The Black Sea Bioresource Potential and Its Exploitation in National Commercial Fisheries in the 20th–21st Centuries

Abstract

This article analyzes the history of the development and dynamics of the structure and species composition of the principal target species of the national commercial fisheries in the Black Sea from the time of the demise of the Crimean Khanate in 1783 to the present day, as well as the structure of the Black Sea exploitable bioresources that had evolved throughout the geological history of the development of the Ponto–Caspian basin (over 30 million years). This study involves the geography and composition of catches, as well as the scales and techniques of fish harvesting in the 20th–21st centuries. There have been stages identified of intensification and decline in fish harvesting success and reasons for these variations (natural dynamics of population size, predaceous species pressure, construction of hydraulic structures, sea pollution, overfishing, and poaching). The author demonstrates that at the end of the 20th century the fishing industry of Russia entered a depressive state, while the total average annual landing of other Black Sea states increased. At the same time, the ecological situation improved considerably and the population size of many previously exploited fish began to recover in the territorial waters of Russia due to reduced pressure from the predacious comb jelly Mnemiopsis and a decreased level of petroleum and chemical pollution in the coastal and shelf waters in the northern part of the Black Sea.