Современное состояние рыболовства в Волго-Каспийском подрайоне

Abstract

Analysis of the current state of fisheries in the Volga-Caspian subarea has been carried out. The processes 
 of deformation of aquatic biological resources of the Caspian basin have been assessed. Modern catches of commercial fish have decreased by one order of magnitude compared to the last century. At the beginning of the 20th century the stocks of semi-anadromous and river fish species were significant, the catches reached 200-300 thousand tons. In recent years, the catch of the fish has stabilized at the level of 36.0-43.3 thousand tons. In recent years the catches of vobla, carp and zander were the lowest in the history of the Caspian fisheries. The catch of carp, compared with that in the 1980s, decreased by more than 5 times, vobla – by 6 times, zander – by 4 times. Since 2003, there has been a decrease in the catch of bream up to 7-10 thousand tons. A sharp decrease in catches is primarily explained by the collapse of kilka stocks. There is an acute problem of limiting and even a complete ban on fishing vobla. According to the results of the correlation analysis (comparison of the values of natural factors with the value of catches in the studied subareas), it was found that fish production in the Volga-Caspian subarea does not show any relationship with any of the listed natural factors. An analysis of the species composition of semi-anadromous and river fish caught by various fishing gear in the Lower Volga was carried out. The species composition of catches by secrets is more diverse than by cast nets and gillnets. Most abundant species in the catches are bream, vobla, pike, catfish, rudd. A forecast is given for a further fishery reduction in the Caspian basin including the Astrakhan region.