Salmon Recovery

1133 Words3 Pages

The salmon fishing industry has exploited the fish for centuries. Records of the White and Barents Seas, Northern Russia, salmon catch from the 17th Century through the 20th Century show increased exploitation and the inevitable decline of biomass (Lajus et al., 2007). In Podporozh’e weir 387 salmon were caught annually at the end of the 17th Century while 1947 fish were caught annually in the beginning of the 20th Century. Similar catch was recorded in Podporozh’e district with 560 fish annually in the 17th Century and 1544 fish annually in the beginning of the 20th Century. Catch from the Onega River illustrates even more exploitation with 848 fish annually in the 17th Century compared to 2586 fish and 3141 fish annually in the 17th Century, 1820s, and beginning of the 20th Century respectively. The catches gradually decreased in numbers after the beginning of the 20th Century due to overfishing and the introduction of the timber industry to the area. The size of the fish had dropped over this span of time from an average weight of 8.09kg in the early 17th Century to 6.72kg in the beginning of the 20th Century. In 2002 the weight had gotten even smaller with an average of 4.2kg. The Varzuga district had catch values that were even more alarming with 25,151 fish caught in the 18th Century increasing to 58,484 fish the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. However, despite the amount of fish taken from the Varzuga River the population seems stable. The Varzuga River is one of the most productive salmon rivers in the world. The ability of this river to support the large harvest is believed to be due to its lack of natural resources in the area and the remoteness keeps human populations down and makes getting to the area di...

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