Circa 1966
Photographer: unknown

In 1954, a British factory trawler appeared on the Grand Banks. Thus began a 22-year period of high-tech, high-volume fishing in international waters off New England, eventually dominated by Soviet and eastern European vessels.

These vessels worked in groups, with as many as 20 trawlers transferring landings to a single 500-foot factory processor, as well as tender vessels handling repairs, refueling, and other at-sea services. With passage of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976, the United States claimed exclusive jurisdiction over economic activities like fishing within 200 miles of her coast. After that, international fleets were phased out in the region, hauling their last load in 1978.