Kamchatka Steelhead Project 2023 Field Reports

Moscow State University The Conservation Angler

INTERNATIONAL RUSSIAN-USA PROJECT “KAMCHATKAN STEELHEAD. THE STUDY AND CONSERVATION OF THE RED DATA BOOK SPECIES,” YEAR 2023, Mission XXIV The Interim Report on the results of the joint Russian-American combined anti-poaching and scientific expedition, Year 2023, Fall Season

By Principal Investigator:

Moscow State University Professor Kirill V. Kuzishchin

Main responsible research personnel:

Moscow State University Senior research scientist Marina A. Gruzdeva

Moscow – Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky – Seattle – San Francisco 2023

1

Principal Investigator:

Main responsible research personnel:

Moscow State University Professor Kirill V. Kuzishchin Moscow State University Senior research scientist Marina A. Gruzdeva

Enforcement personnel:

Affiliated official Fish Inspectors Anatoly Turushev Pavel A. Kozlov

Supporting personnel:

cook/camp worker/ATV driver Gleb Basalaev

1. Introduction, main goal, and particular tasks of the 2023 season.

In 2023 Moscow State University (MGU) and The Conservation Angler (TCA) conducted full scale conservation, scientific and anti-poaching operations in support of the joint RussianAmerican Kamchatka Steelhead project dating to 1993. Over the past thirty years, MGU/TCA, supported and funded by conservation minded anglers have been notably successful protecting, studying and managing the world’s last and best wild steelhead populations throughout the whole North Pacific.

In 2023 the 24th field expedition was organized and did a full-scale conservation and scientific operations on the rivers of North-West Kamchatka. For about of quarter of century the joint forces of conservation-minded anglers, scientists and enthusiasts have been doing their best to save, protect and manage the best of the last wild steelhead populations throughout the whole North Pacific. The history of our Project is rich in substantial achievements and in general we are making good progress being real sentinels of the steelhead and salmon ecosystems in the wild nature of Kamchatka. One could not say that our Project activity was always smooth, from year to year we had to overcome minor difficulties and serious problems on our way. But during the lifetime of the Project all of us did our best to make operations effective and stay on our main goal and accomplish the tasks.

The present period has brought serious problems for our Project. Since 2020, because of pandemic circumstances and then, since 2022 because of difficult international relationships we face with the real threat for the Project as a whole. It is really great that we did not give up and are still doing all that we can do to keep the Project functioning, looking forward to the future. One day we will be back to our rivers in full force and likely to spread our field works to other Kamchatkan rivers, where steelhead still occur in a pristine environment. The last years have demonstrated our ability and goodwill to communicate and to find every opportunity to keep the Project alive. No doubt it is crucial not to interrupt our efforts and show our presence on the rivers.

Loss of interest in the conservation efforts and science to wild steelhead will immediately cause a rapid increase of poaching on the steelhead rivers and severe casualties for the unique stocks which are a real treasure for the whole of mankind.

In 2023, again as it was in 2022, the main trouble for the field operations was absence of our US partners, the reasons are obvious and do need in any comments. Sad situation lasts and we do not know for how long it can stay in the given circumstances. That’s why all had to be flexible in 2

preliminary activity and elaboration of the plans for field activity. The ideal plan would be to appear in the fields at the beginning of September for “showing the flag” in the area. Due to a number of logistic difficulties at the beginning of September there were a list of issues to be solved.

The year of 2023 in some instances looks alike to year of 2020, when no sponsors were in the field team. Moreover, our main Head Guide Justin Miller had no chance to come. Fortunately, in 2023 we had one Russian sponsor – Ivan Kolesnichenko, who joined us for 3rd year. His presence improved our activity and provided adequate data collection. In fact, there was and there remains the interest between Russian fly anglers in the KSP and we still having the possibility of the project support within Russia. Because of various reasons, the possible cast for 6-10 Russian sponsors was not successful. At the same time none of our potential sponsors lost their interest in Kamchatkan steelhead and declared intent to come next year. In any case, we will go on with sponsors rising to support the Project. The goal is obvious – to “keep the thin red line” in the hardest times for us.

The year of 2023 could be defined as the hardest yet. Having almost no sponsors and thus very limited financial support, we were not able to cover the whole steelhead area and had to squeeze activity to one watershed – the Utkholok River basin. While Kvachina and Snatolvayam rivers fell out of our regular patrol, in the last year, when we also conducted a limited expedition, we were able to settle a small patrolling team on Kvachina and organized on-going anti-poaching patrolling. Not this year, and the only action was to make some “jumps” from the Utkholok base camp for scout riding of Kvachina and to stay there for several days in late October on the way back home.

We always keep in mind the highest priority of the KSP is to monitor and protect unique steelhead stocks in three rivers of North-West Kamchatka. The last two years showed that even limited presence on the river provide adequate shelter for the steelhead stocks and gives a good opportunity to fulfill the scientific/monitoring objectives. So, the main goals of expedition in 2023 were fully within the initial goals that were stated in 1994 and we did not deviate from the classic issues that we elaborated at the very beginning: 1) to provide the presence of expedition with the enforcement support to wash away poaching, and 2) to provide data collection for estimating of the modern status of the stocks.

One of the effective efforts to provide stock protection is to have the functioning expedition camp on the river and our people making every-day boat/ATV rides by the River. During last year’s expedition we had the evidence that our people on the river are a strong factor for poachers not to come to the rivers. The experience of the previous year’s show that one of the shortcomings of our approach is the relatively early timing of the camp closing, that usually takes place in midOctober. For years we have discussed special anti-poaching efforts when a part of the team stays in the field after sponsors go out. Thus in 2022 there was a decision to do in such a way to prevent poaching for steelhead before rivers freeze. The same was done this year, when a scout team stayed in the Kvachina basin for several days on the way home.

At the same time, the anti-poaching efforts have the same value as the scientific tasks. As far as we are working with Red Data Book species, we have to provide the actual estimation of the stock status for the Regional and Federal Ministry of Natural Resources. To date we know that most of the stock attributes in our three North-West Kamchatkan rivers vary dramatically between years. It means that all the stocks are unstable, go through so-called “bottlenecks” and thereafter could be a transformation of the intrapopulation structure. It means that we need a strong set of scientific data to understand the future of the wild stocks and reveal the linkages between stock health and the environment. Thus, it is crucial to put serious efforts into scientific research, Moreover, we have a clear understanding that some tasks need to be done more intensively, like study of the linkages between genetic structure and life history strategy diversity. The science team, as in previous years, was provided by two authorized MGU scientists – Kirill Kuzishchin and Marina Gruzdeva.

3

Based on the KSP objectives, the main goal of the 2023-Expedition was to provide a robust protection of steelhead in three rivers and collect standard set of samples that will allow evaluating the modern status of the named steelhead populations.

The particular tasks of the project in 2023 include the following major issues: 1. To obtain data on the run timing and make expert estimation of the relative abundance in three rivers, within-river distribution and evaluate the risks for fish in the fall time in given conditions and gather the data for the forecast show the fish could overcome the winter season; 2. Collect size-weight data, scales, define the sex of fish to look after life history variations within the population; 3. Provide precise patrolling of the rivers in the aim to detect and stop poaching of steelhead in the most sensitive period of the life span in the rivers; 4. To have the enforcement efforts in place in case of any poaching event, through to arresting procedures if necessary.

In the other words, the goal and tasks of 2023 season were the same as we put in our routine practice, and the most important thing to stress is that we did not have plans for limitation of the field activity under difficulties and limitations of the moment. Of course, we understood that execution of the plans will face additional challenges, but we had optimistic perspectives. We would like to see the goal and tasks to be the same for years in the future, and may even increase the number of tasks, but not decrease them. On the basis of the obtained data every year we publish scientific papers in the leading international scientific magazines. We see interest in the scientific results on Kamchatkan steelhead-rainbow from scientists, conservationists, managers, and officials. Thus, the KSP will remain as an outstanding serious scientific and conservation project and showcase for other species and regions and we need to do our best to support The Project and make it functional in any conditions.

2. 2023 Preliminary activity In the previous year, in 2022 there was a great deal of official work at the level of local and Federal Ministry of natural resources. Despite our expectations, in early 2023 there was new cycle of official presentations and consulting between scientific team and officials regarding review of the science program, and its perspectives, bringing together the annual plans and achieved results and scientific outcomes – peer-reviewed papers in the science magazines. For the first time since 1994, there was special interest in the questions of data management – location of the collected samples, as well as procedure of archiving process and managing of the electronic databases. Such an interest was caused by new approaches and guidelines from the Federal Government in the field of biodiversity and operations with the priority kinds of biological resources. The number of issues and questions appeared after investigation, though the inquiry was not very valuable, though we provided full-scale answers. In 2022 the focus of Ministry’s interests was the concern “fishing” for Red Data book species, in other words, were we really doing monitoring and scientific research or were we practicing “scientific cover” for commercial fly fishing for restricted fish. This year the questions about scientific value had a minimal interest because we discussed all of those last year. This year we demonstrated new results that we had from last year and gave the vision of the publication activity for 2023-2024. The people from Ministry in 2023 were mostly concentrated on questions about samples, and how the safety of the biological material is provided and to be sure that there will be no illegal shipping of the genetic and other biological tissues abroad. We were informed, that there were cases when Russian scientists deliver samples of some commercial fish species to the foreign scientific institutes without special permit from Russian authorities. This practice caused a big tension at the negotiation with EU countries about commercial fishery of the 4

important fish species like Atlantic cod etc. So, the Ministry of Natural Resources wants to be absolutely sure that there is no illegal leak of samples to the non-friendly countries. We gave all the answers and demonstrated all our collections. We were lucky that there was not any samples moved through the border during the last few years. Also, we have all set of samples in our hands and inspectors looked through the collections in the MGU storage.

Investigations occurred over in mid-summer, and our project passed through it, and there were no more questions to MGU as the leading scientific organization that is executing science work with one of the Red Data Book species. As it was last year, the aspects dealing with protection and conservation was not of high priority for the Federal MNR, still those items are within the field of responsibility of the local MNR branch. Thus, on the way to the field Kirill Kuzishchin made a visit to the local agency (as we are doing routinely) and had a fruitful talk with the Head of local MNR branch regarding KSP. There was some change in the local MNR personnel, the specialists that worked with our Project are new, but their skills are strong enough to make a good understanding of the KSP value and income into the total activity of the agency. So, the local people demonstrated their support for KSP and they had no questions or any investigations about us. Once again people from the Ministry of Natural Resources demonstrated strong interest to the science program. It is important to stress that MGU official activity at the local level was strongly supported by Kamchatka Trophy Hunt company and Anatoly Turushev himself. So, at the preliminary stage the MGU and KTH team did all needed actions for our Project and gained support for it. That means a continued strong need to do a robust scientific study of steelhead and we will continue to publish more papers in the scientific magazines. All this story urges us to keep in the mind scientific side of the KSP and pay attention to the data collection in equal terms as for the conservation efforts.

The previous three years (2020, 2021 and 2022) gave us big experience with how PR-actions can help us in our conservation efforts. The way we did our expeditions in 2020-2022 we repeated in the current year. Frankly, it was little easier than before because we found out the most sensitive ways how to spread the information about us in the field into the communities. We used the same ways and the same people as in the previous years, so the “mass-media campaign” that our team launched in early September between local people in the villages of Tigil Region provided a rapid spread of information about our expedition. It was not the first year when we used people’s rumors as a main way to spread the signals not to come on the rivers for poaching. At the same time, we realized that local people did know very well that this year there was no police enforcement on the expedition team. It is uncertain how people can get such information but for future, we should take into account that we need in a police officer in our camps who have right to fight with poachers up to their arrest. Meanwhile local people, even without police officer with us, are careful enough not to do illegal actions on the rivers. The fact that we were able to organize an expedition was quite a big surprise for local poachers. Based on the political situation and hard times in USRussian relationships majority of poachers were absolutely sure that we will not have a support to do the annual expedition. Moreover, in the mid-summer the Russian Government declared the Wild Salmon Center as an organization whose activity on Russian territory should be closed. For many local people, the main US partner is namely WSC, but not TCA! It a heritage of the early period, when “WSC” was the brand of our Project. Thus, local poachers decided that they could feel free to poach on the steelhead rivers. It was a very big, unexpected surprise for them that steelhead research is an on-going process even now. We want to stress the fact of extremely high importance of the 2023 expedition for conservation efforts. Our arrival in the working area scared almost all of the poachers, at least for the period of expedition work. We now have a clear lesson - political and global problems are not the reason to miss the season. It is still true that expedition on the steelhead rivers is a direct investment into the steelhead stocks. The more we stay on rivers, the better guarding for steelhead stocks. We need to use any and every chance to support the rumors and actions about serious approach for steelhead in the North-West part of Kamchatka.

During the last decades we did not practice long stay to the late October. But we perform long late stay in 2020 and 2022 years. It was a new reality for poachers that caused a big problem 5

for poaching. The thing is that at the end of October – beginning of November is a very good time for netting of steelhead, when the fish is under very severe threat. But at the same time this period is one of the worst for ATV travel through swamps – as standard ATV trucks sink down in the mud piles with serious damage to the machines and the swamps. Poachers do not like this period and are making rides for steelhead in more or less dry weather. So, this year we declared that steelhead will be under our protection during the most dramatic time.

As we did in previous years, we arranged for our departure from Esso/Anavgay to rivers to be as public as possible, showing the people that we have enough supplies for a big-scale and enduring expedition. We were able to hire only one ATV but we were lucky that the ATV driver, Gleb Basalaev was ready to function as a cook in the field camp. And he was great at cooking.

However, one ATV means that we were limited in the space and personnel that we can take in the field. It is one of the reasons why we could not arrange a scout group for Kvachina for the whole period of the fall expedition. The ATV that was leased for our transportation was packed to the gills by camp equipment (fig. 1). Also, there were a couple of small, but important issues. First, we showed the locals how we loaded quite a lot of wooded board and panels – it means that we are planning camp improvement, which provides strong evidence that we will stay for a long time; second – everybody can see many barrels of fuel on the ATV roof. Those two small details said much about our plans to the poachers. Also, people saw that we loaded roof material into ATV, which caused real interest and even conversations about our plans for camp improvement. So, all our actions demonstrated that we are serious.

6

Figure 1. Loading of the ATV in the Anavgay ATV Yard. Lots of things, construction materials and fuel: demonstration of the plans to stay for a long time in the field.

Near to the time of departure we received some information about logistic plans in the area of Utkholok-Kvachina-Snatolvayam. It is well known that there is an ATV road between the village of Ust’-Khairyzovo and village of Sedanka, that cross all three rivers. And we know that in the fall time as a rule there is traffic between villages. During such cargo trips the people make stops at the rivers to do a quick netting or beach sein to get some steelhead. It is not a real threat for fish but the thing is that results of such “rapid assessment” immediately goes for poachers and provide them with current information about us, fish, and other important information. As we were informed, in September-October 2023 there were limited plans between locals to do cargo trips between villages, probably 1-2. It was good news, because usually locals drive much more often.

Before, in the previous years as usual there was a small team of poachers that focused on coho salmon somewhere at the mouth of the Utkholok and Kvachina/Snatolvayam rivers, but we had no information about them in 2022 and there was not any coho trips in 2023. In fact, there were 2 cargo trips during the fall season of 2023. Also, we found out from talking with local people, that in Utkholok-Kvachina-Snatolvayam rivers there were very poor salmon runs. As locals said, the run of pink salmon was the lowest in a period of at least 10 years. Same thing about chum salmon, but we should be accurate at information about chums as far as we know that sometimes it is not easy to monitor chum run and in some years this fish rapidly moves upstream in a limited time.

But information about small coho run could be defined as true, because coho is a focus species for locals to get as a stockfish for winter. At the time we did not pay much attention to poor salmon runs, because it was not a serious factor that could cause a short-term influence on steelhead. But when we came to the rivers and started observations, we were faced with a completely new story about interactions between steelhead and salmon in the river corridor and riverine environment.

7

The start of the expedition was on September 21 when all the team and camp equipment were ready, along with the PR actions, aimed at local villages Esso, Sedanka, Tigil and UstKhairuzovo.

In 2022 there was a decision to do this in such a way to prevent poaching for steelhead before rivers freeze. Between the members of our team, we had two affiliated inspectors with the special temporal mandate – Dmitry Navrotskiy and Pavel Kozlov. At the same time our observations show that in 2018-2023 we noticed a weather change – as a rule, in mid-October because of warming of North Pacific, the invasions of hard cyclones from southern parts of Sea of Okhotsk became constant and we have at least two fall floods. Usually in the last years from mid-October a bigscale flood takes place and lasts to the freezing time. It is a huge support for our efforts, because flooding is a good protection for the steelhead stock. We had the same kind of weather in 2023.

Nevertheless, a small scout group stayed in the Utkholok-Kvachina area up to late October to make sure that poachers did not come to the rivers.

3. Transportation and logistics: An overview of the general situation on the rivers on arrival.

Because of the limited scale of operation there was need to set up only one base camp at the Utkholok river and deny a spike camp at the Kvachina River. All of those came out with the ability to arrange one ATV only instead of two and redecide the issue about firewood. Having one ATV there was a few chances to do wood cutting on the way to the rivers. We had to use electric heaters only and thereafter to use electric power generators 24 h. So, additional fuel we need to load.

Having limited funds all of us have to make a trip from Anavgay/Esso area on the board of ATV and not any chances to get on the rivers by helicopter. A total of 5 people were on board: Kirill Kuzishchin (MGU), Marina Gruzdeva (MGU), Anatoliy Turushev (operation’s leader), Pavel Kozlov (guide & camp worker) and Gleb Basalaev (ATV driver and cook). This caused some difficulties with a sleeping place but it was not critical. As it was in the year of 2022, the ATV stay with us all the time, but because of fuel shortage we were limited in ability to make scout rides for anti-poaching on Kvachina/Snatol area.

In fact, this year locals decreased ATV operations on the route Anavgay/Esso – Sedanka Village, in the previous years it was not a big issue to gather 2-4 ATVs for joint trip on this way.

It is a good idea in case of various troubles with machines on the way, especially under flood conditions. As it was in 2022, the trip to the Utkholok River from Anavgay/Esso began at a time right after the hard rainstorm. So, almost all streams and rivers were flooding, all the tundra and swamps were full of water. Moreover, the road was hard even in the piedmont areas, because of rains many cliffs became very slippery and dangerous for ATV move. In the mountains we got into a hard snowstorm, but this kind of bad weather gave us more help because snow made roads more solid and smooth.

As a rule, the way from Esso/Anavgay to the field takes 2-3 days, including 1 or 2 nights to sleep and rest. Not in 2022, and not in 2023. The reason was the very difficult road conditions.

Lots of water around. All the numerous streams and creeks were blown out. All the tundra patches and swamps suck rainwater as a sponge. That created a big problem for driving. Our ATVs began to sink down in the mud, along with big trouble with crossing of the rivers on the way. In usual conditions the stage in the creeks is about 20-30 cm at the cross-places, but we faces with the level 1.1-1.3 m. Besides lots of water around, the weather was unusually warm this year, no frosts so far, and still there were many trees in green leaves (fig. 2). The difficult road caused endless breakdowns in ATV’s tracks. Only at the first stage we did make good progress, covering about 90 km. But then our progress slowed down. At the last section of the way to the camp, off Sedanka Village, we had serious trouble with ATV tracks – we lost the whole thing from the right side, the bad news was that we got into trouble in the middle of a flooding creek (fig. 3). The place was so difficult for repair operations that we had to wait for some help from the Sedanka Village to tow our ATV on to a dry place.

8

Figure 2. The landscapes in the upper Tigil River area on the way to the Sedanka Village, September, 21, 2023. Marina Gruzdeva on the bank of Topolovaya River, left tributary of the Tigil River. The fall was long and warm, that was unusual for this place: being in the piedmont area, those places became autumn-yellow in the beginning of September.

9

Figure 3. Usual practice of the trip. Track repairpersons process, one of the most paining events on the section between Sedanka Village and river crossing at the Kvachina River. Our team could get the ATV from the muddy ditch and we had to stay here and spend a night waiting for rescue team with the other ATV. One more night before we reached the working area.

Ultimately the way to the Utkholok Camp took 5 days and 5 nights, same time as it was last year. We are glad to state that last year’s record was not broken. Last year we noticed a lot of 10

wildlife almost everywhere on our way. Something like that happened again this year, maybe a little less than in 2022. The data on the wildlife is not directly connected with steelhead problem, but later we tried to analyze our observations and found out one quite logical conclusion: if there is a lot of ducks, geese, and partridges it means that there was much less ATV traffic in the area.

So far, the amount of wildlife could be defined as an indirect indicator of the pressure over the rivers. Perhaps, the news from locals about poor salmon run decreased the interest in caviar poaching in steelhead rivers because of high expenses for ATV fuel to get to the rivers.

On the way to the river, we expected trouble because of the flood and rains that fell over the whole trip. The crossing of the Kvachina River proved our bad expectations: the ATV began to float in the middle of crossing. It is good that the Kvachina River is narrow enough and we did not get into trouble. Fortunately, we could cross the Utkholok River by the riffle without floating and we were not taken by the current, while the velocity was very high. The high flows were bad news - at such a high river stage last year we could collect a limited set of samples after enormous efforts.

If it would same in 2023 it means that there would be a second poor season from the scientific point of view. It meant that the perspectives of the 2023-season would be a function of the weather.

However, we were very lucky, because the rains stopped at the next day after our arrival.

Moreover, the river stage began to go down rather rapidly, about 10, sometimes 15 cm/day. But during the first 3 days after arrival the fishing conditions were hard, water was high, murky, and fishing was of very low effectiveness (fig. 4). But in 3 days the river improved a lot and we started intensive fishing operations (fig. 5).

Figure 4. The Utkholok River at a camp site, upstream view, September, 24, 2023. The river stage is high enough, all the gravel bars are submerged. Tough conditions both for fly fishing and for spinning tackle.

No results on the first and second day, the first catch of steelhead took place on September 26.

11

Figure 5. The morning of September, 27, 2023. Kirill Kuzishchin and Marina Gruzdeva at the camp site, upstream-up view. The river became great in shape – one can see the gravel bar at the opposite bank of the river. Also, water became transparent. Excellent conditions for fishing.

As always at the beginning of the season there was anxiety about our main cabin and living houses. We always face the fear that it could be robbed, destroyed, or burned down because of vandalism. It was a big positive surprise that nothing was in trouble, but we found a number of signs of people who were here in summertime. Even the small pile of firewood that we left last year was in the place and not spent. Moreover, there was almost no home garbage in the cabins – it looks that somebody was careful enough to use our facilities but not to cause any damage to them. We do not know the reasons for such a delicate invasion, but we were happy about the status of our camp.

The flood at the beginning of the season delayed the fishing operations, but at the same time all the team received the chance to repair camp works. From the last year we already reported that there were a number of infrastructure failures of the cook house and other facilities. That is why a good deal of cargo in the ATV included wooden boards, various hardware, and roof material. Thus, using the opportunity provided by the river conditions, there was a reconstruction session at the beginning of the season. We could not improve a lot because of the limitations of only one ATV and because of the shortage of funds to purchase the repair material, thereafter we concentrated on the most urgent issues. The problem #1 of the current moment is the wooden cabin which we use as a kitchen and dining and meeting room. It is rather old and wood material of walls, floor and roof were somewhere near of the end of their lifetime. It is impossible in the current situation to build a new one and the only thing we can do is to improve what we have and prolong life as long as possible. We made a thorough inspection of the cabin, found out that most of the wall/roof carcass is in more or less suitable condition. Also, we found out that because of flood activity of the river and bank erosion the cabin “sank” down into the soil for about 70 cm, comparing to the time when it was built about 20 years ago. That is why we had damage to the floor last year. But 12

the most trouble for us was the roof status – almost all old material is fully out of line, the rain went through into the dining room. So, this year was a big reconstruction work, and in fact a new roof appeared, Anatoliy Turushev and Pavel Kozlov were the engineers who made the design and supervision over the rebuilding. Now we have a new roof and can be sure that there will be a safe year for the wooden cabin. We could not rebuild the walkways because of a small supply of wooden boards, but we replaced quite a lot of old and ruined ones. As a whole, this year we did a good job on the infrastructure for future operations. It is not enough, but the first urgent step on the long way.

Some issues were not covered. We faced the problem of drinking water for the expedition.

Last year it was an idea to build a water well somewhere in the meadow nearby camp and use groundwater for camp facilities. But this year we had a very limited ability to do it. At least we need an additional week before the hot season to fix all the “drinking water” works. It is not an easy task so far. We left it for next coming year or years.

The boats were set up at the first days after arrival, the main goal of it to do the rapid assessment of the river and notice all possible changes in the riverine geomorphology and signs of poachers in the river corridor. Regarding poachers – we did not find any kind of tracks or abandoned spike camps or fresh ATV tracks anywhere. And there was never any sign of poachers this year up to the very end of the expedition. During our presence on the river there was only one ATV cargo ride with crossing of the river at the Upper Crossing Site. We heard the machine clearly and there was no stop at the river. So far – so good, we are sure that there was no poaching for steelhead before our arrival and at the time when we were there. Most likely there was no poaching or non-effective poaching after we departed from the river. There are at least two reasons for it.

First, because of the specific water/flood/stage conditions of the 2023 year we expect most of searun steelhead passed upstream and will stay over a winter in the pools of Upper and Middle sections of the Utkholok River while we expect much less than usual in the pools of the Lower section (see below the overview about the anadromous migration). Second: in the last days of our expedition the next hard cyclone came and brough a lot of moisture and hard rains began. It was obvious that the next flood would come, it meant that steelhead netting would be ineffective, thus Nature acted as a protector of the steelhead run again. On the Kvachina River basin there was a similar situation – no evidence of the poaching during expedition, flood right after we closed the camp. Thus in 2023 we covered the most sensitive time for stock protection and provided a good chances for fish to reproduce next spring.

4. River conditions and general overview of the fishing operations.

At first glance the river did not change a lot. At least in the camp area the high bank where the camp is situated looks the same or very close to what we had last year. No remarkable erosion of the cliffs. River pools and tail-out also looked as before, but here we have confusing data. After more thorough examination of the river, we found out that many sections of the river changed, not in a good way. At least 4 very fruitful tail-outs had shifts in their bottom structure. Looking carefully from the bank, we did not observe a tail-out shelf – a geomorphic unit that acts as a holding/resting place for steelhead. In some runs there was a change in depth, velocity, and structure. It was a surprise to find out that in at least two rather slow runs there appeared piles of gravel material that created shelf-like units. The further fishing over such a places showed that steelhead like it and use as resting places. Interesting notice that should cause guide’s attention in the future, because rather often we are going through deep slow-looking runs, but missing perspective places at the same time. But the biggest change we observed this year is the very low, unusually low number of the salmon redds in the river. According to the oral reports of the locals, the last two years was very poor in salmon, pinks were at the minimal historic rate in “our” rivers.

We received the evidence for it in early October when the river stage went to the baseflow and we can study the bottom structure. We did not find even one salmon redd from the mouth of Kolkalveem tributary up to the lowest reaches of the river where we fished for years. Not one, zero 13

redds! The tail-outs, which were dug out over in previous years, had a smooth bottom with not any structures, nothing to make the flow turbulent and provide any kind of hydrological cover for steelhead. All our hard efforts to get a steelhead in the camp-down area failed. Not one bite, take or grab. Moreover, the use of the spinning tackle to test the area for charrs or rainbows did not bring any fish. For the first time in the history of the Project since 1995 the lower river did not give us even one sample. Our favorite beats like Duck Pond, Sausage, Bandit or Smoke Show that gave us so much fun and scientific data were fully distressful this year. We have a strong working hypotheses, that absence of salmon redds caused a specific kind of migrating steelhead behavior.

Fish performed their migration that is typical for the lowermost sections of the river near the river mouth. In the lowest sections fish move from pool to pool with quick ride of the shallow reaches and stay for a rest in the sections of the frog water. It looks that the pools in the camp-down area were the only places where steelhead could stay for a rest. The nearest place where steelhead stay and where they could be taken by the fly was the Late Bloomer, which is about 550 m above the Kolkalveem mouth.

We faced the need to change our general approach in our routine daily practice of fishing.

First, we expanded the area of the fishing upstream up to the runs around Telephone line crossing.

That increased the length of the river section of our interest, and in 2023 we operated in the section of the river of more than 12 km, involving the reaches at a distance of more than 65 km upstream from the river mouth (Table 1).

Table 1. The area of works of the Utkholok River in the year of 2023.

Coordinates of the area Total length River of the area, Lower boundary Upper boundary km

Utkholok

57°38’05.41”N 157°06’45.84”E

57°30’25.23”N 157°13’23.63”E

12.02

The distance from river Mouth to lower boundary, km 35.11

Having a lot of change in the riverine geomorphology not only below the camp but in many of our traditional places upstream, the main idea to use the place upstream was to have enough room for fruitful fishing and provide a good set of samples. Also, we wanted to monitor the movement of the fish in the river and investigate the upper reaches as to how they can hold the fish. Years before we did occasional testing of those places, especially in 2000-2004, but there was no need for them in 2015-2022, when we had a lot of fish near the camp. This year showed us not to forget about the opportunities that the river gives us and that we can find the outcome in every strange conditions.

First the places way upstream are very nice because of beautiful landscapes (fig. 6). Also the geomorphology of the reaches are different – the pools are small, the runs are quite narrow, the tail-outs are more numerous than in the camp area. Also we notices that the riparian vegetation on the banks is different. While in the camp area the short-stem willows prevail, in the upper reaches those trees are taller, big-size alders appear. In general, there is more thick forest growing in the floodplain. And that is why we discovered many logs and log jams in the riverbed. One more difference of upper reaches compared with the camp area - Upstream there are remarkable number of islands and places where river divides into 2-3 parallel channels, creating a complicated braidedanastomoses system with numerous tail-outs above the forks. In the upstream reaches we have a complicated mosaic riverine structure, which gives us lots of potential holding places for steelhead.

On the other hand, we need to find out where steelhead like to stay in such biotope-affluent area.

The task became rather difficult because of only 1, sometimes 2 working rods that we had at the beginning. Only from October, 5, when our only sponsor – Ivan Kolesnichenko (fig. 7) arrived we doubled or efforts and data collection along with river exploration became more effective. Despite 14

the enhanced opportunities in the upstream area, in 2023 about 60% were landed in the traditional reaches like The Pride, The Rush Hour, Pete’s Run, The Envy and some others.

Figure 6. One of the upriver-most reaches that we used for steelhead fishing in 2023, the run nearby the mouth Oglyamch Creek (right tributary of the Utkholok River). Beautiful landscapes and productive tailouts here. The use of upper reaches provided a success in data collection.

15

Figure 7. Ivan Kolesnichenko, our sole sponsor of the year, who did his best in scientific collection. He holds the biggest steelhead of the season, female, 950 mm FL, October, 07, 2023; Pete’s Run.

Between various places that provided fish for us, more that 50% of fish were caught in two locations: 1) The Pete’s Run from top to bottom, including the place of old camp and 2) the Rush Hour. As far as the first place was traditionally productive and perspective all the years, including “bad” 2022, the Rush Hour is known to be changeable and fickle from year to year. This year it became a very predictable place – it provided 3 fish in a fishing cycle (morning or evening) every day. The presence of salmon redds here from bank to bank looks like a main reason for it. The Rush Hour was one of the rare tail-outs with very high density of the salmon redds. It will be not mistake to state, that the basis for success of steelhead angling this year is to find a section of the river with the salmon redds. Or, to find a suitable place upstream with logs where the angler could provide a good swim of the fly and avoid snagging. So far, the evidence for extremely high importance of the river geomorphology units and elements for steelhead survival and sustainable life in the rivers of Kamchatka.

Nothing new appeared in the angling technique this year, all the flies were the same as in previous years, fly performance and casts were standard as we established at the first years of the Project. The only thing that could be interesting is the comparing of the use of floating line vs sinking-tip line. In the Kamchatkan rivers we prefer the sinking-tip tackle in aim to bring the fly in the bottom sections and put it in front of the steelhead’s nose. This year we had several cases in the places with a good depth (1-1.3 m) where the floating line worked with a similar effect with the sinking-tip one. Perhaps it was the result of the use of heavy fly with led eyes, but for sure such flies swim in the mid-water but not in or near the bottom water layer. We have only one explanation for that. This year was unusual by the temperature of the air and water. The autumn of 2023 in the area of Utkholok-Kvachina rivers was very warm. We had only one night with light froze, all the other days and nights were quite warm. The water temperature was also high – about 10-12C at 16

the beginning and 8-10 up to very end of the expedition. Usually at the beginning of October the water temperature falls down below 5C and beginning from the second week of October, the water temperature is about 2-3C or even less. It is possible that in a warm water steelhead could be active enough to attack a fly in mid-water column. Our hypotheses about linkages of steelhead behavior and warm autumn could be supported by the observations over the other fish in the river. First of all, we noticed that at the beginning of the expedition there were very few charrs in the river, and those whom we caught were immature small fish. After-spawners of White-Spotted charr and hybrids appear in the river time after, somewhere in the first week of October, while in the previous years those fishes were in the river channel since mid-September (fig. 8). We suppose that because of warm summer and warm autumn the spawning period of White-Spotted char and hybrids moved towards later dates until the water temperature will not reach adequate figures, optimal for charr’s spawning.

Figure 8. The after-spawner female of hybrid Kundzha X dolly varden, October, 05, 2023, the Rush Hour.

One of the first after-spawners that we caught in the river. Usually, such fish were in the catch at least two weeks earlier.

A routine practice is to watch over the wildlife in the river area. This year there was nothing outstanding that we noticed. Bears were in the floodplain, but not many, somewhere about medial data for a number of years. Sometimes we saw them on the river bars, none of them demonstrated any aggression, they prefer to run away to the wooden debris. Rather little game around, some ducks, some partridges. Because of warm weather we did not see this year a migration of swans and geese from north to south, as we usually see every year.

17

4. Scientific activity: Main attributes of fish run, within-river distribution, and fishing operations.

As in previous years, the priority goal of the data collection was to estimate the current state of the local populations against the background of climate changes, the state of the habitat in fresh waters, previously identified long-term and short-term changes in the structure of populations (Savvaitova et al., 1997, 2001; Pavlov et al., 2016), as well as phenetic and genetic relationships at the level of local stocks (Kuzishchin et al., 2020; Zimmerman et al., 2022).

The particular tasks of the field work included: 1) collecting data on the attributes of anadromous migration, the distribution of fish within the lower and middle reaches of the river to assess the condition of fish (the severity of mating attire) and the level of injury from predators; 2) data collection for expert assessment of the number of fish entering the river from the sea based on the effectiveness of CPUE; 3) collection of data on the size/weight characteristics of adult fish and juveniles, collection of scale samples to assess the diversity of life strategy types, duration of freshwater and marine phases of the life cycle, spawning frequency; 4) collection of tissue samples for molecular-genetic analysis of the variability of microsatellite DNA loci in order to identify gene drift and determine inter- and intra-population relationships.

The first attempt of steelhead fishing took place the next day after arrival, on September 25, in the conditions of the high river stage. The first steelhead was landed on September 27. The regular catch of fish started namely from that day. The data we obtained for the anadromous migration shows a big array of unusual attributes in 2023 compared to a number of previous years.

For the first time in the entire observation period, the anadromous migration of steelhead took place in conditions of unusual water temperature. Due to the warm weather in the period from 09.22.2023 to 10.10.2023, there was only one weak night frost. Accordingly, the water temperature in the river was very high at the beginning of the work, it was more than 11°C, by the end of September – about 10°C, and by 10.10.2023 it fell, but slightly – to 8°C. Usually, according to the experience of previous years, such temperature values in the Utkholok River were characteristic for the beginning of the anadromous migration of the sea-run fish, whereas the most intensive migration was observed at a water temperature of less than 5°C, and a significant increase in the intensity of fish movement we saw at a temperature of 2-3°C. Thus, in September – early October 2023, for the first time in more than 30 years of observations, fish migration in the river occurred against the background of abnormally high-water temperatures.

Another distinctive feature of the autumn season of anadromous migration of the steelhead in the Utkholok River in 2023 were the special features of the structure of the river bottom. A survey conducted by us on the 26th of September showed that no Pacific salmon redds were found in the area from the mouth of the river up to 41 km, whereas in all previous years, without exception, in the autumn period, pink salmon and chum salmon redds were located up to the lower sections of the river. Our observations are confirmed by the survey data of residents of Sedanka and Kovran villages about the run of main salmon species (pink salmon and chum salmon) in the summer of 2023. It was extremely scarce, and there was practically no spawning in the areas of the lower and middle reaches of the Utkholok River. At the same time, according to our own research, the redds of Pacific salmon play a very significant role in ensuring intracoastal migration and the distribution of steelhead within the river. After entering from the sea, the movement of migrating fish by the river is determined, among other factors, by the availability of rest areas and short-term stops. Typical resting places of the passing steelhead are fast reaches (current velocity 0.4-0.6 m/s) and rifts (current velocity 0.6-0.8 m/s), where the density of Pacific salmon redds is high. In such places, a system of eddy currents is formed in the bottom layer, which is the shelter 18

and recreation area of the fish. Thus, in the autumn of 2023, the sections of the lower reaches of the Utkholok River had a smooth bottom, there were no zones with eddy currents. Therefore, there were practically no places where a passing steelhead could get up for rest and temporary existence.

As a result, in 2023, for the first time, a situation arose when the entire lower course of the Utholok River from the mouth to 41 km was a transit zone, which the fish were forced to overcome without stops and rest.

Our observations suggest that the absence of spawning redds of Pacific salmon in the lower reaches of the Utholok River led to an atypical distribution of the passing fish coming from the sea. Suitable biotopes for rest and stay for the passage of the steelhead were found only in the middle reaches of the river, which required to increase the area of work upstream compared to the average long-term. At the same time, in some cases, large individuals of the migrating fish stopped to rest at a very small depth of the river section – about 0.5 m, which is also atypical. The unusual location of the Pacific salmon redds has led to some changes in the behavior of the migrating fish.

According to our observations, in typical biotopes of the middle course of the river at a distance of more than 41 km from the mouth, the steelhead in September-October 2023 stay for an unusually long time. So, in previous years, during the movement up the river, steelhead individuals made a stop in their typical biotopes for 3-4, less often for 5 hours. In 2023, steelhead stay in one biotope for at least 12 hours. Thus, it was established that the intensity of fish movement along the river in September-October 2023 was lower compared to previous years. This was very likely due to a combination of at least two factors: unusually high-water temperatures and increased energy consumption to quickly overcome sections of the downstream.

From the results of the observations for the within-river dispersal we can make a conclusion that in fall of 2023 even at a moderate river stage in late September – early October, lots of fish, even most of the run, will go far upstream. We can suppose that wintering of steelhead in 2023/2024 season will take place in the upper part of the Utkholok River. In the previous years, such distribution was an attribute of the years with high fall floods.

As a whole, the parameters of the anadromous steelhead migration in 2023 was not typical.

First of all, unusual was the combination of various abiotic and biotic factors of the environment.

1) high water temperature during the whole period; 2) no salmon redds in the lower sections, thereafter the deficit of the biotopes in the camp-down area; 3) low river stage in October.

As a result, we had the following structure of the steelhead run: 1) low intensity of the upstream migration at the end of September – beginning of the October, while before it was a time of very active upstream steelhead migration; 2) quick pass of the fish through the long sections of the lower river; 3) long stay of steelhead for rest in the biotopes of the Middle section; 4) the upstream move of the fish took place at night mostly; 5) steelhead traveled way upstream and thus the wintering will take place in the pools of upper part of the Utkholok River.

The data and metadata, obtained in 2023 gives the evidence, that under the particular combination of the environmental factors (shortage of the biotopes in the lower river with low river stage etc.) steelhead can move rapidly way upstream even at the low river stage. This is good news because this winter steelhead will hibernate in wintertime in reaches that are way from the ATV roads and there is very low likelihood that poachers can get a fish. It is a great support for the steelhead stock and a good chance for expanded reproduction, at least much higher than if the wintering would take place in the lower river pools.

Unusual features of the steelhead anadromous migration accompanied with the unusual shape and color of the fish. In the sample of the sea-run steelhead (n=63), along with a chromebright ocean-type colored fish (its ratio is 47.6%) there were a fish in a spawning color of different intensity (fig. 9).

19

Figure 9. Steelhead specimens with ocean-type color, landed in the river. Above – female, 820 mm FL, caught at September, 28; distance from the sea 41 km; Below – female, 825 mm Fl, caught on October, 08; distance from sea 47 km. On the below picture one can see a floy tag below the dorsal fin.

The ratio of colored fish was 42.8%, they had a distinct pink stripe and cheeks, their back turned into olive-green or dark green (fig. 10). This year we for the first time caught a number of steelhead with deep spawning color, as it should be in spring time, during the spawning, the ratio of such fish was 9.9% (fig. 11). The specimens with the signs of the spawning color were in the catch in October mostly, that indicates its long stay in the freshwater after entrance from the sea.

Such a fish we had in the catch all years before, but in 2023 their ratio was the biggest during the whole period of observations. In fact, the ratio of fish with ocean-type color and with a spawning color was similar.

Figure 10a. Steelhead specimens in a slight spawning color. Above – female, 925 mm FL, caught on October, 07; distance from the sea 43 km.

20

Figure 10b. Steelhead specimens in a slight spawning color-above: male, 815 mm Fl, caught on October, 08; distance from the sea 45 km.

Fish with a deep spawning color (fig. 11) during the fall time was for the first time of the Project. Before we saw such a fish in 2004-2005 in May and June, in a spawning period near the spawning grounds. The fact that we got this fish in the Fall we have no good explanation. All those fish were in a good condition, they performed as a usual steelhead, demonstrated aggressive attack at the fly, demonstrated strong fight being hooked, had a deep thick body. They did not have any sign of being depleted or skinny, the color was the only attribute that made those fish unusual to a routine mass of steelhead that we have been seeing for years. At the same time, all fish in a spawning color were landed in the most-upstream reaches of our working area, near the deep pools in the river channel. So, it is possible that fish with a deep spawning color are already near their wintering biotopes and would not move in the river any further. Moreover, it is possible that there could be spawning places somewhere in the mainstem Utkholok River. Perhaps, the decrease of migrating activity could launch the process of preparation for wintering and even spawning.

Figure 11. Steelhead specimens with a deep spawning color. Above – male, 835 mm FL, caught on October, 09, distance from the sea 57 km; below – female, 815 mm FL, caught at the same day, distance from the sea 60 km.

21

In the season of 2023, there were only two specimens that had distinct signs of seal bite, which is also quite unusual. In the previous years at the low river stage in the mouth of the river we observed at least 13-16% of fish with seal bites. While the ratio of bitten fish decrease in the years with high river stage or during the hard floods. The data that we gathered in 2023 gives us new vision of the role of sea mammals influence on the steelhead coming from the ocean. One of the reasons for the low level of seal attacks over steelhead was of the high river stage in a time before we came to the river. Or, for unknown reasons, seals could have migrated off the area of the Utkholok-Kvachina rivers, because salmon run was very poor and seal had to look for more productive zones somewhere north or south of “our” rivers.

As always before, attention was paid to the abundance estimation of the steelhead stock that came into the river. The data we obtained is fully comparable with the data from other seasons, especially when we had low river stage (table 2). In 2023 we had a very good catch for one rod, which shows rather high abundance of the fish that already entered into the river. The data from 2023 is not the highest – we had a better catch in 2017 and 2021, but we already have strong evidence to say that the stock is in a very good shape, in opposite to what is happening with pink and chum salmon. The figures that we received in 2023 could be the outcome from the low number of anglers – we could not cover a big section of the working area at one time. Also we had to spend time for fishing in the camp-down area, where we encountered nothing. It is possible if we would not have paid attention to the lower sections, we would for sure had higher CPUE. But we need to monitor all the working area otherwise we will miss important data. Meanwhile we can make a conclusion that this year in the Utkholok River, there entered a robust stock of steelhead and we have a positive perspectives of the stock reproduction. Bearing in mind that most of steelhead spawners have the age of 6-7 years it means that this high abundance of steelhead now is a result of our anti-poaching activity beginning from 2015.

Table 2. The comparison of angling effectiveness (CPUE) over years (data for the whole period).

Year General river River conditions

Utkholok

Kvachina

Snatolvayam

2016

Hard rains, river flooding, early close of the season

1.01 / 0.81

1.08 / 0.82

0.95 / 0.79

2017

Few rains, rivers are in a great shape

4.45 / 2.15*

3.06 / 1.51

2.79 / 1.54

2018

Not much rain, ~3 missing days, good fishing conditions

3.19 / 1.55

2.55 / 1.30

2.54 / 1.27

2019

Bad weather, ~5 missing days, ½ of a period bad fishing conditions

1.55 / 0.73

0.93 / 0.41

1.61 / 0.72

2021

Few rains, rivers are in a great shape

5.20 / 2.98

2.45 / 1.53

2.53 / 1.43

2022

Almost all period river is flooding

0.97 / 0.78

0/0

0/0

2023

Mostly good and warm weather, few rains, low river stage

3.18 / 2.25

-

-

Note: * - the first figure is for hooked fish, the second – landed fish. The years 2010, 2011 and 2015 were not included because there were no Utkholok operations.

The length and weight of steelhead is given in table 3. Between-year comparison of the sizeweight features shows that it remains more or less stable during the period of observations – table 4. There were slight deviations of the body length and weight that could be the result of different 22

sample sizes in different years. We can see that the average size and weight of steelhead in the Utkholok River became a little bigger compared with 2022. The dispersal analysis shows that in the Utkholok River more than 60% of fish in all the samples lie within the range of 700-900 mm, and more than 75% of fish are within the range of 730-860 mm (fig. 12, table 4). In the small samples (from 2018 and 2019) we see the shift into left side (more small fish in the sample), while in the sample of 2023, which is also not big (68 specimens only) we did not see left shift, we see the same distribution as in the big-size samples (fig. 12). Thus, in a given conditions we can state that length and weight of fish in 2023 is more or less similar to the average from the row of years.

Before we mentioned that those parameters has an oscillational configuration, the data from 2023 fully prove this tendency.

Table 3. Size and weight parameters of steelhead in the sample of 2023.

River Утхолок, n=68

Fork length, mm

Body weight, g

780.6 (690-950)

5348.1 (3019-9383)

Table 4. The fork length oscillation in different years of steelhead from the Utkholok River.

Year Average fork Limits, mm The range of fork length of 75% length, mm of fish in the sample, mm 1971 715.7 580 – 930 705-828 2002 802.6 584 – 927 733-865 2003 802.1 568 – 907 735-861 2017 783.4 540 – 965 736-870 2018 766.3 620 – 930 729-834 2019 792.5 510 – 900 740-866 2020 791.1 725 – 920 739-868 2021 783.1 660 – 960 735-860 2022 762.7 550 – 910 730-832 2023 780.6 690 – 950 739-865

23

Figure 12. Length distribution in steelhead for years of observations. Notice that the majority of fish (75% and more) do not deviate much within the range 700-850 mm FL. The sex ratio in the sample of 2023 shows a remarkable predominance of the females. Their ratio was 73%, or 1: 1.97. This is the same situation as in 2022, when we had more than 70% of females. It looks as though we can have a tendency for increase in the ratio of females. As far as we have many resident and riverine-estuarine and estuarine fish where males are predominant, it looks that the possible deficit of anadromous males could be made up by the small-size males more closely associated with fresh water. But before in 21 century we had sex ratio about 1: 1, we saw it up to the 2019. It is interesting that in 1970-1971 the sex ratio was close to 1: 1. Some researchers think the deviations between years reflect unstable environmental conditions and may be the outcome from the dramatic climate shifts in the North Pacific. It is possible that increase of the female ratio in the stock is an adaptive answer on the changing conditions during the ocean period of life. From the other hand the other hypotheses could be given – the increase of the female ratio means sharp increase of the population fertility and number of progeny. So we can see the big potentials for further increase of the population size and improvement of the living condition in the river. So we need the data from the coming years to understand the natural tendencies.

In opposite to 2020-2022, in the fall period of 2023 in the working area we were lucky to get some juvenile fish. But we need to stress that all the juveniles were caught in the upper sections of the working area. In previous years we did not fish here. At the same time, we had solid data that steelhead juveniles in early 2000 occur in the lower sections of the river in the camp area. The data from 2023 shows that now the habitat area of steelhead juveniles moved more upstream. At first glance it goes in contra to what we wrote above, mentioning the improvement of the living conditions in the riverine system. But let’s be patient with it, because we need in a new round of complex scientific research, in fact – repetition of what we did in 2004-2007. We need again in the assessment of the river channel and major tributaries, collecting data of the juvenile densities 24

in different habitats, including summertime also. We could not exclude that in the 2020th there is a change in the whole ecosystem structure, re-assessment of the species’ biotopes etc. etc. We could propose that in some cases steelhead juveniles can be stronger in the between-species competition and win the game in fight with coho or Dolly Varden juveniles. What we can conclude now is that some change in the ecosystem has already taken place, but details are the issue of the future.

Between steelhead juveniles that were caught in the fall of 2023 a number of specimens had some signs of smolts – they were of silver color, elongated peduncle, shortened head. It means that even in the fall some juveniles begin to move downstream to be ready for the outmigration next spring. So, we have the active re-distribution of the juveniles in the late fall. Also we caught some fish that looked like “half-pounders” – those fish who spent several month in the coastal area and coming back to river in the fall time. Next year half-pounders will make a second seaward migration and then go to the high seas. The presence of the half-pounders in the sample demonstrates that foraging conditions in the coastal area near river mouth are good enough to support semi-anadromous fish. This fact also supports the idea that environmental conditions in the Utkholok River improved and are favored for local steelhead population.

Steelhead was not the only object of scientific interest on the rivers. Again, the charrs are in the focus of special interest because we still have a unique case of mass between-species hybridization in the pristine environment (fig. 13). Also, we are interested in the fish population dynamics over the years. In the 21 century we see a decrease in the abundance of Dolly Varden charr in the North-West Rivers of Kamchatka. While White-Spotted charr in all three rivers demonstrate more or less stable abundance. Regarding hybrids we can state that its abundance increase from 2000 (when it was observed for the first time). The real linkages in the ecosystem and interactions between char species are still unclear and there are many gaps in the information about it. We did not expect fruitful data collection re charrs having such a high river stage, but in fact good samples of all three forms were obtained.

Figure 13. The hybrid Dolly x Kundzha

25

Figure 13. The Dolly Varden

Figure 13. The White-Spotted charr (all three specimens from Utkholok River, the fall of 2023.

7. Main conclusions.

In a whole we have data today that shows that the status of local steelhead population in the Utkholok River is a good shape, it goes into typical for the present time variation limits. The abundance of fish is high, so we still function as real sentinels of the world’s best steelhead stocks.

Thanks to our activity for many years, we are doing effective protection of the stock. But at the same time, we face the problem of climate oscillation in the North Pacific that likely cause shifts in the riverine and ocean conditions. We do not know for sure how the warming of North Pacific influences the steelhead and salmon stocks. This issue should be in the focus of our future interest in research. So, we must not give up, we need to keep our efforts and do all what we can to be on the steelhead rivers of North-West Kamchatka for coming years and stay fast and stay on our way that we established in 1994.

26