Department of the study of reservoirs’ bioresources

Head of the department:
Igor Buzevych
Doctor of Biological Sciences, Senior Research Scientist
phone: +38(067)498-08-80
e-mail (head): This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

The aim of the department is to study the state and dynamics of biological resources of inland water bodies, to assess the effect of different forms of human impact on fish communities, to determine the efficiency of natural and artificial propagation of fish stocks and to comprehensively analyze the major factors, which result in crisis situations in inland water bodies. The area of the Institute scientific control include all major inland water bodies of Ukraine including: Kyiv, Kaniv, Kremenchuk, Dniprodzerzhynsk, Dniester, Kakhovka, Chervonooskil reservoirs as well as Dnieper-Bug mouth system and a number of small and medium reservoirs across the entire territory of Ukraine.

The importance of the department activities is related to the valid regulatory-legislative base of Ukraine because all inland water bodies of Ukraine of national importance belong to the category of commercial fishery sites that implies their special status regarding the provision of favorable conditions of fish fauna existence. At the same time, during their creation and further exploitation, large reservoirs were de facto the water bodies of complex purpose, the exploitation of which defines the direction and intensity of the succession processes in aquatic ecosystems. The sustainable propagation of fish fauna and formation of the resource base for commercial fishery in the Dnieper reservoirs have to be based currently on the principles, which take into account not only biological but also organizational aspects of commercial fishery. In this case, the changes of dynamic and functional parameters of fish communities can serve as a macrocharacteristic of aquatic ecosystems while the assessment of the major factors of the formation and exploitation of commercial fish stocks are a basis for prognoses and regulation of fishery related activities.

The practical realization of major trends of the department research is performed based on the results on annual field works carried out by the Institute according to the approbated methods of ichthyological, hydrochemical and hydrobiological studies on the Dnieper reservoirs and Dnieper-Bug mouth system. The collection of primary ichthyological and hydrobiological materials is carried out at control-observation stations, fishery enterprises as well as during research cruises of the research vessel. The ichthyological studies carried out by the department of the reservoirs’ bioresources are the fullest and longest during the entire period of the exploitation of large Ukrainian reservoirs, thanks to which we created a unique database on the biological state of the populations of major commercial fish species. It allows developing long-term prognoses of their commercial exploitation and determining the direction and intensity of the succession processes in fish communities. The available array of own data allows developing the methodical approaches for ichthyological studies on inland water bodies. The department prepared and improved a number of methods for complex fisheries research adapted for specific conditions of Ukrainian reservoirs.

Major areas of the laboratory activities:

  1. annual preparation of major regulatory documents on the regulation of fishery related activities in inland water bodies (limits, prognoses, fish harvest regimes, biological justifications for artificial fish stocking, etc.);
  2. commercial fish fauna monitoring in inland water bodies from the commercial and ecological points of view;
  3. studies of major aspects of aquatic ecosystem functioning, which have direct or indirect effect on the state of fish communities (conditions of reproduction and fattening, different forms of human impact, etc.);
  4. scientific provision and support of commercial fishery exploitation of the inland water bodies of national importance;
  5. justification of measures for an increase in the efficiency of commercial fish harvest;
  6. ensuring the sustainable state of commercial fish harvest;
  7. principles of the management if internal-ecosystem processes with the aid of the selection of a complex of aquatic organisms;
  8. development of the conceptual bases for the creation of a uniform system for the prevention of extreme situation on the reservoirs;
  9. unification of the methodical apparatus of ichthyological studies on aquatic ecosystems.

Propositions of services for individuals and legal entities:

  • development of scientific-biological justifications and regimes of commercial exploitation (special fishery farms, recreational and sport fishing);
  • development of biological justifications for the measures on the artificial propagation of fish fauna and fisheries enhancement of water bodies;
  • fish stock assessment, assessment of the optimum number and types of fishing gears used for commercial fish harvest;
  • development of the fisheries characteristics of water bodies (their parts) including for the preparation of environmental impact assessment;
  • monitoring of the results of fish protection and compensation measures;
  • other works related to the determination of quantitative and qualitative parameters of fish fauna and factors having effect on them.

All documents prepared within the framework of the mentioned works comply with the requirements of valid regulatory-legislative base regarding the protection, restoration and exploitation of aquatic biological resources.

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