A LONG-TERM DYNAMICS OF FISH RESOURCES IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN WATERS OFF THE NORTHERN KURIL ISLANDS FOR THE PERIOD 1987-2015
Structure and biomass dynamics of demersal community in the Pacific waters off the Northern Kuril Islands were analyzed on the data of trawling surveys for 1987-2015. It is demonstrated that in the aspect of a longterm average the demersal communities are represented mainly by abundant species of gadids (Gadidae), greenlings (Hexagrammidae), sculpins (Cottidae), rockfishes (Sebastidae), snailfishes (Liparidae) and flatfishes (Pleuronectidae). Similar trends of the long-term dynamics of fish biomass are observed in the waters of the Northern and Southern Kuriles, East Sakhalin and West Kamchatka. The long-term data indicate of an increase of the abundance of the stocks in the middle of the 1980th, a decrease in the first half of the 2000th, a new increase in the last half of the 2000th, causing the peak level of the stocks in 2007-2009. Indications of a next decline in the biomass of the stocks have been observed since 2010. The lont-term dynamics of the average density of the fish demonstrated similar trends, although the main trend in 2013-2015 was up.