Following the Mezen Salmon

This autumn once again the Silver Taiga representatives together with the specialists of Udora branch of Komirubvod State Budgetary Institution and Protected Areas Republican Center have carried out an expedition to the upper reaches of the Mezen River (including its tributaries Upper and Lower Puzla), Elva Mezenskaya and Pyssa. The aim of a week-long tour (October 1 – 8) was to monitor the Atlantic salmon spawning grounds under Model River Mezen project. The monitoring at the given area is being conducted since 2011.

The total route distance is about 200 km long. The expeditions are usually held in the beginning of October as the salmon spawning season starts in autumn from the middle of September and lasts until the freezing up of rivers.

The total route distance is about 200 km long

The spawning usually happens on the shallows with a sand-and-shingle and nonsilted up bottom. New salmon redds counting data got during the expedition compared with the data of the previous years will help to conclude about the changes in the state of the commercially important fish population. The monitoring of the spawning ground state and fullness is one of the population dynamics estimation methods. According to the data of the previous years, the salmon stock in the Mezen River is tragically decreasing from one year to another. The data recorded during the expedition will be clarified and analyzed, though, according to the leader of the expedition the Model River Mezen project coordinator Nikolay Shilov, the situation has not changed in comparison to the previous year.

– According to preliminary calculations, the number of redds in the headwater of Mezen River has decreased and in Pyssa and Elva Rivers has insignificantly increased. Notwithstanding that the water is colder than usual and the water level is comparatively high (these factors quicken and facilitate the spawning), the redds are met very seldom, – highlights N. Shilov.

At the bottom

Drift samples collection

The drift samples (the main ration ingredient of young salmon) were also selected during the expedition in one of the remote parts of Puzla River. The data got during the expedition will be processed during the laboratory examination and then included into the justification of a purpose-oriented interregional program on Mezen salmon conservation and reproduction in Komi and Arkhangelsk regions. The program is being elaborated under Model River Mezen project at the initiative of Silver Taiga Foundation.

Bearded stone loach lair

Udora golden autumn

Photos by Nikolay Shilov