Pike perch in the reservoirs of Central Russia

Abstract

Pikeperch in the water bodies of Central Russia has a mosaic distribution depending on the area of reservoirs and the length of rivers. This representative of perch fish lives mainly in the most full-flowing rivers with a length of more than 400 km and reservoirs with an area of more than 500 hectares. The age composition of most local populations of walleye does not exceed twelve age groups, and in most reservoirs, samples of walleye due to overfishing consist of three to four age groups. Average weight the average weight of walleye in net catches usually does not exceed one kilogram. The growth of pike perch in the reservoirs of the Moskvoretsky and Vazuz hydrotechnical systems is higher than in the rivers and cooling reservoirs of nuclear power plants and GRES. Sexual maturation of walleye in the reservoirs of Central Russia usually occurs at the age characteristic of the southern populations of this species. The main factor affecting the effectiveness of walleye spawning is the availability of forage organisms for its early juveniles in feeding areas. Despite the regular work on the stocking of individual MoskvoretskoVazuzsky reservoirs by organizations subordinate to Rosrybolovstvo, the maintenance of populations of this species occurs mainly due to natural reproduction. Uncontrolled selective fishing of walleye by amateur anglers significantly constrains the growth of its populations in most of the reservoirs and rivers considered in this article.