Метка: К.М. БЭР

Таммиксаар Эрки

Эстонский университет естественных наук
Тартуский университет

DOI: 10.24411/2076-8176-2016-11848

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Особое место в истории научно-промысловых экспедиций в России занимает Каспийская экспедиция в 1853-1856 гг. под руководством академика Петербургской академии наук К.М. Бэра (1792-1876). Эта экспедиция в методологическом смысле считается основой последующих экспедиций для изучения состояния рыболовства в Российской империи. Но Каспийская экспедиция была не первой, а второй экспедицией под руководством Бэра. Специалистам известно, что в 1851-1852 гг. Бэр руководил экспедицией на Чудское и Псковское озера и вдоль юго-восточного берега Балтийского моря от Нарвы до Риги. Но до сих пор значение этой экспедиции для организации путешествия Бэра на Каспий оставалось недостаточно проанализировано. В данной работе предпринят первый шаг в этом направлении, где доказывается, что во время путешествий на Чудское и Псковское озёра выработанные методологические принципы и полученные научные результаты стали очень важной предпосылкой для организации экспедиции на Каспий.

Karl Ernst von Baer and His Fishing Expeditions on Chudsko-Pskovskoe Lake in 1851-1852: The Birth of Systematic Fishery Studies in the Russian Empire

Tammiksaar Erki

Estonian University of Life Sciences
University of Tartu

DOI: 10.24411/2076-8176-2016-11848

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In the scientific literature, numerous analyses have been written about the significance of the Caspian Sea expedition (1853-1856) by Karl Ernst von Baer (1792-1876), who studied the status of sea fisheries and put forward several means for its improvement. Historians of science have accepted that the principles of fishery studies adopted during this expedition became the methodological basis for further expeditions in Russia’s inland water reservoirs during the second half of the 19th century. However, Von Baer’s first expedition (1851-1852) to the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, from Narva to Riga and to Lake Chudsko-Pskovskoe has been ignored. In the past, Lake Chudsko-Pskovskoe was very rich in fish. By the end of the 18th century, however, the situation had changed as numerous Russian fishermen had resettled to the Province of Livland on the western coast of the lake. The use of different kinds of fishing nets, especially in catching smelt (Osmerus eperlanus eperlanus morfa spirinchus) caused a lot of damage to the offspring of other fish species living in the lake. According to von Baer, 996 tons of small fry (segoletki) were caught from both lakes in 1851. The Livland nobility suggested prohibiting intensive catching ofjuvenile fish from 24 July to 1 September. In 1824, the provincial court in Dorpat (today Tartu) adopted a similar resolution. But such restrictions applied only to Livland fishermen, not Pskov, St. Petersburg or Estland. This made it necessary to discuss the matter with other provinces. To reach a compromise, in 1851 the Ministry of State Domains launched an expedition under von Baer’s leadership. As a result, an agreement was reached in 1852 stating that fishing was forbidden in Lake Chudsko-Pskovskoe from 24 June to 1 September. Actually, the importance of this expedition was considerably greater, since during that expedition von Baer derived methodological principles of studying fisheries in water reservoirs. This expedition proved to von Baer that one of the opportunities to improve the state of fisheries was the resettlement of fishes from one water reservoir to another and the artificial reproduction of fish. The respective program including the report of the expedition’s results was presented to Emperor Nicholas I on 18 February 1852, who three days later signed the order for von Baer’s Caspian expedition. This gives evidence of Emporer’s great interest in von Baer’s plan for the introduction of fishes and the possibilities of their artificial reproduction in the Caspian Sea. The author concludes that von Baer’s expedition to Lake Chudsko-Pskovskoe led to the launching of the Caspian Sea expedition.