Salmon Rivers Of The Kola Peninsula. Some Specific Features Of Menagement Of Atlantic Salmon Stock In The Varzuga River In The Light Of New Information On Its In-River Migrations (In-River Behaviour)

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The Varzuga river is one of the biggest rivers in Russia. Undoubtedly, fishery for salmon on this river was conducted since times immemorial, since people began to colonize the Kola peninsula about 8 000 years ago. However, the first reference to a fence of wooden stakes installed on the Varzuga river for salmon fishing dates back to not before than 1575 (Minkin, 1976). The fishery with the fence was conducted for as long as the beginning of the 20th centuary. In the first half of the 20th century the Atlantic salmon fishery on the V arzuga river was conducted by set nets, which partitioned 2/3 of the river width. Under such a fishing pattern the catch from downstream nets was 100 to 1 to the catch from the upstream nets, therefore, the abundance of Atlantic salmon in the river began to decline steadily. Similar situation developed on the majority of rivers over the Kola peninsula, therefore, in late 50's - early 60's salmon fishery was concentrated at counting fences set up in river mouth. Introduction of fishery concentrated at counting fences where no less than 50% of ascending salmon were released to spawn enabled stabilization and enhanced production of Atlantic salmon stock in the V arzuga river in subseqtient years.