Primorye scientists conducted the world's first fisheries research of the Arctic seas. Salmon Expeditions Nis Tinro

A meeting of the biological section of the Scientific Council was held at the TINRO Center, at which a voyage report of the R/V TINRO was presented, which carried out bottom trawl survey in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and integrated pelagic survey in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and Pacific waters of the southern Kuril and Commander Islands, as well as the southwestern part of Bering Sea in summer-autumn of the current year.

According to Igor Glebov, head of the Far Eastern and Arctic Seas Resources Laboratory, in June-August, research was carried out in the eastern part of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, within the West Kamchatka shelf.

The recorded biomass of bottom fish in the surveyed water area was 2 million tons, of which slightly more than 1 million tons were in the West Kamchatka and about 1 million tons in the Kamchatka-Kuril subzones. More than 87% of the biomass of the benthic ichthyocene was made up of the flounder (56.2%), cod (14.7%) and slingshot (17%) families. The biomass of commercially valuable yellowfin flounder amounted to 278 thousand tons (14.1% of the bottom ichthyocene). The biomass of another valuable commercial bilinear flounder was estimated at 73.3 thousand tons, the basis of its biomass was formed by individuals of commercial sizes.

For cod, the basis of biomass (76.9%) was formed by saffron cod (226 thousand tons), which forms denser accumulations on isobaths less than 50 m. and 18.9 thousand tons - in the West Kamchatka subzones

The biomass of halibut was estimated at 8.6 thousand tons, of which 4.1 thousand tons were recorded in the Kamchatka-Kuril and 4.5 thousand tons in the West Kamchatka subzones.

The main target, walleye pollock, occurred in the depth range of 15-409 m throughout the surveyed area. The biomass of mature walleye pollock in the bottom horizons is estimated at 1.84 million tons.

The recorded biomass of herring was 48.8 thousand tons, and capelin, found in the coastal areas of both subzones, was estimated at 5 thousand tons.

Also, one of the tasks of the survey was to take into account another object that is significant for fishers - the red king crab. The number of its commercial males was estimated at 110.1 million specimens, juveniles - 45.4 million, females - 73.9 million, which significantly exceeds the estimates of the previous two years. The growth trend of the recorded number can be traced over the past few years.

Accumulations of blue crab were noted only in the West Kamchatka subzone. The number of commercial males in the surveyed water area in the West Kamchatka subarea was estimated at 15.3 million specimens, which is more than the results of the census in 2016 - 10.1 million specimens.

There has been an expected decline in the commercial abundance of Birdie's snow crab. The number of commercial males is estimated at only 20.2 million specimens. The number of commercial males of the Western Kamchatka shelf hairy crab is estimated at 4.9 million specimens, which is somewhat inferior to the data of 2015. The accounting stock of the northern shrimp amounted to 23.3 thousand tons, the highest catches were noted in the Kamchatka-Kuril subzone at depths of 201-250 m and averaged 15.9 kg/trawl.

The second part of the voyage, after a partial change of the scientific group, began from the Sea of ​​Okhotsk waters of the southern Kuriles, then continued within the 200-mile zone and open waters of the NWTO. According to the leading researcher of the TINRO-Center Alexander Starovoitov, at this stage of research, 72 trawls and a similar number of stations were completed in the water area with a total area of ​​587 thousand km².

The recorded abundance and biomass of all hydrobionts according to trawl survey data amounted to 50.8 billion specimens and 3.4 million tons.

The basis of the ichthyonekton biomass was formed by Japanese mackerel - 1.6 million tons, most of which (1.2 million tons or 76%) was recorded within the 200-mile zone of the surveyed areas of the NWTO. The second place in terms of biomass with an estimate of 1.07 million tons in the survey area was occupied by the Far Eastern sardine.

The biomass of spotted mackerel was significantly higher (four times) in eastern regions survey (here it was taken into account 183 thousand tons - 21%), where it ranked third among other types of nekton after Japanese mackerel and sardine.

The recorded biomasses of mesopelagic fish and sharks in the open waters of the NWTO turned out to be significantly lower. The final estimate of the biomass of cephalopods was also four times lower than that recorded in the adjacent western region of the NWTO - 6 thousand tons against 24 thousand tons.

Of the two areas under consideration, saury and Japanese sea bream were noted in catches only within the 200-mile zone, the biomasses of which were estimated at 14 and 3.3 thousand tons, respectively.

Japanese mackerel was observed almost everywhere. Its catches ranged from 1 specimen to 32 thousand specimens per hour of trawling. Four trawls showed a result per hour of standard trawling exceeding 1 ton, or, in terms of numbers, more than 6 thousand specimens. The maximum catch of Japanese mackerel recorded outside the EEZ was 2.8 tons/hour of trawling (9.5 thousand specimens).

South Asian mackerel was not as widespread as Japanese mackerel and was recorded only in 28 out of 72 trawls.

Its largest catches were recorded in the eastern areas of the survey. The single maximum catch of this species per trawl hour was 2.8 tons, and the average catch of South Asian or spotted mackerel this year was 1,800 specimens per trawl hour or 127 kg in weight terms.

The highest catches of the Far Eastern sardine, both in quantitative and weight terms (more than 1.5 tons per hour of trawling) were noted in the southern Kuril regions in the area of ​​​​the vast cyclonic eddy of the frontal zone of the Oyashio-Kuroshio system, where the temperature on the ocean surface was 13-16 °C. Another significant catch (more than 3 tons per hour of trawling) was taken outside the Russian EEZ.

Compared with the results of similar studies conducted by the R/V Professor Kaganovsky in June of the same year, when the accumulations of the Far Eastern sardine were concentrated mainly in the southern parts of the Russian EEZ and to the east beyond its borders, in August, due to the summer warming of the waters, they were dispersed over the survey area and to a greater extent confined to the water area adjacent to the islands of Iturup and Urup.

Against the background of the two previous years, in August - early September 2017, the stock of the Far Eastern sardine within the study area was estimated at an average level - a little over 1 million tons.

However, it should be taken into account that in 2015-2016 surveys in the NWTO were carried out earlier (approximately 2-3 weeks) and cannot be discounted, the region's dynamism in the course of seasonal synoptic and hydrological processes, the high migratory activity of sardine shoals and fishery removal.

In addition, hydroacoustic measurements of the aggregations were carried out, which showed higher estimates of the abundance and biomass of mackerel and sardines.

The main accumulations of sardine and mackerel were recorded in the near-surface horizons within the layer up to 25 m. During the daytime, these accumulations were recorded by an echo sounder in the form of high-density schools mainly at depths of up to 20 m.

The next stage of the expedition was a trawl survey of the upper epipelagic of the western part of the Bering Sea and the adjacent Pacific waters of the Commander Islands (from 14 to 30 September).

During this time, 46 station trawls were carried out in the surface horizon in the western part of the Bering Sea and adjacent waters of the Pacific Ocean. The total area of ​​the surveyed water area was 361 thousand km2.

According to the results of the survey, the abundance and biomass of nekton and macroplankton in the upper epipelagic zone of the western part of the Bering Sea and adjacent waters of the Pacific Ocean amounted to 16 billion specimens and 351 thousand tons.

In terms of biomass, the epipelagic community was dominated by ichthyonekton, which accounted for 214 thousand tons (61%).

The percentage of individual species and groups in the total nekton biomass in autumn 2017 was as follows. The basis of biomass in the surveyed areas of the western part of the sea and adjacent Pacific waters was composed of salmon (108 thousand tons or 42% of the recorded biomass) and stickleback (67 thousand tons or 26%).

The share of northern squid accounted for 16% of the recorded nekton biomass, and the next three positions were occupied by saury (13%), northern unifin greenling - 1.2% and Pacific herring (0.7%)

Among the Pacific salmon, the undisputed leader in terms of biomass was chum salmon (55%) and sockeye salmon (35%), in which immature juveniles traditionally dominated during the period of active seasonal feeding.

The accounting number and biomass of pink salmon underyearlings amounted to 101 million specimens and 7.2 thousand tons. During similar surveys in September-October 2003-2013, estimates of the abundance of East Kamchatka pink salmon ranged from 51 to 148 million specimens.

Thus, the abundance of the next generation of the East Bering Sea pink salmon in odd-numbered years corresponded to the average long-term level, which cannot be a sign of a change in dominants between generations of even and odd years of spawning.

Due to the reduction in the survey area, the expected number of chum salmon underyearlings turned out to be one of the lowest in a number of years - 6.13 million specimens were counted in the western part of the sea, with a biomass of 0.45 thousand tons.

The total number of immature feeding juvenile chum salmon according to the results of the survey was estimated at 54.5 million specimens, and the biomass was 55.2 thousand tons.

Another species of salmon traditionally numerous in the western part of the Bering Sea during the summer and autumn feeding season is sockeye salmon. According to the results of the autumn survey, the total number of juveniles of immature sockeye salmon within the surveyed areas amounted to 45 million specimens, the biomass was 37 thousand tons. The number and biomass of post-catadromous juveniles of sockeye salmon in the surveyed area, as well as of chum salmon underyearlings, were not high: a total of 4.3 million specimens and less than 1 thousand tons (0.96 thousand tons) were counted.

The Scientific Council accepted both submitted cruise reports with high appreciation, drawing attention to the importance of these studies, the complexity and multitasking of the flight, and recommended rewarding the crew and members of the scientific team in accordance with the current situation.

Time flies quickly. A human life is short, even if you are lucky to cross the border of 70 years. Already many with whom I had to work in TINRO have gone to another world. Some of them have recently returned to TINRO, reincarnated as new scientific vessels - Professor Kaganovsky, Professor Kizevetter and Professor Levanidov. In total, five such ships came to the Far East. In addition to those listed also "Professor Soldiers" and ... "TINRO".

When these vessels were only in projects, the Ministry of Fisheries or VNIRO asked for our proposals regarding the names of the vessels. First of all, I remembered the founders of the Far Eastern fishery science - Brazhnikov, Schmidt, Soldatov, Lindberg, as well as Kaganovsky, Taranets and the first scientific vessel of TINRO, the schooner "Rossinante". Moscow officials rejected all but Soldatov and Kaganovsky for ideological reasons. At the second call, Kizevetter and Levanidov appeared. Regarding the fifth ship, the zealots of historical purity, and more based on the membership of candidates in the Bolshevik Party, especially resisted. The deadlines were already running out, and from Moscow, with a request by telephone, they contacted the scientific secretary V. A. Orlova. When Vera Alexandrovna found out that once again our candidacy was not going through, she named the first thing that came to mind - the name of our institute - TINRO. This is how the R/V TINRO appeared.

Now I had to conduct an expedition on ships bearing the names of people under whose command I worked not very long ago - A. G. Kaganovsky and I. P. Levanidov. in the usual everyday and industrial bustle, this fact does not look like something unusual. However, alone, when you are left with your thoughts on the meaning of life and destiny, especially in moments of a minor key and memories, some waves rise in your soul, and you begin to feel like a link in a winding chain between the past and the future. Of course, for this you need to know something about the people whose names are carved on the sides of the ships. Sailors, according to my observations, therefore, do not think much about it at all, and the names of the ships that I am talking about are mostly treated formally, as simple numbers and indices. For me, such an abstraction was impossible, especially since in my cabin, as an interior item, hung a portrait of I.P. Levanidov, from which Ivan Petrovich gently, but a little condescendingly, looked at point-blank range, and this look undoubtedly hurt.

A few months before the next expedition, which will be discussed below, I was approached by the leaders of the Institute of Marine Biology of the Academy of Sciences (IBM) V. L. Kasyanov and M. K. Glubokovsky with a request to organize an ichthyology laboratory for them. I agreed, because I saw that in TINRO, work on fish is more and more grounded in the field of fishing. in the liberated academic environment, there was always more scientific horizons, so it was thought that even one ichthyological laboratory would somewhat enliven the knowledge of the ecology of the fish of the Far Eastern seas. M. K. Glubokovsky, who then briefly became the deputy director of IBM, was in contact with TINRO more than other “academicians”, believed that academic science only plays if it brings its research closer to the needs of fisheries and fishery science. In order for the new laboratory to immediately start working with an applied tinge, V. L. Kasyanov and M. K. Glubokovsky asked me to persuade several experienced Tinrov specialists to go to the laboratory being created. I campaigned, and five worthy figures agreed, especially since the salary at the Academy was higher then.

Under these people, the leaders of IBM decided to knock out an additional salary fund from the Presidium of the Far Eastern Branch of the Academy of Sciences. in this regard, they asked me to speak at the Presidium and show the prospects of the Academy's participation in the study of the biological resources of the Far Eastern seas. The academic leaders who listened to me agreed in principle with my position, but with regard to the requested rates for Tynrov specialists, they advised the IBM directorate to reduce the “dead”, from a scientific point of view, “souls”, which Director V. L. Kasyanov did not agree to. He apparently believed that the brand of his institute and the employees who worked in it was so high that the conversation could go not about some kind of reduction, but only about adding rates. Nevertheless, I introduced one experienced Tinrovite into the new laboratory, which consisted of young people. It was E. I. Sobolevsky, whom I counted on as a conductor of my ideas and a good business executive.

Soon, however, my association with IBM weakened. Having worked for many years in an applied institute, where the level of work is constantly tested by practice, I could not stand the careless academic lifestyle and the corresponding easy attitude to problems. research, if we have in mind a comprehensive study of the nature of the Far Eastern seas. But I continued to help the laboratory, including all the collaborators in the Tinrov expeditions, sharing the materials of these expeditions. Soon I recommended to V. L. Kasyanov to appoint E. I. Sobolevsky as the head of the laboratory, which was done. There was no more need for me for Yevgeny Ivanovich, and with relief he “got rid of me.” For a fair number of years I have led this man through the many difficult thresholds that his heavy character has created. He courageously endured this dependence and, probably, was tired. Having risen to his feet, he wanted to at least slightly compensate for the burden of his former addiction. Speaking at the Academic Council when he was elected head of the laboratory, Evgeny Ivanovich announced and introduced into the draft decision a point stating that his laboratory of ichthyology organized eight complex expeditions to the Bering Sea. and, as if incidentally, he added in brackets that "together with TINRO." By the way, my expedition on the Babaevsk, which I described in detail above, also got here. in fact, no IBM expeditions to the Bering Sea were organized or conducted. It's just that certain academic specialists were included in some of our expeditions, including E. I. Sobolevsky. I reacted quite sharply to Yevgeny Ivanovich's interpretations, but he did not yield. I could not forgive this, so our paths had to part. This did not prevent E. I. Sobolevsky from further appropriating Tinrov materials. He also sinned by substituting his last name for works written by young people, including those from my laboratory.

I dwelled on the episode connected with the creation of the academic laboratory of ichthyology in some detail to show that the problem of personnel and the formation of scientific teams constantly reminds of itself and cannot be solved once and for all. Having made a bet on the young, on an expedition with a salmon bias to the "Professor Levanidov" I took with me two of my young employees, with whom I associated the strengthening of the laboratory's potential - V. I. Radchenko and V. V. .Lapko. This time I don't seem to be wrong.

On the evening of June 13, 1991, on the ship, when the authorities were already formalizing the departure, an embarrassed captain came to me and said that three sailors were being removed from board because of forged documents. This circumstance made it impossible to work around the clock with two trawl crews, but the captain asked for permission to take off on a voyage, assuring that in two days some TURNIF vessel would leave for the same area, which would drop the missing crew members. I agreed and we left that night.

The RV "Professor Levanndov" turned out to be a cozy ship with a dozen scientific laboratories. But in just a few years, while the ship was in service, the Turnifovites had already pretty much worn it out. The scientific laboratories turned out to be especially well done, which was due not only to the slovenliness and lack of culture of the scientific groups that had previously worked here. I noticed long ago that when mooring in ports, sailors with some stubborn persistence move to scientific cabins, and laboratories are occupied for potatoes, spare parts, and various equipment. and temporary workers, as you know, always behave accordingly. But compared to previous expeditions, there were also pleasant changes. We have reached the point where the scientific equipment of each ship already had several computers, which was considered only a dream not very long ago.

We got to the Bering Sea for a long time, followed by frequent breakdowns, to which the crew treated quite calmly and even indifferently. A couple of days later there was a ship meeting, at which I spoke in detail about the tasks of navigation. The sailors almost did not react to my story. Only one question was asked: would there be a deceit and would they take away our entrance to Busan. By that time, there were no flights left without calls to imports. Only the captain talked about Busan at this meeting, he boasted how he bargained for cheap jeans on the previous voyage, which in this moment were on it.

I was surprised to learn that there was only one trawl on board, which had already served its time, although the TURNIF management assured me that a new one had also been handed over from a neighboring vessel. But, it turns out, they didn’t receive it, because ... the cargo boom was not fixed, through which it was necessary to transfer the trawl from side to side. on top of this, not very powerful medium-sized R/Vs were given trawl doors designed for a supertrawler.

Before the voyage, the new director of TINRO, V. N. Akulin, when I told him about what I hope for when working on salmon, remarked that effective results of the expedition would be very desirable. This was necessary primarily from the point of view of financing the institute. I have already said that fish organizations, despite the great efforts of Dalryba, refused to make appropriate contributions both for science and for the use of bioresources. Valery Nikolayevich also wanted to raise the scientific prestige of the TINRO Central Institute. The fashion for sovereignty touched us too. For a long time the Kamchatka branch of TINRO tried to become an independent institute. Similar sentiments increasingly took hold of other departments. Already at that time, VNIRO began to play along with these sentiments. For the Vnirovites, the principle of “divide and conquer” turned out to be very appropriate, and the strong TINRO system always irritated Muscovites a little.

Of course, I was also in favor of making an effective expedition. But the beginning of the voyage, due to the technical condition of the vessel, suggested other moods. Only observations of the sea muffled the alarm a little. I habitually and with interest took into account seabirds and compared the current picture with the data of past expeditions. Everything converged, but for the first time in all the years of observations, there were not very many petrels from the southern hemisphere in the area of ​​the La Perouse Strait.

In the southern part of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, a group of large fin whales met, and when we went through the Fourth Kuril Strait into the ocean, a huge blue whale vomited. He surfaced in the immediate vicinity of the ship, and I got a good look at his immense lilac or crimson-blue back. Blyuvalov have not been seen in our waters for a long time, but, as it turned out, this is not a random loner. About two weeks later, one of our cuts passed through here, and again two magnificent specimens of this species were caught. I recalled the conclusions that whales during migrations visit, first of all, selected, or rather, known places, and for this reason, during periods of their low abundance, they meet locally, as if in oases. The observations of vomit, of course, were encouraging in the sense that they fit into the picture of the recovery of the whale population that had begun.

So far, there has been no experience of counting salmon along their spawning migration routes. I knew that the most abundant pink salmon in the Karaginsky-Olyutorsk region comes from the Aleutian waters, so at first I wanted to simply orient myself and feel this fish. To this end, I decided to start trawling from the Middle Strait, which separates the Commander and Aleutian Islands. The first trial trawling, not reaching the strait, was completely discouraging: the trawl was tangled, and then it simply burst due to its dilapidation. For half a day, while we were going to the Middle Strait, the trawlmaster restored it.

There are coincidences in life, and sometimes quite unexpected. June 22 at exactly 4 am (these are not only the words from the famous song of the war years) in the Middle Strait, we begin the first shooting trawl. It has long been light, because in the Bering Sea now is the time of white nights. The sea is calm, splashes of small flocks of dolphins are visible all around. Surprisingly, the trawl went well, however, it was difficult to maintain the required speed due to the huge trawl doors. the catch turned out to be 40 pink salmon and one materaya under two pounds of chinook salmon. A little relieved, which means salmon can handle us. After that, we went to Olyutorsky Bay to “cut off” pink salmon from the shore and start counting it. There were no pink salmon on the shelf of the Karaginsky and Olyutorsky bays, although the surface water temperature was high. The trawl burst in half again. in agonizing expectation, I had to lie in a drift for more than half a day. During negotiations with TINRO, A. I. Chigirinsky told me that according to the forecast of the Kamchatka branch of TINRO, pink salmon in the Karaginsky district should enter the rivers at the end of June, i.e. now, but the fishermen have not yet caught a tail, and our Kamchatka colleagues, feeling failure, they went underground. I already knew that during salmon fishing seasons, Kotinrov specialists often prefer to “hide” at observation posts, on vacation, and in recent years, they also earn currency on Japanese drifters. There was no pink salmon in our catches, and I could not please him with anything.

I remember in detail that late evening in Olyutorsky Bay, when the Professor Levanidov lay adrift with a torn trawl. The sun was sinking towards the lilac mountain ranges, there was a complete calm, the sea barely moved, sorting through the bright orange dawn in its mirror. Flocks of dolphins splashed, slowly along the bright side of the sea the dark silhouettes of two minke whales glided. Several hundred fools dozed or waited patiently near the ship for the dregs. Having made all possible and impossible wishes, I paused my breath and watched the sun disappear behind a high mountain peak. Where the disk of the luminary had just disappeared, an emerald light flashed. But the edge of the sun once again sparkled from the other side of the peak already at its foot, and again its departure was accompanied by a green beam. in one evening two green beams! hope entered superstitiously into the brain and soul.

And then it was time for triumph, although sometimes it was incredibly difficult. When trawling began in the deep-water Commander Basin, it became clear that a large mass of pink salmon was moving towards the shore, stretching for hundreds of kilometers. Due to the high numbers, accompanied by competition for food, the development of reproductive products was delayed in her, and, consequently, the timing of approaches to the rivers was also shifted. in the midst of shooting, a message came from TURNIF that the missing sailors were flying to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky by plane. I had to leave the shooting and two days to follow them. and here our joint expedition was well rescued by "Professor Kaganovsky", on which the scientific group was headed by colleagues A.F. Volkov - A.Ya. Efimkin and V.I. smooth operation of the vessel. At that time, my intuition was already working, and I caught a “salmon wave” with a special feeling.

By the next week's negotiations with TINRO, I was already on horseback. A. I. Chigirinsky reported that the Kamchatka fishermen were in a panic and there were already proposals to remove the receiving fleet from the Karaginsky region. to his delight, I informed him that there were about 140 million pink salmon on the way to this area, which simply delayed for a couple of weeks. From my estimates, it followed that the fish were three times more than predicted. besides Anatoly Isaakovich, then only Yu. I. Moskaltsov believed in my figures. He, as always, decisively influenced the course of events, as a result of which an unprecedentedly high catch of pink salmon was taken in the East Kamchatka region.

Next, we had to make cuts in the Kuril waters and in the southern part of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, through which pink salmon migrates to the eastern coast of Sakhalin, to the northern part of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and to the Kuril Islands. Having gained some experience in the Bering Sea, I was already able to isolate pink salmon, heading for the Sakhalin and South Kuril regions, by the state of gametes. Filming in these areas went well at first. True, with every trawling I had to be on the bridge. Without this, it was impossible to be sure of either the speed or the desired trawling horizon. As before, the trawl was often torn. But, constantly doing repairs, the trawlmasters eventually replaced all the old trawl canvas.

Catches of pink salmon in the ocean near the Kuril Islands were high, which foreshadowed its abundant approaches in the Sakhalin region. From the state of the gonads, it immediately became clear that here, too, the Putin season would begin with a delay.

When I had already ceased to fear for the outcome of the expedition, the main engines broke down on both ships at once. "Professor Kaganovsky", however, was restored a day later. The breakdown on the R/V "Professor Levanidov" was more serious, as the fuel pump shaft broke and it could only run at low speed on one engine. there was nothing to dream about salmon trawling, and we lay down in a drift. The crew and the captain were not very worried, as they believed that they would reach Busan in one car. At an emergency general meeting of the ship, I disappointed them, saying that the flight was going to a shameful finish and the conversation could only be about curtailing the expedition and, of course, without Busan. From the management of TURNIF they promised to send a shaft with a passing vessel. Looking ahead, I’ll say that the package really arrived in two weeks, but it turned out that the part sent was of a completely different kind ... from some kind of boat or even a dump truck.

In negotiations with TINRO, I tried to enlist our leaders to help. But V. N. Akulin was not yet at all versed in maritime matters, and O. A. Bulatov, who was still working as deputy director, was mainly engaged in trips abroad and, obviously, was preparing for the future business. A series of on-air negotiations with TINRO at that time generally left me with a heavy aftertaste. during the period of our work in the Bering Sea, in parallel, pollock survey was carried out by the Novoulyanovsk RTMS. When the pink salmon entered the seine, the TURNIF administration, which had already completely ceased to reckon with TINRO, put this vessel under its acceptance. TINRO found out about this only a week later, when the head of the pollock subject, N.S. Fadeev, decided to get in touch with Novoulyanovsk. I well remember all the ethereal comedy of those negotiations. Questions about pollock catches and size composition follow from TINRO, and the answer is a message about frozen pink salmon. Confusion on both sides. Then the pollock leader switches to the second "his" ship, which is on the way to Busan, and for a long time explains to his employee the request to buy some parts for the car and always at low prices. After that, the representative of the expeditionary department of the TINRO, who was conducting a roll call with the ships, began to call the Japanese ships, on which the Tynrovites sailed in our zone as observers. The main topic of the talks was new customs duties on cars, recommendations on car brands and other similar issues. in this soviet bacchanalia, my calls to help our trouble were perceived as the sound of an annoying fly. with a passing ship, I sent a letter to V.N. But Valery Nikolayevich looked at everything philosophically. besides, he did not imagine that such an orientation of our employees would quickly develop into the disintegration of the institute.

And "Professor Kaganovsky" again became the conductor of the green beam in the fate of our expedition. fortunately, it turned out that on our ships some parts, including broken ones, from auxiliary engines are suitable for the main ones. On "Professor Levanidov" there was only one "auxiliary", and on "Professor Kaganovsky" two. The mechanics of the latter dismantled their second engine and gave us the necessary shaft for a while. It was an act, since "Professor Kaganovsky" was also not insured against breakage, and besides, mechanics always find it difficult to yield important details to others.

At the end of July, both ships finally entered a normal operating mode by our standards. At that time, we began to carry out sections in the southern basin of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and in the eastern Kuril Ocean. The catches of pink salmon have increased dramatically, while the biological state showed that this fish is still far from entering the rivers, it must mature and fatten. Considering the condition of the fish and the fact that a significant part of it was still hundreds of miles from the coast, I predicted the mass march on Sakhalin will begin only in the second decade of August, and on the Kuriles even later. Therefore, despite the loss of time, it will be possible to count and contour pink salmon and further orient the fishermen accordingly.

Interesting cuts began, and if the picture in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk turned out to be more or less familiar, then a lot of new things were observed in the ocean. in the open waters of the ocean there was a completely different world, they are inhabited in many ways by a different fauna. Almost daily, when there was no dense fog, whales were encountered, and on one of the sections - a whole herd of fin whales of 15 heads. Indeed, this minke whale recovers faster than other species of whales. Sperm whales were also observed several times in the ocean, in recent years they have rarely entered our seas, and one day we stumbled upon the already whitened carcass of a huge sperm whale with fragments of a salmon net on the lower jaw and tail. Even such a powerful animal, which in the old days whalers called the great whale, could not escape from the viscous web and became ... prey for fools.

Where sperm whales feed, there is almost always their favorite food - squid. and indeed, night trawls of the eastern Kuril Islands often came densely covered with big squid different types. the fact that this is a squid area could also be judged by albatrosses and constant flocks of dolphins. in the Kuril waters, as is known, cold waters mix with warm streams from the south. Warm and cold jets alternate and form bands and swirls of aquatic origin, bizarre in configuration. This can be judged in some areas even by encounters with albatrosses. When the ship hit a warm stream of a dark-backed albatross - a beautiful bird with a white body and a dark top - a completely black black-footed albatross was added. in the same areas, Iwashi, saury, Japanese anchovy sea bream appeared in catches. For me, the strict confinement of some birds to certain water masses has always been not entirely clear. for example, the gray storm-petrel from the Kuril Islands is found almost throughout the entire Sea of ​​​​Okhotsk and regularly penetrates through the La Perouse Strait into the northern part of the Sea of ​​​​Japan. The northern storm-petrel close to it in the Sea of ​​​​Okhotsk occurs only in the waters of the Kuril Islands and in absolute mass keeps from the ocean side of the islands. The motley typhoon arriving from the southern hemisphere to us in the Northern Pacific in summer is found throughout the deep basin of the Bering Sea, along the Pacific coast of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands, but clearly avoids the productive sea of ​​Okhotsk. There are many such examples. Apparently, such a strict confinement is associated with the conditions for obtaining food in different waters and the hunting abilities of specific bird species.

During observations in the Pacific Ocean, the same petrels were “found”, which I missed in the La Perouse Strait. near the Kuril Islands and in the open waters they met often, often in large flocks. But here I superstitiously waited for a meeting with one interesting typhoon from the family of petrels, which even in the last century English sailors called the "bird of providence" and also "the messenger of misfortune." It breeds as far south as the Tasman Sea. in the northern hemisphere, where he flies every year, I have not yet seen him. in Japanese literature, it was said that east of the Kuril Islands in the ocean in the summer it happens regularly. I wanted to find out if the "messenger of misfortune" flies directly into the water. But only once, on the southeastern periphery of the region near the border of the economic zone, a silhouette similar to it flashed.

A minimum of stations quickly accumulated, according to which it was possible to make a preliminary estimate of the number of salmon heading towards Sakhalin and the southern Kuriles. and although we covered only half of the water area, I was not afraid to take risks, as there was a complete sense of ownership of the situation. Further observations confirmed the correctness of estimates made offhand. and again, as in the Bering Sea, we got very solid, “under two plans”, figures for the number of fish. At the same time, it turned out to be completely unexpected and inconsistent with the literature data that pink salmon, when migrating for spawning, avoids neither cold and warm spots of water, nor oncoming currents. near the middle Kuril Islands, for example, deep waters almost always rise to the surface. in such places, even at the height of summer, the water temperature, with a background in adjacent areas of up to 10╟, can be only one and a half to two degrees. It was believed that such contrasts could negatively affect salmon and cause their large redistributions. But here, in refrigerators shrouded in dense fogs, the maximum catches of active, intensively fattening pink salmon were obtained.

The news that more than 200 million pieces of pink salmon are going to Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands delighted the “shore”, where they were already pretty nervous due to the large delay in the approaches of fish to the coastal area, that is, to the zone of fixed seines. in the Sakhalin branch of TINRO, where I regularly gave information, they did not deny my assessments, but were in no hurry to agree with them.

To put the last point, it was necessary to cover an even larger area with cuts. at the same time, on both ships, the fuel approached the emergency reserve. Contacting the heads of the industrial districts turned out to be useless at first, the fishing expeditions themselves experienced difficulties with fuel. It was impossible to count on the help of the shipowner - the TURNIF department. Moreover, one of his leaders in the negotiations went so far as to refer to some experience in using ... water instead of fuel. The manager, of course, did not joke very subtly. We were going to drift the next day, which was undesirable, because the fish was in motion and it was possible to re-count and overestimate the data.

After the intervention of Yu. I. Moskaltsov, the industrial expedition managed to obtain fuel. Both vessels rushed to close the "points" of stations and trawling areas that were not surveyed. The preliminary estimate of the abundance of salmon going to the coasts of Sakhalin and the Kuriles was confirmed by additional calculations, about which I once again confidently informed both TINRO and Dalryba.

The pink salmon recorded by the expedition still had to complete its feeding and travel many miles before entering the rivers. After all, a significant part of it was hundreds of miles from the coast. We finished shooting in the ocean, the eastern Kuriles, on the border of our economic zone. To leave no doubt, for Professor Levanidov I determined the final route with trawling, first to the Kuril Straits, and then to the southeastern coast of Sakhalin, as if imitating the path of the main pink salmon aggregations along a large arc. In the end, everything was confirmed: stretching out with a “tail” beyond the Kuriles, abundant fish confidently walked this route to their rivers in several echelons.

The last day before Sakhalin was quiet and sunny. After the Kuril cold fogs and swell, a feeling of even comfort came. Pink salmon was “on the echo sounder”, in the catches of control trawls and even splashed on the surface of the sea. Here and there, the blue expanse of flocks of dolphins chasing it, as well as wasashi and anchovy, frothed. Enhancing the surrounding splendor of nature and the perception of the power of life, a group of eight killer whales crossed the course of the ship. They changed direction and walked in an even line for about a quarter of an hour right at the side. in the details one could even make out the spiracles, from which, when emerging, fountains were thrown out with noise. Soon two more large killer whales appeared. Apparently, having eaten salmon, they played from an excess of energy and “feelings” that overwhelmed them: they alternately threw themselves high out of the water and literally fell flat into the sea, raising cascades of white foam. Good feelings in such cases arise in the soul when contemplating this powerful demonstration of the power of life.

"On fuel" it was time for us to leave. Even at the crossing, it became known that the salmon fishing season on Sakhalin was generally successful and within the predicted time frame. But the fish came in waves and there were temporary drops. Listening to the negotiations on such days, I was sometimes very worried, on the one hand, there was confidence in my assessments, but at the same time, various hypotheses were sometimes stirring in my head, and sometimes - literally almost devilry. Recently, for example, an interesting hypothesis was put forward by M. K. Glubokovsky and L. A. Zhivotovsky, according to which the population structure of pink salmon is not constant, the boundaries of its populations and their composition are subject to dynamics. If so, significant redistribution of migratory fish between regions is possible. Suddenly, the pink salmon that we counted will turn to the western Kamchatka region or to the northern part of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk? After all, we left everything without control. I also remembered one of the versions that was expressed a couple of years ago in KoTI N RO. Once, when, contrary to the forecast, little pink salmon entered the rivers, our Kamchatka colleagues explained this by the fact that the fish ... drowned in the sea in front of the mouths of the rivers.

But our pink salmon did not drown and did not go to other areas. Sakhalin - was soon literally "littered" with this fish. What can I say, I came back a winner. I managed to show and prove something. For the first time, the salmon fishing season passed without mysticism, which salmon specialists are used to breeding. Even at the transition, we prepared a detailed report. Some of the chapters were written by colleagues on the "Professor Kaganovsky", and until the end of the voyage we kept good contact and understanding. the report included not only pink salmon, which I mainly talked about above. In addition to it, extensive information has been collected on other salmon, squid, the structure of fish communities, the diet of fish and squid, plankton, and the oceanographic regime. There were also exotic sightings. For example, in the ocean we once caught more than a ton of large salmon kings - fish related to the famous oar kings. We also managed to establish the authors of knife wounds on the body of salmon. The problem of injury to salmon has been discussed in the literature for several decades. It was believed that spotted seals, sharks, dolphins and Japanese hook tackle were to blame. All this, probably, really took place and takes place. But it turned out that the main culprit of incised wounds is the mesopelagic dagger-tooth fish, which rises to the upper layers of the sea to hunt. This predator looks like a large garfish. The length of its thin body usually does not exceed a meter. Only the upper jaw is armed with large teeth. The daggertooth cannot hold a strong salmon in its mouth, but when attacked, it inflicts terrible wounds. If the victim has the strength to escape, the predator is content with a piece of meat, if the wound is fatal, it is not difficult for him to get it on a bloody trail.

Despite the intensity of filming, I took the time to revise the diaries of my observations on recent dolphin and whale expeditions. Moreover, he ventured to count their livestock. For our economic zone, I counted about 250 thousand dolphins, 12 thousand killer whales, 10 thousand striped whales.

At the end of the expedition, "Professor Levanidov" and "Professor Kaganovsky" made a call at the South Korean port of Busan. on the day of entering the port, which fell on August 19, a message came about the putsch in Moscow and the creation of the State Emergency Committee. We managed to see on Korean television military columns in Moscow and fragments of a press conference of the organizers of the coup. at this time, a powerful typhoon hit the south of the Korean Peninsula. All ships were driven out of the harbor, and we stormed for two days in the Tsushima Strait. In all my life, I do not remember such an abundance of water falling from the sky. There was a feeling that the ship was under a mighty waterfall. There was not even radio communication, and all this time we were in the dark about the further course of events in our homeland. In fairness, however, I note that few in the crew were worried about the outcome of the putsch in the capital. For me, these days were more than disturbing. You didn't have to be a prophet to imagine what the junta would do if it won. The experience of releasing the spirit from the masses of people, accumulated by her predecessors, has not yet been forgotten. They would not have had problems with the necessary number of executors of their will and plans. It was also not difficult for me to imagine which of the Tynrovtsy would have entered the purge commissions, etc. The main role here would have been played by stubborn communists. And of course, I personally did not shine anything good. Mo's anti-communist reputation was well known.

It is hardly necessary to explain how joyful it became when, after the typhoon, we again entered Busan and the old Korean on the pier said that "Yeltsin won."

An attempt at an armed action by the CPSU greatly influenced the course of further events, and at the same time greatly accelerated them. In general, such a rapid collapse of the CPSU was unexpected for me. This inquisitorial organization had extraordinary power. In general, the general public mood was also favorable for her. Suffice it to recall how massive was the condemnation in different strata of society of A. I. Solzhenitsyn and A. D. Sakharov. for example, I had a completely clear opinion that if at the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR M. S. Gorbachev had given the command to drag A. D. Sakharov from the podium, he could have been killed right in the hall, and no matter how wildly, they could make women. Some of them literally became bitchy when Andrei Dmitrievich tried to return to condemning the Afghan war. The fact of membership in the CPSU of 20 million also clearly spoke of a favorable breeding ground in society for this party. it came to decay itself, or rather, it was led to this by its primitive criminal policy. Starting to rattle weapons in Tbilisi, Baku and Vilnius, she hastened the path to her death, and the events in Moscow in August 1991 were already only a convulsive attempt to stop the inevitable.

I was not surprised by the behavior of our Ministry of Fisheries during the coup. The reactionary and totalitarian essence of the thinking of its leaders is well known. Of course, there were quite normal people. I could draw such a conclusion from the commissions that regularly came with checks. But there were plenty of odious personalities. I have briefly discussed some of them above. All this, of course, is just a few touches. You can probably write a lot of detective stories if you figure out how the leaders of the Minrybkhoz who made a mistake, as a rule, turned out to be “punished” by getting a job abroad. Or if you understand why, with the reduction of the Ministry of Fisheries by 10 times and the formation of the Committee on Fisheries on its basis, not a single square meter of area was vacated.

I have always tried to stay away from this main headquarters of the country's fishing industry, being psychologically allergic to it and not very trusting of many of its figures. It is clear that my information was insufficient for complete judgments. But sometimes a certain conclusion could be drawn from certain indirect signs. for many years, for example, A. N. Gulchenko, the former second secretary of the Primorsky Regional Committee of the CPSU, worked as deputy ministers. I noticed that for some reason he most often flew on business trips to the Far East at the end of April. This constancy was surprising, but everything turned out to be very simple. at that time, a good year of geese was going on Khanka, and A. N. Gulchenko, as the hunters told me, came to poach in his favorite places, where he, following the example of his party chief V. P. Lomakin, did the same when he was a secretary .

I will return, however, to the past salmon expedition. The report of our expedition to TINRO went under the drum, and I was praised, as in an obituary. Yu. I. Moskaltsov gave me a request to speak at the industrial council in Dalryb. at that moment, the salmon season was not yet over, and the first thing that interested the heads of the fishing industry was how many more salmon would be caught. The size of the catch, as you know, depends not only on the number of fish, but also on the weather, the skill of the fishermen and the availability of material and technical base. But then I was in a special dimension and offhand called a figure, which was soon confirmed. It is a pity that such states of insight and inspiration do not happen very often.

Here, once again, I want to pay tribute to the abilities of Yu. I. Moskaltsov, this outstanding person. What is relatively offshore works on salmon, I proved in TINRO for years, he grabbed on the fly. and I spoke in Dalryb again about the need for autumn counts of juvenile salmon in our zone, according to which it will be possible to accurately predict the scale of salmon arrivals, especially pink salmon, for the next year. As for summer observations, at the moment it was unnecessary to campaign for them, since our expedition did it. Yuri Ivanovich strongly spoke out in favor of my version of marine observations of salmon and promised help.

At the report to TINRO, the Scientific Council recommended that our expedition be awarded with an increased premium. The proposal was implemented, the crews were awarded by the standards above the average. For the first time in all the years of work at TINRO, they finally decided to award me a bonus based on the results of the flight. But the directorate found out that Yu. I. Moskaltsov was going to do this on behalf of Dalryba. Yuri Ivanovich kept his word, but my superiors decided that this could be used as a cover. Of course, they were pleased with the success of the expedition, but it seems that they still did not realize that it was I who created very important prerequisites for obtaining the maximum in 1991. salmon catch throughout the history of our fishery. To be honest, all this somewhat jarred me, but I quickly drove away such an attitude, especially since it became real to send three vessels at once in a month and a half for autumn surveys of juvenile salmon, during which it was possible to carry out an additional complex of oceanological, hydrobiological and ichthyological studies and simultaneously cover almost all of our economic zone with observations. The resonance from our expedition was so significant and there was such a freshness in the sense of scientific research that it was not difficult to recruit quite strong scientific groups on all three ships. I say this because many Tinrovtsy at that time, having felt either the taste or the smell of foreign currency, already wanted to swim only on commercial flights, which were becoming more and more.

The autumn expedition took place, but its plan was destroyed from the very beginning by the shipowner - the same TURNIF. All ships were strongly delayed, besides, they left at very different times. I assumed that when surveying the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, it would be possible to “cut off” the juvenile salmon of its northern part and count them separately from the juveniles of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, until they mixed up in the south of the sea. in the southern deep-water part of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk These data were, of course, useful, but only characterized the volume of the total downstream run of all salmon groups in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. , its approaches here will still be somewhat higher than the forecast of TINRO branches.

The ship allocated for the Bering Sea left with such a delay that it found only the last pink salmon fingerlings along the periphery of the Russian economic zone. It was the last flight of E. I. Sobolevsky on my subject. Usually he organized the shooting well, but here, due to a shortage of fuel, he got into time trouble, got confused and, in essence, failed the expedition. Could not help change the situation and my intervention in the affairs of the expedition from the shore.

The third vessel, R/V TINRO, left with... a three-month delay, when the sea of ​​Okhotsk was already half covered with ice. I did not refuse this flight, especially since we had little data for the winter months. If we consider this voyage not in connection with the general plan, but only in terms of specific results, then they turned out to be more than interesting, for which the great merit belonged to the energetic planktonologist K. M. Gorbatenko, who in past voyages demonstrated the undoubted abilities of a good expeditionary.

Two years ago, we already established that juvenile salmon are found in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk throughout the winter. An expedition onboard the R/V TINRO in January 1992 counted nearly 200 million pink salmon underyearlings in the southern part of the sea. There was a real sensation, and at first some of the salmon specialists did not believe it again. in the ice-free areas of the northeastern part of the sea, a detailed survey was also made and the pre-spawning concentrations of walleye pollock and its juveniles were well calculated.

Although far from everything was accomplished during the autumn expeditions, my line of research was still quoted, and V.N. think about how to create a broader scientific field on the basis of my expedition, attracting academic specialists for this. He did not rule out the possibility that TINRO, if funds were available, could contribute its share to the academic expedition. This conversation became like a “balm for the soul” for me, because the Tinrovtsy became more and more obsessed with the level of “female two, stomach zero”, and the institute as a whole lost susceptibility to real scientific problems and ideas, which was the result of the commercialization of work and life, the distortion of ideas about sense and essence scientific research.

Shortly after that, Deputy Director of VNIRO B.N. Kotenev was on a business trip to TINRO. he also had counter offers, the witches began to contact on the basis of my expeditions already two years ago.

This is how the idea of ​​expeditionary research was born. 1992 TINRO planned three minesweepers for my theme, and at the same time, during the anadromous migrations of salmon, in order, as in the past year, to help the salmon fishing season. We invited several specialists from academic institutes to these ships, including V. V. Fedorov from Leningrad and K. N. Nesis from Moscow, who had already worked with me before. On the shares, another cruise of the R/V "Akademik Nesmeyanov" was compiled - with a set of purely scientific tasks, including the study of the cycle of elements in the ocean coast system, pollution, the fine structure of oceanological fields, primary production, bacteria, protozoa, i.e. questions, necessary to understand the nature of our seas in general and the fundamentals of the functioning of their ecosystems. A large scientific group of the academic vessel was to be made up of Vnirovites and employees of several institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Funding for scientific research was still a big problem. The fishermen refused to finance the study of biological resources and pay for the right to use them. The appeals of the leaders of Dalryba on this score hung in the air. There were also no funds in the Fisheries Committee. In order to maintain fishery science and at least partially its functioning, a quota of fish for sale was allocated for TINRO, which, among other things, made it possible to organize the planned expedition according to my program.

"Academician Nesmeyanov" went to sea almost on time, but his work was not directly related to salmon business. with the release of our ships, as before, there was a hitch. TURNIF was again insolvent, time was running out, and the ships were not ready, moreover, there was no fuel. Finally, with a half bunker, the "Professor Levanidov" sea went to Beringovo. But he could not repeat the success of last year, as he was too late and pink salmon had already entered the coastal area and rivers. and besides, it was generally small, much less than predicted by the specialists of the Kamchatka branch of TINRO.

With regard to the other two vessels, TURNIF was ready to hang up. fuel was very bad, and many vessels were idle even in the fishery. Weakly hoping for help, I nevertheless went to Yu. I. Moskaltsov. Yuri Ivanovich did the impossible. A day later, with a full bunker, Professor Kaganovsky went into the waters of the western coast of Kamchatka, whose work again turned out to be successful. Yu. I. Moskaltsov ensured the full filling of the third vessel, the Novoulyanovsk supertrawler. However, this ship continued to moor. As it soon became known, Turnifov's chiefs conceived a "sabotage" - to pour some of the fuel onto one of their fishing vessels. In the evening, TINRO was called by the metropolitan scientists who lived on the ship and reported that fuel hoses were being pulled to Novoulyanovsk from another ship. We contacted the head of TURNIF I. V. Mitskevich, and he reassured me, while guaranteeing that not a ton would be taken. Igor Viktorovich has long been a great politician, and politics, as you know, is a rather dirty business. Fuel from "Novoulyanovsk", in essence, was stolen and did it with his knowledge. The described episode was very typical. Our partner shipowner, having received a large fleet for science for free in his time, wanted to dissociate himself from TINRO altogether and for a long time behaved impudently and even cynically. From time to time there were wild cases. For example, in winter, when the RTMS "Darwin" returned from counting the juvenile salmon, the TURNIF managers decided to arrest the scientific samples and charge TINRO for them ... in a fivefold amount. They were not too lazy to establish a constant watch on the ship for a management representative. At first, I did not understand the essence of this anecdotal situation. It turns out that the Turnif officials decided that the samples contained nothing more than chinook salmon or other valuable salmon that they could feed on. What was their disappointment when they were convinced that the samples contained small, matchstick-sized, mesopelagic fish and pink salmon fingerlings.

I forwarded a letter to I. V. Mitskevich describing these outrages of his public. I knew him for a long time. We sailed together when he was still the third navigator. Then and then, having become a captain, Igor Viktorovich differed from many other sailors in his intelligence. This time, he didn't even react. Apparently, while evolving in his team, Igor Viktorovich has pretty much lost his original moral and baggage.

The troubles at Novoulyanovsk did not end with the described episode. Somehow, it turned out to be two captains - G.V. Malyutin and A.V. Makhanko. Despite the presence of a tandem of fathers-commanders. the atmosphere on the ship and the attitude towards research and the scientific group were ugly. It all ended in a stabbing between the crew members and an attack by the trawlmaster on the head of the scientific group. Upon returning to the port, scientific samples were looted on the ship and there were strong suspicions that one of the captains was directly involved in this. The Academic Council of TINRO, listening to the report on this expedition, finally could not stand it and expressed distrust to both captains, and also addressed an open letter to I.V. the letter ended with a call for civilized relations. Igor Viktorovich, of course, did not react. Moreover, soon TU RNIF organized in the same newspaper a laudatory report about one of the captains who stained himself.

The expeditions were unlucky in 1992 also because they failed to achieve additional bunkering of ships in the sea, so the shooting was crumpled, and the ships were recalled ahead of schedule. How many times at the same time the fuel was recalled, which was thievishly sucked onto the TURNIF fishing vessel while still in port. at the end of the voyage, Novoulyanovsk, at the direction of the TURNIF leaders, made another zigzag. He was driven to the roadstead of Vladivostok and a group of thieves was planted for a trip to Busan for cars.

And yet the 1992 expedition did not pass without success. The situation was largely saved by the fact that there were qualified scientific groups on board all ships. In addition to salmon counts, they collected extensive material on the ecology of squids and mesopelagic fishes. For the first time in our zone, the habitation of several dozen species of fish that were not previously recorded here was established. Also, for the first time in all the years of observations, a lot of juveniles of the southern unifin greenling were found in the pelagial of the deep-water basin of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, which is a sign of the appearance of a productive generation in it. and records of Sakhalin-Kuril pink salmon correlated well with last year's autumn surveys. The year was not salmon, but still more pink salmon came to the shores than SakhTINRO predicted. The fishery confirmed the correctness of the marine estimates. Before that, the catches in the north of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk turned out to be higher than predicted.

Perhaps the most organized flight was on the "Professor Kaganovsky", where there was a good contact between the scientific leader of the flight A. Ya. Efimkin and captain S. A. Plekhov. On this ship, two surveys were made one after the other in the Western Kamchatka region. The first occurred at the beginning of the pink salmon run, the second at its final stage. So far we have not had such data. this year, the movement of pink salmon into the rivers of the western coast of Kamchatka was moderate and in line with the CoTINRO forecast. Interesting in the work of "Professor Kaganovsky" was the fact of a relatively high number of herring in the Western Kamchatka waters. On this basis, with cautious optimism, we can probably talk about the beginning of the revival of the Gizhigin-Kamchatka population of this fish.

"Academician Nesmeyanov" worked autonomously. After sailing from this vessel, a solid report was provided to TINRO, in which there was a lot of useful information. For my laboratory, quantitative assessments of the production of phytoplankton, bacteria, and protozoa were of great interest. These data supported our conclusions that the productivity and fish productivity of the Far Eastern seas has been underestimated in the past.

When I analyzed the sections on plankton in the voyage reports of our vessels, the increased biomass of predatory plankton, primarily sagitta, and also amphipods, caught my eye. This prompted us to review the entire series of similar observations accumulated in our expeditions since the mid-1980s. It turned out that everywhere in our seas since the beginning of the 1990s, large-scale changes in the composition of plankton communities began. I asked E. P. Dulepova to estimate the production of peaceful and predatory plankton in different regions separately for the 80s and 90s. An interesting pattern emerged. In connection with the widespread increase in the biomass of predatory plankton, the total production of plankton communities has decreased, which, apparently, should have negative consequences for planktivorous fish. Strictly speaking, the observed changes for me were not completely unexpected. After all, I have long predicted big changes at the beginning of the 90s. What happened? What is the mechanism of the changes that have begun and what has played the role of a trigger here?

By the beginning of the 1990s, the biomass of pelagic fish in the Russian zone had decreased by about 15 million tons, primarily due to willow and mint. This could not but affect the immediate increase in the number of predatory plankton, which feeds on peaceful plankton in the early stages. But in a broader sense, the restructuring in plankton communities, apparently, is more correct to consider in connection with the beginning of epoch-making changes in climatic and oceanological conditions. I have no doubts about the beginning of a colder, rather than warmer era, which was predicted by most climatologists, so far. Plankton must respond to such changes, and not only indirectly through fish. V. I. Radchenko, who led the voyage on the Professor Levanidov, noted that the specifics of 1992 in terms of the distribution of salmon in the western part of the Bering Sea are also not an episode of one year. Soon after the voyage, having raised all the diagrams of the course of the Bering Sea, which had been built since the 1930s, he noticed that in general terms, the circulation of the waters of this sea began to resemble a picture of the 1950s and 1960s. Oceanologists have so far reacted very reservedly to this conclusion. But it seemed to me that all this lined up in a logical sequence and could be seen as another sign of global change.

Since it was clear that with the development of background natural processes according to the scenario I predicted, the raw material base of the fishing industry would deteriorate, this became another argument in favor of continuing complex expeditionary research.

Although the results of our expedition work in the summer of 1992 were more modest in terms of application than in 1991, Dalryba, on the initiative of Yu. I. Moskaltsov, allocated part of the funds for organizing autumn filming according to my program. unfortunately, the leaders of TINRO somewhat miscalculated their economy and the institute at that time was just on a financial shoal. The money allocated for the expedition was spent on the life of the institute and the payment of debts of TURNIF, which continuously increased the rent for ships.

Left without expeditions, my colleagues and I set about comprehending and more detailed processing of the accumulated materials from previous salmon surveys. A large number of articles were prepared and sent to various publications both on salmon and on the state of plankton and nekton communities in general. in connection with the knowledge of the ecology of the marine period of the life of salmon, a number of moments could be attributed to our asset. It is also significant that it became possible to confidently speak about the reliability of salmon abundance estimates based on trawl surveys. When calculating abundance based on trawl catches, we took the catch factor equal to 0.3. There are always many discrepancies and disputes on this topic, and some experts, in order not to philosophize, take it equal to 1 for all cases. determined by employees of the TINRO departments), it turned out that the marine data are only a third superior to the coastal ones. But if we take into account the incompleteness of statistics and the obvious underestimation of fish entering numerous large and small rivers, then the similarity of the estimates will increase even more. If, however, the catch factor of 0.4 is used in the calculations, then the identity of the estimates is visible even without any corrections. Thus, it became clear that elementary trawl surveys make it possible to operate with data on the absolute abundance of salmon. This circumstance is important in itself. But, bearing in mind the reliability of the estimates obtained, comparing the autumn population with the summer abundance, one can determine the natural loss of pink salmon after the current yearlings leave the waters of the shelf. So far, we have found that during the autumn-winter-spring months, the death of pink salmon is approximately 50%. This is relatively little, so autumn surveys, if carried out regularly, can give good and reliable guidance on approaches for the next year with a lead time of about nine months.

Our surveys were carried out in a relatively short time and covered large areas. This made it possible to reveal an impressive panorama of echeloned anadromous migrations of pink salmon, which, on the way to the coast, stretches for hundreds of miles along the front and from the vanguard to the rearguard. The fish comes in bulk, singly and in small groups, but not in tight schools. Such a picture did not seem to fit into the ideas of some salmon specialists about the nature of salmon migrations. Earlier, when I listened to ichthyologists from TINRO departments and fishermen regarding the approaches of red fish and salmon fishing, I had the impression that salmon approached the shores in large schools. More than once it was reported that almost every year before the fishing season, experienced fishermen seem to see a powerful spot of fish at a distance from the coast, which is waiting for favorable conditions for it to enter the river. I also remembered my own case when, back in 1962, A. G. Kaganovsky sent me by plane with an experienced air reconnaissance officer to check for the presence of schools of pink salmon in Peter the Great Bay, where it suddenly and in significant quantities began to enter the fixed seine. I still have dozens of shoals-spots of a lilac shade in front of my eyes in the south of the Ussuri Bay, as well as between Askold Island and Cape Povorotny. and it really was pink salmon, which was confirmed by the seiner's purse note, which the plane aimed at the joint. dense concentrations of salmon in front of the rivers are also evidenced by their occasional very plentiful entries into the fixed nets.

But, as I have already emphasized, our data unequivocally showed that salmon do not gather in large flocks in the open sea. The latter occurs only directly off the coast. Even on the main migration routes, an hour's trawling at a five-knot speed usually catches only a few tens, rarely hundreds, and even more rarely thousands of fish. This also agrees well with the acoustic records of salmon in the form of small strokes on the echo tape.

When analyzing the schemes of the quantitative distribution of fish dispersed over vast areas, migration flows to certain places on the coasts are clearly visible. The trajectories of these streams can be refined by comparing the ratio of sexes and fish with different degrees of maturity; One can clearly see the predominance of males in the avant-garde part of the migration flow, and females in the rear. Closer to the shores, the average coefficient of maturity of the gonads is higher. At the same time, the following interesting regularity was discovered. Closer to the coast, i.e., among the first waves of migrants, individuals with a very low degree of maturity are encountered against the background of more mature fish on average. on the other hand, almost mature fish are found far from the coast among the bulk of pink salmon with small gonads. From this it follows that the fish streams identified by catches are complex in composition and in some cases not so straightforward trajectories of various groups of fish are visible in them. in some places, the overlap of trajectories immediately became apparent. I mean the area of ​​the North Kuril straits. Pink salmon from the northern part of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, Western Kamchatka, East Sakhalin and South Kuril regions migrate through this area. Since in the last two areas its reproduction is the latest, it is easy to distinguish the fish coming here by very small caviar, which literally catches the eye.

Starting work on the marine period of the life of salmon, I expected to get arguments for or against the recently appeared hypothesis of fluctuating stocks put forward by M. K. Glubokovsky and L. A. Zhivotovsky.

What we managed to observe in this sense in the first expeditions did not add clarity. So far, it seems that there have been no large redistributions of pink salmon from region to region. The conclusion was that if they occur, then, apparently, only with serious anomalies in the hydrological regime. The influx of a certain part of the fish into any adjacent area is real every year. According to the preliminary data of our colleague O. S. Temnykh, who analyzed the morphometric differentiation of pink salmon along the migration routes in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and in the Kuril waters, up to a third of individuals in any area have signs of fish from other areas. All these works are in the initial stage, and if they can be continued, they may turn out to be promising.

Many questions were also found in the study of fish nutrition. Some types of salmon - pink salmon, chum salmon, mink - feed mainly on plankton, while others - coho salmon, chinook and sim are predators. Plankton-eating species give a clear preference to hyperiids, but freely switch to eating small fish, squid, crab larvae, and even jellyfish and ctenophores . Salmon feed more often during daylight hours and, in case of unsuccessful hunting, they have a chance to supplement their diet at dusk or at night, when plankton, mesopelagic fish and squid rise from the depths to the upper layers of the sea. Apparently, it is unlikely that they can remain hungry, they always have additional food objects in reserve. at the same time, salmon often decrease in size at a high abundance, which can be interpreted as a result of competition for food. on the other hand, when the number is low, they are larger. These and similar questions are an integral part of the larger problem of the place and role of salmon in ecosystems. Therefore, I felt that the laboratory of applied biocenology could be quite useful in the study of salmon. By the way, salmon raised additional questions for hydrobiologists. So far, it has not been possible to link the quantitative distribution and migration routes of these fish with the quantitative distribution of plankton and specific oceanological fields, circulation formations, frontal sections and water masses. In a word, the question of subtle ecological landmarks used by salmon in the sea remains open. Apparently, the horizontal and vertical structure of the forage fields will be very important here. But salmon do not go to sea in large schools, therefore, they can probably provide themselves with food with a scattered distribution of food organisms.

With all this in mind, I drew up research plans for 1993. As in the previous year, I asked for three vessels for the period of anadromous salmon migrations. From VNIRO and several academic institutes, proposals were received to repeat during our salmon surveys and complex work on the "Akademik Nesmeyanov". I was, of course, in agreement. I pay tribute to the director of TINRO V.N.Akulin and his deputy L.N.Bocharov, who kept their word and made a lot of efforts so that both ours and the academic ship could go on a voyage. It was not so easy to do this, since the cost of this event turned into hundreds of six-figure figures. The Fisheries Committee nevertheless approved the program and guaranteed its funding. The decisive role here was played by the fact that I firmly promised prompt assistance to the salmon fishing season in adjusting the timing and volumes of salmon approaches, primarily pink salmon. My intention in this sense was more than serious, but, as it became clear later, I was everything. he underestimated the true difficulties in this field. I had to worry about the next expedition thoroughly. Before describing this difficult voyage, I want to make one last digression. but it is dictated by the fact that over the past year all of us have found ourselves in many ways in other realities of life. In a short time, there was a reassessment of values ​​and an adjustment of priorities. In a short period of time after last year's expeditions, a lot has changed, unfortunately, not for the better. The successor to the Ministry of Fisheries, the Committee for Fisheries, did not have the funds to finance science, and fishermen did not want to make appropriate contributions. As I already said, in order not to let the fishery science perish, they began to allocate a quota for fish for TINRO to sell and receive funds in this way. This important step and gesture had, unfortunately, among other things, and very large negative consequences, in my opinion, changes began in which elements of the decomposition of fishery science in general and TINRO in particular are visible.

A meeting of the biological section of the Scientific Council was held at the TINRO Center, at which a voyage report of the R/V TINRO was presented, which carried out bottom trawl survey in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and integrated pelagic survey in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and Pacific waters of the southern Kuril and Commander Islands, as well as the southwestern part of Bering Sea in summer-autumn of the current year.

According to Igor Glebov, head of the Far Eastern and Arctic Seas Resources Laboratory, in June-August, research was carried out in the eastern part of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, within the West Kamchatka shelf.

The recorded bottom fish biomass in the surveyed water area was 2 million tons, of which slightly more than 1 million tons were in the West Kamchatka and about 1 million tons in the Kamchatka-Kuril subzones. More than 87% of the biomass of the benthic ichthyocene was made up of the flounder (56.2%), cod (14.7%) and slingshot (17%) families. The biomass of commercially valuable yellowfin flounder amounted to 278 thousand tons (14.1% of the bottom ichthyocene). The biomass of another valuable commercial bilinear flounder was estimated at 73.3 thousand tons, the basis of its biomass was formed by individuals of commercial sizes.

In cod, the basis of biomass (76.9%) was formed by saffron cod (226 thousand tons), which forms denser accumulations on isobaths less than 50 m. and 18.9 thousand tons - in the West Kamchatka subzones

The biomass of halibut was estimated at 8.6 thousand tons, of which 4.1 thousand tons were recorded in the Kamchatka-Kuril and 4.5 thousand tons in the West Kamchatka subzones.

The main target, walleye pollock, occurred in the depth range of 15-409 m throughout the surveyed area. The biomass of mature walleye pollock in the bottom horizons is estimated at 1.84 million tons.

The recorded biomass of herring was 48.8 thousand tons, and capelin, found in the coastal areas of both subzones, was estimated at 5 thousand tons.

Also, one of the tasks of the survey was to take into account another object that is significant for fishers - the red king crab. The number of its commercial males was estimated at 110.1 million specimens, juveniles - 45.4 million, females - 73.9 million, which significantly exceeds the estimates of the previous two years. The growth trend of the recorded number can be traced over the past few years.

Accumulations of blue crab were noted only in the West Kamchatka subzone. The number of commercial males in the surveyed water area in the West Kamchatka subarea was estimated at 15.3 million specimens, which is more than the results of the census in 2016 - 10.1 million specimens.

There has been an expected decline in the commercial abundance of Birdie's snow crab. The number of commercial males is estimated at only 20.2 million specimens. The number of commercial males of the Western Kamchatka shelf hairy crab is estimated at 4.9 million specimens, which is somewhat inferior to the data of 2015. The accounting stock of the northern shrimp amounted to 23.3 thousand tons, the highest catches were noted in the Kamchatka-Kuril subzone at depths of 201-250 m and averaged 15.9 kg/trawl.

The second part of the voyage, after a partial change of the scientific group, began from the Sea of ​​Okhotsk waters of the southern Kuriles, then continued within the 200-mile zone and open waters of the NWTO. According to the leading researcher of the TINRO-Center Alexander Starovoitov, at this stage of research, 72 trawls and a similar number of stations were completed in the water area with a total area of ​​587 thousand km².

The recorded abundance and biomass of all hydrobionts according to trawl survey data amounted to 50.8 billion specimens and 3.4 million tons.

The basis of the ichthyonekton biomass was formed by Japanese mackerel - 1.6 million tons, most of which (1.2 million tons or 76%) was recorded within the 200-mile zone of the surveyed areas of the NWTO. The second place in terms of biomass with an estimate of 1.07 million tons in the survey area was occupied by the Far Eastern sardine.

The biomass of spotted mackerel was significantly higher (four times) in the eastern areas of the survey (here it was taken into account 183 thousand tons - 21%), where it ranked third among other nekton species after Japanese mackerel and sardine.

The recorded biomasses of mesopelagic fish and sharks in the open waters of the NWTO turned out to be significantly lower. The final estimate of the biomass of cephalopods was also four times lower than that recorded in the adjacent western region of the NWTO - 6 thousand tons against 24 thousand tons.

Of the two areas under consideration, saury and Japanese sea bream were noted in catches only within the 200-mile zone, the biomasses of which were estimated at 14 and 3.3 thousand tons, respectively.

Japanese mackerel was observed almost everywhere. Its catches ranged from 1 specimen to 32 thousand specimens per hour of trawling. Four trawls showed a result per hour of standard trawling exceeding 1 ton, or, in terms of numbers, more than 6 thousand specimens. The maximum catch of Japanese mackerel recorded outside the EEZ was 2.8 tons/hour of trawling (9.5 thousand specimens).

South Asian mackerel was not as widespread as Japanese mackerel and was recorded only in 28 out of 72 trawls.

Its largest catches were recorded in the eastern areas of the survey. The single maximum catch of this species per trawl hour was 2.8 tons, and the average catch of South Asian or spotted mackerel this year was 1,800 specimens per trawl hour or 127 kg in weight terms.

The highest catches of the Far Eastern sardine, both in quantitative and weight terms (more than 1.5 tons per hour of trawling) were noted in the southern Kuril regions in the area of ​​​​the vast cyclonic eddy of the frontal zone of the Oyashio-Kuroshio system, where the temperature on the ocean surface was 13-16 °C. Another significant catch (more than 3 tons per hour of trawling) was taken outside the Russian EEZ.

Compared with the results of similar studies conducted by the R/V Professor Kaganovsky in June of the same year, when the accumulations of the Far Eastern sardine were concentrated mainly in the southern parts of the Russian EEZ and to the east beyond its borders, in August, due to the summer warming of the waters, they were dispersed over the survey area and to a greater extent confined to the water area adjacent to the islands of Iturup and Urup.

Against the background of the two previous years, in August - early September 2017, the stock of the Far Eastern sardine within the study area was estimated at an average level - a little over 1 million tons.

However, it should be taken into account that in 2015-2016 surveys in the NWTO were carried out earlier (approximately 2-3 weeks) and cannot be discounted, the region's dynamism in the course of seasonal synoptic and hydrological processes, the high migratory activity of sardine shoals and fishery removal.

In addition, hydroacoustic measurements of the aggregations were carried out, which showed higher estimates of the abundance and biomass of mackerel and sardines.

The main accumulations of sardine and mackerel were recorded in the near-surface horizons within the layer up to 25 m. During the daytime, these accumulations were recorded by an echo sounder in the form of high-density schools mainly at depths of up to 20 m.

The next stage of the expedition was a trawl survey of the upper epipelagic of the western part of the Bering Sea and the adjacent Pacific waters of the Commander Islands (from 14 to 30 September).

During this time, 46 station trawls were carried out in the surface horizon in the western part of the Bering Sea and adjacent waters of the Pacific Ocean. The total area of ​​the surveyed water area was 361 thousand km2.

According to the results of the survey, the abundance and biomass of nekton and macroplankton in the upper epipelagic zone of the western part of the Bering Sea and adjacent waters of the Pacific Ocean amounted to 16 billion specimens and 351 thousand tons.

In terms of biomass, the epipelagic community was dominated by ichthyonekton, which accounted for 214 thousand tons (61%).

The percentage of individual species and groups in the total nekton biomass in autumn 2017 was as follows. The basis of biomass in the surveyed areas of the western part of the sea and adjacent Pacific waters was composed of salmon (108 thousand tons or 42% of the recorded biomass) and stickleback (67 thousand tons or 26%).

The share of northern squid accounted for 16% of the recorded nekton biomass, and the next three positions were occupied by saury (13%), northern unifin greenling - 1.2% and Pacific herring (0.7%)

Among the Pacific salmon, the undisputed leader in terms of biomass was chum salmon (55%) and sockeye salmon (35%), in which immature juveniles traditionally dominated during the period of active seasonal feeding.

The accounting number and biomass of pink salmon underyearlings amounted to 101 million specimens and 7.2 thousand tons. During similar surveys in September-October 2003-2013, estimates of the abundance of East Kamchatka pink salmon ranged from 51 to 148 million specimens.

Thus, the abundance of the next generation of the East Bering Sea pink salmon in odd-numbered years corresponded to the average long-term level, which cannot be a sign of a change in dominants between generations of even and odd years of spawning.

Due to the reduction in the survey area, the expected number of chum salmon underyearlings turned out to be one of the lowest in a number of years - 6.13 million specimens were counted in the western part of the sea, with a biomass of 0.45 thousand tons.

The total number of immature feeding juvenile chum salmon according to the results of the survey was estimated at 54.5 million specimens, and the biomass was 55.2 thousand tons.

Another species of salmon traditionally numerous in the western part of the Bering Sea during the summer and autumn feeding season is sockeye salmon. According to the results of the autumn survey, the total number of juveniles of immature sockeye salmon within the surveyed areas amounted to 45 million specimens, the biomass was 37 thousand tons. The number and biomass of post-catadromous juveniles of sockeye salmon in the surveyed area, as well as of chum salmon underyearlings, were not high: a total of 4.3 million specimens and less than 1 thousand tons (0.96 thousand tons) were counted.

The Scientific Council accepted both submitted cruise reports with high appreciation, drawing attention to the importance of these studies, the complexity and multitasking of the flight, and recommended rewarding the crew and members of the scientific team in accordance with the current situation.

The report on the research results of the R/V TINRO was heard at the biological section of the Scientific Council of the TINRO Center. For two and a half months (February 20 to May 3), scientists worked on a rich scientific program. The first half of the voyage was devoted to filming in the salmon wintering areas - the open waters of the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Then the R/V TINRO carried out a bottom survey on the Imperial Ridge. Shooting to the south, already along the saury, completed the cycle of work of scientists.

The estimated abundance of pink salmon based on the results of the winter-spring survey in 2010 turned out to be low and amounted to 134.2 million specimens with a biomass of 37.8 thousand tons, that is, it was almost three times lower than in 2009, - the chief of the cruise, senior Researcher laboratory of hydrobiology of TINRO-Center Alexander Efimkin. - This assessment concerns only the fish counted in the near-surface thirty-meter layer, in which the main part of the trawling was carried out. Such a low abundance of pink salmon may be due, firstly, to the fact that this year the survey was carried out a month earlier than in the past. Thus, salmon could be dispersed over a much larger water area than the local study area. Part of the pink salmon could be located northeast of the study area. Secondly, the results obtained could be the result of fluctuations in the abundance of pink salmon in adjacent years. The main accumulations of pink salmon were located in the zone of mixing of waters of subarctic and subtropical origin;

It is no coincidence that scientists pay special attention to shooting in the areas of wintering salmon - the open waters of the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean. This stage of work is necessary not only to correct the forecast of a possible catch of salmon for 2010 (340 thousand tons), but also to determine recommendations for industrialists in the future. Scientists pin great hopes on the June 2010 salmon census surveys, which will be carried out by the TINRO-Center on the R/V Professor Kaganovsky. The information promptly obtained in this way at the beginning of the salmon fishing season will make it possible to correct the volumes of the possible catch of pink salmon in western Kamchatka. For the time being, the members of the TINRO-Center Academic Council are inclined to believe that 90,000 tons, the amount substantiated by the scientists of KamchatNIRO, can be considered an expert assessment not supported by marine research. TINRO-Center scientists believe that the real catch in this area will be from 30 to 50 thousand tons. The largest catches of pink salmon are also expected in eastern Sakhalin (42.4 thousand tons) and the southern Kuriles (29.8 thousand tons).

As you know, on the southwestern coast of Sakhalin, the salmon season has already started - pink salmon has begun. Chinook and sockeye salmon fishing has begun in eastern Kamchatka. But the peak of Putin, of course, is yet to come. July - August - the time of the rune of pink salmon, sockeye salmon and chum salmon in all other regions. In September, large-scale chum salmon fishing will take place in Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands and the Amur. On the whole, the salmon fishing season - 2010 is predicted by analogy with the fishing season of 2008.

During ecosystem trawl surveys on the peaks of the Imperial Ridge underwater mountains, scientists conducted research on the ichthyofauna of the underwater uplifts of this area, obtained data on the composition, distribution density, and biology of the fish living here.

The main task of research by R/V TINRO in the southern part of the Subarctic Front is to take into account the quantitative distribution of commercial fish species. First of all, saury, as well as Japanese sea bream, mackerel, anchrus. However, despite the favorable temperature range for saury, no saury was found in catches in April-May 2010. At the light stations and in the catches of the ichthyoplankton net in the survey area, there were single specimens. According to Alexander Yakovlevich, the absence of saury in the eastern part of the Subarctic Front zone during the period of research is primarily due to the geographical remoteness of the region from the main spawning grounds in the western Pacific Ocean. In contrast to the named area, at light stations in the area of ​​uplifts of the Imperial Range, the occurrence of saury was 100%. All these facts probably testify to the existence of an independent subpopulation of saury in the Central Pacific Ocean with its own spawning grounds and feeding areas.

Last year, TINRO-Center managed to carry out the world's first fishery research work in the East Siberian and Laptev Seas on the R/V TINRO. This was reported to Primorskaya Gazeta by specialists from the press service of the institute.

For the first time in history, data were obtained on the state of aquatic biological resources and the habitat of the Arctic seas. According to the researchers, it was a rather difficult and very long voyage, since the scientific group also carried out a number of important works on the study of the main commercial objects in the Bering and Okhotsk Seas.

Scientists also calculated that over the past year, the Far Eastern sardine and mackerel have significantly increased their numbers.

“Their large-scale fishing has not been carried out for more than twenty years, so the fishermen had to be “acquainted” with these objects again,” Konstantin Osipov, head of the press service of the institute, specified. – Scientists and the leadership of the Federal Agency for Fishery discussed with industrialists the possibilities of using them and made their proposals and forecasts.

Another interesting fact is that last year was the first year for TINRO-Center in a new organizational and legal form. budget institution. Despite the obvious difficulties of working under the new rules, the entire huge institute with its branches (at the beginning of 2015 the number of employees was more than 1,000 people) was quickly put on a new track and all planned surveys and studies were completed in a timely manner.

And finally, in September this year TINRO-Center celebrated its 90th anniversary. Of course, over such a long period of time, the institute has managed to accumulate colossal amounts of data, information and developments that can be used for the development of fisheries in Russia. This task, coupled with continuous research at sea and onshore, will become the main work of the TINRO-Center scientists next year.

Photos provided by the press service of the TINRO-Center