TITOV, O.V., PRISHCHEPA, B.F., PESTRIKOVA, L.I., NOVIKOV M.A.
Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (PINRO), Russia

Large-scale development of Shtokman and other fields, construction of platforms, terminals and pipelines accompanying the hydrocarbon production, raw material processing plants and establishment of relevant infrastructure can lead to negative effects for the stocks of aquatic organisms in the northern seas.

Negative effect of the oil- and-gas industry on the environment can be related to discharges of different substances into the sea and atmosphere, sea water and bottom pollution, destruction of bottom biocommunities under pipeline construction, direct impact on fish and invertebrates from seismic prospecting, well drilling and operation. Moreover, there is a risk of emergency accompanied by spills of hydrocarbons and other compounds, dangerous for marine organisms and their environment. The damage can result in direct death of fish and commercial invertebrates from adverse impacts, through deficiency in the total biomass of fish as resulted from death of food zooplankton, benthos, larval stages of fish (ichthyoplankton), alienation of commercial areas etc.

The aim of environmental activities in the fishery sector, concerned with conservation of quality of aquatic environment and bioresource potential of the water body, is to decrease (minimize) the damage to aquatic organisms habitats and to compensate this damage for water bioresources.

“The provisional procedure for calculation of damage on fishery stocks as resulted from construction, reconstruction and enlargement of plants, facilities and other installations and implementation of various operations in fish water bodies” of 20.10.1989 being now in force makes provision for “fish culture and reclamation activities, which should be carried out in the same water body or basin, where it is expected to be, and if it is not possible - in other water bodies or basins in the same region” as compensation activities. Up to date, commercial reclamation activities within the Kola Peninsula included the fry release (mostly salmon or trout), bred at the fish rearing stations, to the nearest rivers. The main problems of such method of compensation for fishery damage are obvious. They are a follows:

Often ecologically nonequivalent replacement of one fish species by others, particularly notable when damaged is marine fish fauna;

The permanent decrease in the capacity of fish rearing stations, mostly caused by their closure on the territory of the Murmansk region.
However, the above procedure leaves room for compensation for fishery resource damages in the form of “fish farming in this area”. This item of the methodology opens wide potential for development of aquaculture (mariculture) units as compensation activities. However, the legal mechanism of investment in the aquaculture units at the expense of funds received from damage compensations has not been worked through, and the examples of such activities in the Murmansk region are obscure. In our opinion, the development of farming aquaculture (mariculture), valuable species ranching under the contemporary economic conditions can be considered as a major compensation activity when biological resources suffer from unavoidable damage in the process of field exploitation on the Russian Federation marine shelf.

At present three basic directions for artificial cultivation of marine organisms can be suggested according to the program on activities for compensation of biological resources damaged during the field exploitation on the RF marine shelf:

- larval production and growing aimed at their release to the sea (artificial reproduction);
- a complete cycle breeding, from egg to marketable size under conditions of commercial mariculture units;
- ongrowing organisms caught at sea to adult zine.

These three ways are unequal from economical and ecological viewpoints, although, from legal, scientific, technical and financial viewpoints the first way is more prepared for to be realized in practice.

Artificial reproduction as compensation method for damage from economic activity on the shelf regarding water biological resources completely coincides with commercial reclamation activities stated above. In our opinion, such works can be started from the development and realization of technologies for production and release of young Atlantic cod and red king crab, as the most valuable for the Barents Sea fishing objects. At present cod and crab are the most important elements of the Barents Sea ecosystem. They are distributed and fished in areas, developed by oil and gas industry. Scientific researches concerning reproduction problem have been carrying out. There are certain technological decisions and recommendations, a large experience has been stored in Russia and abroad, mostly in Norway.

The coastal area of Murman has favorable conditions for artificial reproduction of fish and invertebrates. Motovsky bay, Teriberka bay and Dolgaya bay are optimal for location of aquacultute units specializing in production of planting stock for valuable species of marine organisms.

Development of Shtokman gas-condensate field and other fields of fossil fuels on the Barents Sea shelf gives financial ground for construction of aquaculture units in the bays of Murman. The release of young cod and crab to their natural environment will keep the abundance of their populations at a certain level and decrease a negative anthropogenic effect from commercial development of the shelf.

It is obvious that at present it is impossible to provide for every ecological, standard-legal, financial and other circumstance of initiatives described above. On this ground, the move in these directions should be cautious, taking into account viewpoints of all interested parties and having a serious scientific-technological support for all works. Development and realization of a program for compensation activities based on the reproduction of valuable commercial species at the fish ranches (on the large commercial basins scale, such as the Barents Sea) in future can be able to answer such actual questions as organization of effective relationship between different branches of industry in development of marine shelf resources, elaboration of ecosystem approach in the management of marine bioresources, sustainable exploitation of marine commercial ecosystems.

Oil and gas of Arctic shelf 2008