6. The
Sealife of Kamchatka
August 25th, 2004 - working on the Kamchatka
project
King
of the Rivers of Kamchatka: The Salmon
The
annual salmon run on Kamchatka brings millions of salmon back
to their spawning grounds after 3-4 years at sea.
Courtesy: http://www.kamchatkapeninsula.com/
Up to one quarter of the world's Pacific salmon population spawns
in the pristine rivers of Kamchatka.
Every year in mid June the main event in the life of Kamchatka's
rivers and lakes begins,
i.e. salmon spawning. Billions of salmons obeying a powerful ancient
instinct come back from
the sea to streams and rivers, where they must complete their life
cycle.
Thousands of dead salmons turn into life-giving silt mixing with
poor soil of Kamchatka.
And spawned and fertilized grains of roe keep lying in the holes
considerately made by the
parent at the bottom. A year later fries (young fish) leave Kamchatka
for the sea till the
moment when the unmerciful instinct takes them back to the native
shores.
http://julein.szm.sk/kamchatka/
The development of Kamchatka turned a troublesome side to salmon.
However, the sensible approach to economy can prevail. It was possible
to save actual inviolability of Kamchatka's "pearl" -
the Kurilsky lake, the biggest Asian salmon spawning-ground.
Illegal fishing costs Kamchatka hundreds of millions of dollars
a year in lost revenue,
may be as much as US$ 7 billions a year. Organized gangs harvest
the salmon illegally for
their red caviar, a delicacy that sells for US $ 22 a kilogram in
Russian shops.
"They have a well-organized system. They come in by helicopter,
strip out the caviar and
throw away the fish", says one representative. The federal
fishing regulators are almost
powerless. They have only two helicopters to watch Kamchatka's fourteen
thousand rivers,
and they need a major increase in the number of fishing wardens.
Large scale organized poaching excists. Blocking rivers with nets,
poachers can strip an
entire year's salmon run, weakening the diversity of the salmon
and reducing their long-term
capacity for survival.
Killerwhales
Picture by N.Pavlov, Courtesy:
http://www.kamchatkapeninsula.com/
The orca or killer whale is a toothed whale that is an efficient
predator, even attacking huge
young blue whales. Their only enemy is human beings. Orcas live
in small, close-knit,
life-long pods and have 1 blowhole. The killer whale belongs to
the family of dolphins
and is the biggest dolphin. It is sometimes called the "wolf
of the sea" because its behavior
is similar to that of wolves.
From http://www.enchantedlearning.com/
Courtesy:
http://www.kamchatka.org.ru
One of the bays located
in the southern part of the Bering Island is called Bobrovaya (Beaver).
Many sea beavers or sea otters lived there. These wonderful animals
as well as Steller sea
cow were exterminated there.By the time of V. Bering's expedition
there was no other habitats
for Steller sea cow (monatee) except the Commander Islands. The
meeting with the man
became fatal for it. By 1768 for 27 years it had been completely
exterminated.
We have nothing but the description of that unprotected animal left
by the naturalist Steller
and the cape on the Bering Island was named after it.
Courtesy:
http://www.kamchatka.org.ru
more links:
http://www.hans-rothauscher.de/steller/steller.htm
http://home.conceptsfa.nl/~pmaas/rea/stellersseacow.htm
http://www.welleby.org/stellers1.htm
http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/walkers_mammals_of_the_world/sirenia/sirenia.dugongidae.hydrodamalis.html
Komandorsky / Commander Islands
From: Encarta.msn.com,
World Atlas
(See
also the Kamchatka-map)
The
Commander Islands are located where the _Bering Sea meets the Pacific
Ocean between the Asian
and the North American continents. Geographically the archipelago
is a continuation of the Aleutian
Island chain.
The grouping consists of two large islands, Bering Island and Medny
(Copper) Island,
but also of two smaller islets, Toporkov (Puffins) and Ary Kamen
(Murre's Stone), and a series of reefs
and outcroppings spreding about thirty miles into the Pacific Ocean
and southern Bering Sea.
The highest point of the islands, is Mount Steller on Bering iIsland,
reaching 744 m asl.
The sea bottom off the shores of the islands varies from shallow
lagoons to deep trenches, with the
maximum depth exceeding 6,500 m below sea level. Warm, deep-water
currents wash the coastline
and the oceans remain ice-free almost all year round.
http://julein.szm.sk/kamchatka/
http://julein.szm.sk/kamchatka/
From
©(?)
Moscow Times
To the crew of Vitus Bering's ship St. Peter, shipwrecked off the
coast of Kamchatka in early November
1741, the huge, easily-hunted sea cow was a godsend that helped
most of them to survive and return home.
Within 3 decades, though, their countrymen had hunted sea cows to
extinction.
Steller's sea cows were the largest, and the only
cold-water members of the scientific order Sirenia,
to which manatees and dugongs also belong. They look rather like
whales or sea lions.
Feeding on sea grasses (in the case of the Steller's sea cow, primarily
kelp), they are the only aquatic
herbivorous mammals. Historically, about 1,500 - 2,000 members of
the species known taxonomically
as Hydrodamalis gigas ("giant sea calf") lived
in the shallow waters off the coasts of Alaska and the
Russian Far East, centred in the Commander Islands. Although they
undoubtedly faced some hunting
pressure from the Aleut and Eskimos, both of whom were expert whalers,
their population was
probably quite stable.
From "The
Steller's Sea Cow" by Murray Lundberg , Explore North
Sea
otter
Courtesy: http://www.kamchatkapeninsula.com/
http://julein.szm.sk/kamchatka/
more
to follow
Text and pictures on this page: Courtesy:
http://www.kamchatka.org.ru
Tilbake
til menyen - Fortsettes her:
