about nine and a half miles off Saint Matthew Island in the Bering Sea, 200 miles west of Alaska.

The two vessels were the Lamut, a 362‐foot factory ship that processes, cans and bottles fish products at sea, and the Kolyvan, a 278‐foot trawler, the Coast Guard said.

Coast Guard personnel boarded the two vessels, which were moored at the time, the spokes man said, and after determining that they had violated American territorial regulations against transferring fish in a 12‐mile zone contiguous to land, the Storis ordered the two vessels to follow her to Adak Island for a court hearing.

Routine Violation at First

Until then, the incident, ac cording to the Coast Guard, was a routine violation of fish ing regulations. There have been 17 such cases since 1967.

After beginning the 600‐mile trip to Adak, however, the two Soviet vessels stopped and re fused to proceed further, the Coast Guard reported.

Then, the Lamut “appeared to flee,” the Coast Guard spokesman said. After an hour long chase at about 8 miles an hour, the Lamut was out maneuvered and forced to stop. Her captain, Vladimir Artemov, was placed in custody aboard the Storis but allowed freedoms of the ship, Commander Shaw said.

During the chase, the Storis commander, William P. Allen of Pittsburgh, requested per mission to fire warning shots across the bow. Adm. James Palmer, the senior Coast Guard officer in Alaska, approved the request as did Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, Commander Shaw said.

He said the decision was the Coast Guard's, but that the White House and State Depart ment had been routinely ad vised of the situation.

Charles W. Bray 3d, the State Department spokesman, said the matter was “a fishing prob lem normally handled by the Coast Guard and not a diplomatic one.”

Ronald L. Ziegler, the White House spokesman, said Mr. Nixon was not consulted before the seizure.

The Coast Guard said that the Kolyvan, did not attempt to flee from custody.

It was not known what the Coast Guard personnel aboard the Lamut were doing during the time the chase was reported taking place.

Contact with the Russians was maintained by radio, the spokesman said, although re ports from Alaska said that there was some difficulty since the Coast Guard ship had no one aboard who spoke Russian and commands had to be issued by reading phrase‐book Russian.

Commander Shaw said that four similar fishing violations occurred last year, two by Rus sian vessels, one of which was fined $50,000 in August. Since 1967, there have been 17 incidents in the Bering Sea, five involving Russians, nine Japanese and three Canadian.