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Scientific

We think that our presence on the Ponoi has helped protect and enhance what is one of the world's finest rivers. In 1994 we succeeded in having the commercial barrier net that was killing 50 per cent of the salmon run removed from the mouth of the river. Instead, as the Russian scientists had lost their only fish counting system on the river, we embarked, with the assistance of the Atlantic Salmon Federation and the Russian scientific institution, the Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (PINRO), a multi-layered scientific project. Much of the work has been completed but the tagging programme remains and involves all of our guests as one of the goals of tagging is to connect with anglers and make science part of their experience on the rivers, to bring them into the process so they are helping to generate useful information. On the Ponoi, the research is designed around this self-contained group of anglers, who are out on the river with their guides tagging and counting fish. During their stay at the camp, the resident scientist teaches them about the river and biology of the fish and also provides them with amazing data on recaptured salmon.

Moreover the tagging is a part of the salmon stocks monitoring programme that PINRO runs on the Kola Peninsula. All the data collected through this programme are further used as a basis for management decisions taken by the Russian Government, local fisheries management authorities and internationally. For instance, quotas for Atlantic salmon fisheries in Russia are set annually by the State on the basis of scientific advice on the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) provided by PINRO. The allocation of quotas between rivers and fishing right holders is also done in accordance with scientific recommendations.

PINRO, as a state-run scientific institution under the Russian State Fisheries Committee, is a part of the international scientific community represented in the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) established in 1902, where Russia is a member and which is a major scientific advisor for almost all international regional fisheries commissions or arrangements in the North Atlantic. Dr. Sergei Prusov represents Russia to the ICES North Atlantic Salmon Working Group that is one of many Working Groups in ICES responsible for working out the scientific advice for international fisheries management commissions. It is exactly to this Working Group all the data collected here on the Ponoi and other salmon rivers throughout the North Atlantic area are brought for analysis and assessment made jointly by scientists from other countries with salmon rivers. Finally results of such an assessment are forwarded as scientific advice to NASCO – North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization, an international management body responsible for Atlantic salmon to which Russia is a contracting Party.

We hope you can now appreciate the importance of what we are doing here on this pristine river with respect to science and how the research program on Ponoi contributes to the overall process of salmon stock management both in Russia and internationally and in the long run to conservation of Atlantic salmon and preservation of this valuable resource for future generations.

Did you know . . .?

•    Fresh fish run the Ponoi every day of the year, even under the ice in the winter.
•    Autumn-run Ponoi fish come into the river in their thousands and spawn the next autumn, over winter again and then return to sea. With a total of over 20 months in the river, no wonder they are so fat and strong when they arrive.
•    According to the PINRO scientists, from 1960th through 1990th, salmon run on the Ponoi have averaged 25,000 fish annually, but in recent years, with the commercial net removal and catch-and-release developed, the average annual run has increased to as many as 50,000 fish.
•    Parr densities have increased by several times since the advent of catch-and-release fishing.
•    We tag over 1500 adult salmon every year and log as many as 100-150 tagged recaptures the same season including one or two the same week or even the same day, confirming the value of our catch-and-release policy.
•    The shortest period between marking and recapturing lasted just a few minutes when a tagged and released fish was re-caught on the next cast by the same angler.
•    Our research team held 62 angled salmon for 24 hours in a live cage placed in the river to evaluate rates of delayed mortality. Only one fish died.
•    ASF and PINRO scientists radio-tracked salmon caught and released by anglers and despite simple equipment and the large size of the river were able to relocate most fish. Salmon were moving extensively up- and downstream in the river system and anglers recaptured about 11% of them a second time.