Large-scale VNIRO research on the conservation of the ecology of the Taimyr peninsula has been launched
11 July 2023

Large-scale VNIRO research on the conservation of the ecology of the Taimyr peninsula has been launched

The expedition of the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO)to study the state of aquatic biological resources affected by the accident at Thermal Power Plant-3 in 2020 has started.

Recall that immediately after reports of an oil spill in the area of the accident appeared, VNIRO scientists, with the support of the Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company (NTEK, a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel), promptly began implementing a wide range of multidisciplinary resource studies to assess the degree of pollution of the Norilsk-Pyasinsk water system. Based on scientific data, the amount of damage caused to the ecology of the area by the action of anthropogenic factors was determined.

Now the VNIRO scientific group, consisting of highly qualified and experienced hydrochemists, hydrobiologists, ecologists, continues to carry out a multi-year monitoring program in the area.

On July 9, a traditional prayer service was held in the church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia for the successful start and conduct of the expedition.

"VNIRO's Taimyr expedition marks a qualitatively new stage in fisheries research in the Russian Arctic," Kirill Kolonchin, Director of VNIRO, Doctor of Economics, commented on the start of the expedition. "In terms of its scale and importance for the development of domestic Arctic fishing, it is comparable to expeditions a century ago, when the institutes of the VNIRO system explored the resource base of the North and the Far East, ensuring the rapid growth of industrial fishing in the USSR."

The geography of research in 2023 will cover Lake Pyasino, the Pyasina River and smaller water bodies – Ambarnaya, Norilskaya, Daldykan, Agapa, Dudypta, etc.

The main goal of sectoral science in this direction is the ecological rehabilitation of aquatic ecosystems and the development of scientifically sound recommendations for the restoration of their bioproductivity, biodiversity and the population of valuable fish species. It is planned that VNIRO specialists will carry out similar work on a regular basis until 2051.

VNIRO Press Service