The current state of industrial fishing in the Central Federal District of Russia and prospects for its development

Abstract

The article considers a brief history of fishing and its current state in the reservoirs of the Central Federal District. For reservoirs and lakes of the Upper Volga and Oka basins, the dynamics of fish catch on average over the decades from the 60s of the twentieth century to 2023 are presented, and the dynamics of the species composition of industrial catches in these reservoirs is analyzed. The reasons that led to a decrease in the intensity of fishing or its closure in modern market conditions are considered. The description of the features of industrial fishing is presented by groups of reservoirs, depending on the area and volume of fish caught. The first group includes the large Upper Volga reservoirs (Rybinsk, Gorkovskoye), the average annual total catch in each of which exceeds 500 tons. The second group considers the reservoirs of the Upper Volga basin, in which 200–500 tons per year were caught during the Soviet period, and currently the volume of catch has decreased by an order of magnitude or fishing has stopped altogether. The third group of reservoirs includes small reservoirs of the Vazuz hydrotechnical system and cooling reservoirs of energy facilities, in which the volume of catch is currently less than 20 tons, but during their fishery development in the 70–80-ies of the twentieth century in the mode of «pasture fish farming» annual catches reached 100 tons. It has been established that the volume of industrial catch in most of the water bodies of the region has decreased over the two decades of the 21st century. The decline of industrial fishing in the Central Federal District is explained by a complex of socio-economic factors, the main of which is its unprofitability in market conditions, due to the low liquidity of most fishing facilities that form the basis of catch, the lack of the necessary number of catch processing enterprises and the cessation of subsidizing fish harvesters. The forecast of the further state of industrial fishing in the reservoirs of Central Russia is given.