News from Siberia

by W. E. Ricker News from Siberia

An old shaman had 333 sons but only one daughter, named Angara. She was the apple of his eye and he guarded her jealously, but somehow she fell in love with a youth named Yenisei who lived many leagues to the west. Early one morning Angara quietly left home and set out to join her lover. When the shaman woke and found her gone he was furious. With his magical powers he seized a huge rock and hurled it after her. But it fell short, Angara continued on her way, eventually found Yenisei, and the two journeyed together down to the polar sea.

The proof of this story is that the big rock can still be seen where the Angara leaves , and it is still called the shaman's stone, shamanskii kamen'. io-day the Angara­ Yenisei is the next major USSR river system that is to get the !;cascade" treatment of dams throughout its full °length. The first one is just above Irkutsk; it backs the river up right to tne lake and raises the lake level 1 or 2 metres. It also

drow~ed the tracks of the trans-Siberian railway, which was rerouted over the hills -- a shorter distance but with a considerable grade and less exciting scenery. Next downstream :s the Bratsk dam, said to produce more power than any other

s~ng~e unit in the world, and a third is under construction.

~he Yenisei has one dam so far, above Krasnoyarsk. The reason -2-

for selecting this system for early development, in preference to the Ob for example, is that it has a steeper gradient and flows through regions particularly rich in coal and ores of various sorts, so that major industrial developments are projected. The only important migratory to be affected is the inconnu, and its stock is not particularly large. On balance they hope for increased fish production from the increased water area. In any event, among Siberian Rivers the Yenisei, Lena and

Indigirka all have relatively small fish stocks and fisheries. Those of the Ob are 15 or 20 times as great, and for a very interesting reason. In the lower 1000 km or so of its course the Ob lacks oxygen in winter, and fish (mainly coregonids) have to evacuate it -- some wintering in the brackish Ob Gulf, others upstream. In spring the fish rush back into the 'dead' zone and utilize the rich growth of plankton and benthos that blooms rapidly during the growing season. Incidentally, the Ob inconnu run upstream as far as Novosibirsk, where a dam s·tops them, and in its tributary the Irtysh they even get into China -- a distance of at least 5000 km as the river flows. If the fish that reach China have come all the way from salt water, this considerably exceeds the longest known salmon migrations, on the Yukon and Amur Eivers.

Cossacks arrived in the Angara valley during the 1620 1 s and the town of Irkutsk was founded a generation later. From the beginning the Baikal '·' sea 11 fascinated the Russians. There -3-

is a long song in the heroic style, composed during the last century and still sung, which extols the lake's beauties and the accomplishments of its peoples. The trans-Siberian railway originally had an "aquatic" section, a trip across Baikal by steamship in summer, or on tracks laid across the ice in winter later replaced by shore-line trackage. Biological interest dates back to Pallas and others in the late 1700's, but the first extensive description of the fauna and physical conditions was by two enthusiasts, B. I. Dybovsky and V. Godlevsky, who sounded, dredged and collected during 1869 and 1870, using their private means to defray expenses. After the railway was built an expedition led by Professor A. A. Korotnev sailed the lake fo~ three years, 1900-02. The first biological station was established in 1919 by the Academy of Sciences, later taken over by Irkutsk university. After a large-scale Academy 11 Expedition 11 in 1925-27, in 1928 a new biological station (later called Limnological Station, now Limnological Institute) was opened and still flourishes. It is situated near the lake's outlet at the village of Listvyanka or Listven{chnoe (both names are used, derived from l1stvinnitsa =larch). A creek nearly was the scene of a gold rush in the early part of the century. The university's biological station also operates year-round; it is situated 25 miles farther up the coast, and is accessible only by water, by ice, or by trail.

We arrived in Irkutsk on the evening of September 22 -­ Evgenii Dmitrovich Gusev and myself. Next morning snow was -4-

falling and a stiff breeze blew down the Angara. While waiting for a ride to Listvyanka we had a look at the local museum -- with a small but good anthropological and ethnological section. When the Russians arrived there were, and still are, three peoples in the area. Most numerous were the northern or Buryat Mongols who herded sheep on the hilly grasslands lying on the southern, eastern and middle part of the western sides of Baikal. The lake's name is from their language, as is the tale of the shaman's· daughter. At the northern end of the lake were the Tungus or Evenki, a forest people mainly, whose bands extended north to the Arctic Ocean, as did their eastern neighbours the Yakuts. Both had a way of life similar to our woodland In9ian tribes, including vessels, teepees and even small canoes made of birch bark -- though the local tree produces a bark that is much inferior to ours. Both Buryats and Tungus qid some fishing in Baikal and elsewhere; gill-nets of tree fibers and of horse hair were on display. Earlier cultures have been excavated at various sites, extending back to the old stone age.

At 2 p.m. the Director of the Limnological Institute picked us up and we drove down to the lake over the roiling wooded country that skirts the lateral bays of Irkutsk reservoir. In one of these a small ice-breaker was tied up to shore -- one of two used to ferry freight and passengers across the lake early in the century, now used as a base by a local athletic club. In spite of the fresh snow, the birches and aspens had scarcely begun to turn color, but larches were farther along. These plus pine and spruce made up the forest. -5-

The Institute is now operated by the Siberian Section of the Academy of Sciences. Its laboratory building is situated not far from the lake shore. Behind and uphill are three apart­ ment buildings for staff, and a fourth nearly completed. The village nearby consists of only a few cottages, and.some staff members have homes 50 miles away in Irkutsk, commuting on week-· ends. A small-boat basin has been built 300 yards or so from the laboratory; the coast here is very exposed, but fortunately the prevailing winds are off shore.

After a tour of the building and museum, about 5 o'clock we embarked on the flagship of the Institute's fleet, the G. Yu. Vereshchagin, named after a former Director. With us were

Dr. Bons Konstant!novich Moskal~nko, head of the Laboratory of Ichthyology, and one of his staff, Igor Petrovich S_hum!lov. We ran north into a quartering offshore wind for about 4 hours. The plan had been to set a net that evening, but the wind was

too strong, so we anchored. for the night~ Morning-found us in Bukhta Peschannaya (sandy bay), a tourist "base" with small cottages accommodating up to 500. It lies between two promontories the Bolshaya and Malenkaya Kolokolnya (big and little belfries). Across the lake the eastern mountains were silhouetted by the rising sun. About 6 o'clock we moved south a mile or so, near Baklannii Kamen (cormorant rock), a skiff was lowered and a bottom gill-net was set in about 50 metres of water. This was a monofilament nylon_ net about 150 metres long, 3 deep, and 40 mm bar mesh -- the legal minimum on Baikal. The crew predicted -6-

gloomily that there would be few fish or none, that the site was not a good one, that we should be across the lake where the Selenga River enters, etc., etc. When the net was lifted with about 3 dozen nice after only half an hour, they still insisted this was a very poor catch, though to me it seemed excellent. The omul, a large cisco, is by far the most important food fish in the lake. The fish we got were immature specimens .12-14 inches long and 5-6 years old. (The matures are on their way to spawn in tributary rivers, especially the Selenga, which they ascend as far as Mongolia.) The incidental catch was one specimen each of the two principal pelagic : yellowfin and longfin.

Once on board, the morning~ catch was hurried to the

11 11 galley, and we had omul for lunch (as fish soup-- ukho ), fried omul for dinner and again next morning. The ship returned~to Sandy Bay, and nearly everyone went ashore to (1) look for mushrooms; (2) inspect the Institute's 11 base11 there -- a good­ sized building with laboratories and living quarters; (3) climb the big belfry~ (4) walk along the frozen beach. A new tree occurred sparingly, a 5-needle pine that produces edible nuts, called cedar (kedr) in Russian. On the south side of the lake it forms large forests in places, and in fact eating pine nuts is a favorite occupation in Siberia, like eating sunflower seeds in Kiev. (In both cases cracking the shell and extracting the kernel is all done with the front teeth and tongue, in one fast operation.) The understory near the lake included extensive -7-

stands of a small rhododendron, which flowers about the end of I1i1ay. The big belfry formerly had a navigation light on top, and a stairs and ramp had been built to haul up drums of oil or carbide. When the light was abandoned the stairs remained for tourists' amusement, but one day a couple fell off the top, so

the ladder was removed at a critical pitch. Thus I had to leave the summit to the dozen or so ravens whose favorite haunt it is. The mushrooms most in demand were a yellow gilled type

called maslyata (maslo =butter); I tried one raw (frozen) and the flavour was good. There was also an edible yellow false­ maslyata, a pore fungus. While we were on shore a small tug came along, manned by three Buryats who wondered where they might get some omul, but our catch had not been large enough to spare any.

After this interval our ship continued on up the coast for several hours. Two or three tows of logs passed us, chugging down-lake. The 'terrain gradually became drier and grass replaced trees except on the tops of the hills. Mostly ·the immediate coast consisted of steep cliffs, but occasionally a valley sloped gently· to the shore, and in one such place a herd of 150 or so cat~l~ came down to drink. This change of scenery corresponds to the.

presence of an enclave of Buryats living in a "National bistrict 11 to the west of the lake.

The weather had been fairly good, still freezing but with sunny intervals and a more moderate breeze, and the plan -8-

was to go up to the "Little Sea" behind Ol 1 Khon Islanc:l and anchor for the night. This is the best fishing area on the lake. However clouds rolled in quickly about 5 o'clock and it began to snow heavily, so we put about and ran for home, arriving about 3 a.m.

Next day we visited more laboratories, the library, and a sanatorium nearby, walked to the top of Chersky's summit for a view across the lake and down the Angara (Chersky did the first geological study of the region). Found the ·cheremukha in fruit, and they were astringent like choke-cherries, as I suspected. Then in Dr. Moskalenko's apartment we had tea with skorosol or

11 fast-salted 11 omul, which means practically raw. (You cut a fresh omul into 5 or 6 chunks, pour on water and 2 tablespoons of salt, then eat it almost immediately). Pike do occur in Baikal but are quite scarce, and evidently they don't have a Triaenophorus problem.

The address of the Institute is as follows:

Limnologicheskii Institut SO AN SSSR Poselok Listven{chnoe Irk~tskaya Oblast USSR Director: Dr. G. I. Galazy Scientific Secretary: A. G. Skryabin

The scientific staff numbers about 50, and there are about 200 employees in all. Their largest vessel is the Vereshchagin, about 40 metres long, and there are 6 others of sizes ranging down to the .Formica, about 8 metres long. -9-

The Institute is organized into 9 laboratories, as follows:

1. Laboratory of Hydrology and Hydrophysics

Head: V. M. Sok6l 1 nikov

2. Laboratory of Hydrochemistry Head: K. K. V6tintsev

3. Laboratory of Climatology Head: N. P. Ladelshchikov

4. Laboratory of Lake Basins and Bottom Deposits Head: vacant

5. Laboratory of Palaeolimnology Head: Chlen-Korrespondent AN SSSR Florentsov

6. Laboratory of Dendrology

Head: G. I. Galazy

'7 I o Laboratory of Geomorphology Head: ·vu. P. Parmuzin

8. Laboratory of Hydrobiology . Head: Margarita Yu. Bekman

9. Laboratory of Ichthyology Head: Dr. B· K. Moskalenko (coregonids) Others: I. P. Shum!lov (omul). V. D. Postukhov (seals) E. A. Koryak6v (cottids and golomanki) (A. G. Skryabin also works on whitefishes, or did up to recently) . -10-

Baikal covers 31,500 km2 at 455 m above sea level. It is the oldest lake in the world, dating from the early Miocene, about 30 million years ago. In the beginning it was not especially deep, and in fact the .present lake has been formed by the coalescence of three separate basins. However its bottom has gradually subsided over the years at a faster rate than sediments were being deposited, even though these· now exceed 1000 metres thickness in places.. Thus it is not only the deepest lake in the world, but it keeps getting deeper. Earthquakes are frequent in the basin, and after a recent one it was found that the bottom had dropped another 15 metres in one part of the lake. In 1862 a section of the shore disappeared beneath the water, including a small village, forming a bay several square miles in extent. Formerly the maximum depth was reported as 1714 m, but recent soundings have not confirmed this, and 1620 m is the present official maximum. (Tanganyika comes next, with 1435 m). The average depth of Baikal is as much as 730 m, and only 8% of its surface is less than 50 m.

Like several other old deep lakes, the inhabitants of Baikal include a high proportion of endemics: about two-thirds of the total of 500 plants and 1200 . Three

11 groups have developed " swa.rms ,. the gammarid amphipods (33 genera and about 300 species), gastropod molluscs (134 species, with gilled forms predominating), and cottoid (Cottidae, 33 species; Comephoridae, 2 species). Certain other groups are represented by only.one or a few endemic~. There are a few -11- sponges, including a large columnar species, a few bivalves and ologochaetes, one polychaete, one copepod, one tintinnian, and a few diatoms of marine affinities. In general the endemics live in the pelagic region or on the bottom below

50 metres, whereas the 11 modern 11 or,widely-distributed animals mostly inhabit bays and shallows, and tend to be scarce. The omul and the seals are the principal exceptions. During the l930's and 1940's there was a long argument between G. Ya. Vereshchagin and L. S. Berg about the ancestry of the Baikal endemic biota. The former pointed to the sponges, the polychaete, tintinnian, marine-type diatoms and cottids in arguing for a marine origin. Berg pointed out that no marine sediments younger than Silurian have been found in the region, and claimed that the ancestors of the endemics were survivors of a Pliocene freshwater biota that once inhabited much of central Asia, perhaps North America as well (as suggested by the Epischura), and was replaced by northern species when the climate cooled.

More recent work by M. M. Kozh6v and others suggests that Vereshchagin was closer to the truth. Although the Baikal area has been above the sea since the Palaeozoic, the regions to the west (Tethys Sea) and to the east have both seen extensive marine transgressions during Tertiary time. During the retreat of these seas there was abundant opportunity for acclimatization of a few marine forms to fresh water (as happened more recently in the case of the alewife and sea lamprey in Lake Ontario). -12-

Baikal formerly had an outlet northeastward to the Lena watershed, and in lakes of that region, remnants of a former large lake basin, several of the Baikal sculpins and its unique polychaete have recently been found. The sculpins seem related to certain

Pacific Ocean forms, and an intermediate Meso~ottus still lives in the Arimr River, which has had connections with the Lena. On the other hand, some of the Baikal molluscs have turned up in Lake Kosogol in Mongolia, and its lar~e sponge has been identified in sediments of an extinct lake to the westward. Finally, the Baikal amphipods have somewhat distant relatives in the Caspian Sea, suggesting that both are descendants of forms that lived. in the Tethys Sea.

Most of the 11 modern 11 elements in the Baikal fauna probably reached it during or after the Pleistocene. The very cold water prevents most of them from competing effectively with the native forms except in the shore zone. Here belong the abundant omul and less abundant whitefishes, the scarce taimen and lenok of the genus Hucho, the Siberian sturgeon, rudd, ide, perch, pike, burbot, a fair number of shallow-water invertebrates, and the . But many things are lacking, for example, there are no beetles, bugs, mayflies or dragonflies. The Baikal seal is a close relative of the arctic ringed seal: it survives the winter by keeping breathing holes open, and the pups are born in covered lairs in areas of broken ice. Carp have been planted and occur in bays alon~ the south side, but there is no evidence . -13-

of reproduction. So far no other fish has been introduced by man.

Much of the recent work of ichthyologists and hydro­ biologists at Listvenichnoe has centered around production processes in the lake. In this they emphasize the pelagic r~gion because of its great extent. the ecological setup there is somewhat as follows. Phytoplankton is cons1..1med by a species of· EpischuYa that occurs in great numbers (this North American genus is known to occur elsewhere in Asia only in one Kamchatkan lake). It is eaten by the pelagic amphipod Macrohectopus, also a dominant species. In warmer years Cyclops and Daphnia may occur significantly, but are always a minor component of the plankton. The crustaceans are eaten mainly by 2 species of golomanka (Comephorus), belonging to a cottoid family found nowhere else. In many respects they resemble an Indiana cave­ fish: unpigmented, semi-transparent, viviparous, with a large flat head and big mouth. Unlike cave~fish they have functional eyes of normal size, and are very intolerant of warm water, succumbing when exposed to 8°C. The smaller and more pelagic species reaches 15 cm, the larger one 20 ~m. Though large in total biomass, golomanki do not form schools, so commercial exploitation is not possible. The two pelagic sculpins are less numerous but still abundant; the yellowfin species is caught and used for canning or for reduction, but in no 9reat volume (800 tons a year). Cottoid fishes have no air bladder to help -14-

regulate buoyancy, so all these species maintain position by movements of their large pectoral fins. Next in biomass but tops in usefulness is of course the omul (Coreqonus autumnalis), which eats Epischura, Macrohectocus, and young sculpins and golomanki. In Baikal it is a stream-spawning species, now reduced in abundance presumably by overfishing. Whitefishes occur but are much less common, and they too have decreased in recent years. There is a stream-spawning form referred to Coreqonus oidschian and a lake-spawning form ref erred to C. lavaretus by A. G. Skryabin. Both. species eat gastropods and amphipods in water up to about 150 m deep. There are sculpins .that live·much beyond this, two species being found in even the deepest trenches -- one with tiny eyes, the other with telescope

eyes; but no usable concentrations of bottom fishes o~cur outside of 100 metres.

As for the quantitative relationships, I will list the titles and summarize the abstracts of papers .on the subject presented at the early-September conference at Sandy Bay on problems related to the International Biological Programme.

G. I. Pop6vskaya: [Phytoplankton of the B~ikal pelagic region.] ' 2 Mean annual standing crop, 6.5 g/m wet weight.

A. I. Meshcheryak6va: [Primary production in Baikal.] Average production is 103 g carbon/m2/year '··with much- year-to- ' year variation. -15-

E. L. Afanas'eva: [Total stock and patterns of distribution of zooplankton in Baikal.] Mean production over 6 years was 168 g/m2 ; this means 4.2 million tons/year in the pelagic

region, of which 1.7 million is large crustaceans suitable

for fish food.

G. I. Pomazkova: [Yearly and seasonal changes in the zooplankton of Lake Baikal (Bolshie Koty in southern Baikal), from observations over many years.].

E. L. Afanas'eva: [The importance of cladocerans and rotifers in the pelagic plankton of Baikal.-] Both gr6ups are rather insignificant.

V. V. Cherepanov: [Biocoenotic structure and productivity of the Baikal population.]

V. V. Smirnov and N. s. Smirnova-Zaiumi: [Patterns of change

in the biological characteristics of the Baikal omul as a basis for computing its stock and production.] The Derzhavin-Boiko method of analysis is used, plus rate of growth; no data are given.

V. V. Smirnov and L. A. Ustyuzhanina-Gurova: [Utilization of the food supply in Lake Baikal by omul.] In 1967 the omul consumed 5900 tons of Epischura or 0.14% of the

annual production; 8400 tons or 8.4% of Macrohectopus production; and 3580 tons or 14.3% of the production of young cottoids. -16-

I. P. Shum{lov: [The condition of the north-Baikal omul stocks and ways of increasing them.] The stock has decreased from 128,000 centners in 1940-44 to 54,000 in 1960-64. Advises restricting the fishery to· the mature part of the stock, and using artificial reproduction.

E. A. Koryakov: [Production of pelagic sculpins and golomanki.] The stock of the 2 species of golomanka is 45-80 thousand tons, and the annual production about 40,000 tons. production is of the order of 10,000 tons. Golomanki refine 2.J0,000 tons of food a year, pelagic sculpins about 100,000 tons.

V. D. PastuKhov: [Abundance, biomass and production of Baikal

seals.] A stock of 26,500 seals (age 1 and older) weighs 15,500 tons and produces 6800 pups each year. About 11%

of the stock (older than pups) dies nat~rally each year, and 4% are killed. Of the pups, 21% are killed and 19% die naturally, leaving 60% survivors at age 1. Annual production is 2800 tons, of which 21% or 590 tons is used by man.

E. K. Moskal~nko: [Biological productivity of the pelagic region of Baikal.] Productivities in kg/ha/yr are as follows: primary, 21,000; zooplankton, 1680; pelagic sculpins and golomanki, 25.5 (of which 0.2 is used by man); omul, 1.3; seals, 0.1. The lake needs a larger stock -17-

of omul, and also some new pelagic fish capable of utilizing more of the golomanka production and/or increas- ing the utilization of ?lankton. The lake should yield about 20,000 tons of fish each year to man, or 6 kg/ha.

K. K. Votintsev: [The biological cycle and balance of organic matter in the Baikal pelagial.] Primary production of 110 g organic carbon/m 2 accounts for 90% of the organic input; allochthonous materials are not more than 10%. The phytoplankton-7 Epischura link involves a respiration loss of 22% of the primary production. Pelagic fishes disperse about 8% of the annual Eoischura production. Bacterial production is 40 g c/m 2 /year. About 10 g c/m2 reach the bottom of the lake each year, where 50-60% is mineralized.

The proceedings of this conference are to be published, and it will be interesting to get more detail on the methods used at various stages. Some of it will probably be presented at the International IBP-PF Conference to be held in Warsaw next year.

The Sandy Bay meeting of course did not limit itself

. ' to Baikal (200 attended), and for that matter the Baikal Limnological Institute does not: they conduct studies on other waters in Siberia. For example, next summer an 'expedition' to Lake Taimir (75° N, 100° E) is planned. Dr. Moskalenko, who worked for 25 years or so studying coregonids in all of the -18-

large Siberian arctic rivers, looks forward to this with keen anticipation. He says it is the most northern large lake in the world, which is true if you use the right definition of "large".

To resume the diary, we drove to town with Igor Petrovich Thursday afternoon, saw some of the sights of Irkutsk, including sport fishing for grayling from row boats in the·river, and said good-bye. Next morning it was snowing again, so I spent

the day writing up notes. Saturday w~ flew to Moscow, a 7-hour

trip by daylight and with good visibility in places. The f~rest alternated with steppe until Novosibirsk, when it became steppe or steppe-parkland almost consistently as far as the Ural region. Between Omsk and Kurgan there was a region densely peppered with sloughs and lakes mostly round or nearly so, with varying amounts of water, algae blooms, salt encrustations or completely dry. They varied in size from about 200 yards diameter up to a mile or two. At first I thought they had a· prevailing NW-SW

elongation like the Carolina 11 baysn, but this was due to fore-

shortening (reflection from the sun in the SW m~de them visible at a considerable distance). When directly below the smaller ones were nearly circular without consistent bias, the larger ones tended to be more irregular with possibly a NW-SE trend. An air photo of the area would be interesting perhaps it is a karst region. Moscow at 4 p.m., with sunny weather with an agreeable temperature, but next day came rain and chilly fall weather.

Moscow W. E. Ricker SepteLlber 29, 1969