Russia

Marine Protected Areas in Russia

Russia’s coastline is 37,653 km long [1]. To the west it borders the Sea of Azov, the Caspian and Black Seas. To the north it borders the Arctic Ocean’s, Barents, White, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian and Chukchi Seas. To the east it borders the Pacific Ocean’s, Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan. Its Exclusive Economic Zone is approximately 7,566,673 sq km (Asia 6 sq km, Baltic 24,549 sq km, Barents Sea 1,159,594 sq km) [2]. The total area of Russian marine territory under protection is 91,000 sq km [3]. Marine protected areas (MPAs) in Russia are designated as national parks, zakazniks (wildlife refuges) and zapovedniks (strict nature reserves). MPAs include areas managed by federal, regional and local governments. Protected areas with international designation are World Heritage sites, Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar) and UNESCO-- MAB Biosphere Reserves. The World Database of Protected Areas currently lists 74 sites with marine protected area or proposed marine protected area designations.

While many of Russia’s land-based reserves contain marine components, the Far Eastern Marine Reserve (Dalnevostochny Morskoi Zapovednik) created in 1978, is the only protected area that is almost exclusively marine [4,5]. Thirteen of Russia’s 100 zapovedniks, or strictly protected nature reserves, include protected marine zones in their territory: Astrakhansky, Bolshoi Arktichesky, Dagestansky, Dalnevostochny Morskoi, Dzhugdzhursky, Kandalakshsky, Komandorsky, Koryaksky, Kronotsky, Nenetsky, Sikhote-Alinsky, Taimyrsky, and Wrangel Island Zapovedniks. Four zakazniks also protect marine waters. These include Agrakhansky, Zemlya Frantsa Iosifa (Franz Josef Land), Maliye Kurily, and Nenetsky Zakazniks [5].

In addition, eleven zapovedniks (Astrakhansky, Dagestansky, Dalnevostochny Morskoi, Gydansky, Komandorsky, Kurilsky, Magadansky, Nenetsky, Sikhote-Alinsky, Ust-Lensky, and Wrangel Island Zapovedniks) have offshore buffer zones, and two zapovedniks (Lazovsky and Poronaisky Zapovedniks), two national parks (Sochinsky and Kurshskaya Kosa), and six zakazniks (Nizhne-Obsky, Priazovsky, Samursky, Severozemelsky, Tumninsky, and Yuzhno-Kamchatsky) include coastal areas, but do not have protected marine zones [4].

A major threat to Russia’s marine protected areas is the lack of funding for various programs ranging from enforcement, to scientific research and public outreach [4]. Another notable threat is the lack of understanding how well existing reserves are functioning. This data would aid the effective establishment of new reserves to the current network of marine protected areas [6].

Sources

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_length_of_coastline (accessed 31 Jan 2012)

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_economic_zone/ (accessed 31 Jan 2012)

[3] “Russia: Strengthening the Marine and Coastal Areas of Russia” UNDP Report http://www.undp.ru/index.php?iso=RU&lid=1&cmd=programs&id=98 (accessed 4 Dec 2011)

[4] Phoenix Fund, pers. comm. 12 Jan 2012.

[5] Russian Conservation News, summer 2004, No. 36. www.wwf.ru/data/publ/marine/rcn36mainblock.pdf (accessed 23 Nov 2011)

[6] http://www.mpa-russia.ru/en/marine_reserves/ (accessed 31 Jan 2012). There are no dates on the material or the website so it is not possible to determine if progress has been made on proposed MPAs.