Английский язык: Сборник текстов и упражнений. Дьякова Н.П. - 96 стр.

was about 7 000 tons, while the escapement amounted to about 7,3 million.
    Total area of chum salmon spawning grounds on Kamchatka is about 40 mil-
lion m2. Total chum salmon harvest in 1998 was 4395 tons, near the recorded low
in the first half of the 1970s.
    Total area of sockeye salmon spawning grounds in Kamchatka is about
17 million of m2. Two large stocks – originating from Ozernaya and Kamchatka
Rivers – from the basis for sockeye salmon fisheries in the region. Total harvest
in the Sea of Okhotsk in 1998 was 5 442 tons. Total Ozernaya River escapement
in 1998 was 620 000 fish (the lowest since 1982). Total 1998 sockeye harvest in
eastern Kamchatka was 4 713 tons, significantly lower than expected and com-
pared to about 15 000–20 000 tons in 1920s. The majority of spawning grounds in
the upper and middle part of the Kamchatka River have been used by rather low
number of spawners in recent years.
    Total area of coho salmon spawning grounds in Kamchatka is about 12 mil-
lion m2. Total abundance of coho salmon in the Russian Far east is now signifi-
cantly lower than in the depression period during the 1970s. This depression of
coho was caused by deficiency of spawners. Total 1998 coho catch in Kamchatka
was 1 432 tons.
    Total area of chinook salmon spawning grounds is about 1,8 million m2. Since
1980 total return of the species had been significantly decreased, especially in the
Kamchatka River where the harvest usually comprises about 90% of total chinook
salmon catch in the Russian Far East. Total chinook salmon catch in Kamchatka
in 1998 was 506 tons, the lowest recorded since 1945.


                 Can We Save Kamchatka’s Precious Salmon?

    The spawning salmon of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula have been preserved
in their diversity as salmon have been preserved nowhere else in the world. Some
years ago North America’s Columbia River was the world’s greatest salmon river.
Statistics show that more than 20 million salmon came home annually to spawn in
the Columbia. Since then, the Columbia’s wild salmon stocks have declined to
some 25 0000 fish. More than 100 fish hatcheries situated along the river are una-
ble to reverse the situation. Moreover, artificial salmon reproduction is very cost-
ly. According to Bill M. Bakke, a leading American conservationist involved in
protecting the Columbia River, millions of dollars have been spent on the con-
struction and operation of fish hatcheries during the past century. Millions of U.S.
dollars just to restore salmon! Treasures of Kamchatka will lead us to very differ-
ent numbers. The total harvest by poachers will not be 1 000 tons of salmon, but
many thousands of tons.
    There are many areas on the peninsula, especially in upper spawning rivers,
that fish protection inspectors cannot even access. Helicopters are unbelievably
expensive so much so that even older, less powerful and cheaper MI – 2s are be-

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