Translation 2783

4
..... 11Q
of dl•rellin{; in rookeries on the ice of shallow-water areas, sand
bull-heàds and (exceptionallyj cisco xx play a considerable part in
the diet.
During the ice-dwellines,' period of tlic.ir life (Deueriber to
May) they keep to o;,en areas with floatina ice, and t:.eir principal
food consists of pelagic oil••-.f'ish and bull-heads. In stiu.uner and early
auttunn their dio't is rnore va.ried', and they coiz^ujae various species
of benthic bull-heads. '!'hese seals do not cause appreciable }iarni to
ve,lur.i.ble
economic fish species, althoug,IZ they sometim.es j;c:t into fixed
nets and seines, where they eat whitofish and cisco. ,:conoinic fi.shcs
constitute approximately 1p of the total food eaten by,the seals.
Seals have long been hunted on Lake i;e,if.a:1, but reliable in--
formation on the size of the kill is extremely disconnected and scanty.
It is.known that in the second ha.lf of the 1 Bth century local and
Russian coastal residents took an. annual averaGe of 2,000 seals. At
the beginninp; . of the 19201-s the kill had increased to 4,000. About
1930 it increased to 5,000 or 6,000 annually, and it remained at about
the sa,ne level until 1941. During the war and post-war years few
seals were taken, and the yearly average for the period 19ij1-zt9 did
not exceed 1,500. During the next decade (1950-60) it shrank to a
few hundied,-, .
;3ince then the size of the kill has f_luctuated, but
hs,s not exceeded 2,000 in any year.
Before 1935 seals were hunted in Lake i3aikal at any time of
the year, without any limitation. r.Chat resulted in a decrease in the
numbers of tho aniiaals.
The first mezsures for conservation of the
seal stocks were introduced in 1935; 1»Lntin(; was permitted only in
and in the southern part of the lako it was totally prohibited.
spring-,
In 196.6 new i~e,ç;ulatoT^y measures were brou,-lit in'i;o force: see,l-•]•:illinE;
was prohibited throughout the entire ::ailcal territory for the whole
year, except for the period from April 25 until the ice begar, to nielt;
seal.-hunti':gon the water -by means of boatti and canoes was also prohibited.;
a.limit ^ro.s l)laced on thi^ nu:.iber of moulted pups that might
r::.nd econo,nic activities were pi^ohibi',,cd around the Usli- t1
be lci.J.lea;
rockc:ries
ltian' ie Islands., i;iiore the seals fe?•7i
As a re-.:^ult of tnese conservation r:1ea:;ures and of decrease
in the take, the soal stocks be,^,an to recover. In 1953 an a.erial
on ice-fl.oes was made for the fà.rs't ti.ae, ar,d
cnil:;us of t.le
i,n^.le .it iro:.:il) 1.e to u s t:i..i :r,1;e tl:^; ^:u,::bez of
c^1.:, It i'O,üÙO-`5,00 0 .