State Natural Biosphere Reserve "Komandorsky" (Kamchatka Krai) It was established on April 23, 1993 to protect and study the natural complexes of the Commander Archipelago, located in the waters of the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. A year ago, it was transformed into the Commander Islands National Park.
The Commander Islands are huge rookeries of marine mammals (northern sea lion – sea lion, northern fur seal, antur, largi, sea otter and others). In total, there are about 70 deposits of real seals and four large rookeries of eared seals on the islands. All 10 species of pinnipeds living in the North Pacific Ocean have been recorded on the sea beaches of the islands.
"The Commander Islands are famous for their bird markets, as well as the largest rookeries of marine mammals: sea lions, northern fur seals and anturs. To preserve this unique natural heritage is our most important task," the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia noted Alexander Kozlov.
In 2002, the reserve was included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, created within the framework of the UNESCO program "Man and the Biosphere".
And in April 2022, by decree of the Government of Russia No. 720, the Komandorsky Reserve was transformed into the Komandorsky Islands National Park. The need for change is caused, first of all, by concern for people – the population of the Commander Islands has actually been hostages of a legal conflict for several decades.
When the reserve was created in 1993, it also included lands without their withdrawal from economic exploitation - 80.2 thousand hectares of reserve lands in the northern part of Bering Island, including the village of Nikolskoye, and the five-mile-wide coastal strip of the Pacific Ocean with an area of 100.4 thousand hectares adjacent to the northern part of Bering Island. For almost 30 years, the nature protection regime provided for nature reserves actually prohibited local residents, including indigenous small-numbered peoples of the north, from conducting full-fledged economic activities.
The transformation of the reserve into a national park makes it possible to allocate on its territory a zone of economic purpose, a zone of traditional extensive nature management, within the boundaries of which the implementation of traditional economic activities and related types of sustainable nature management is allowed, which will allow indigenous peoples to carry out traditional activities without the need to obtain permits to visit the national park, and will contribute to the sustainable development of the Aleutian municipal district of the Kamchatka Territory, preservation of the identity, culture and traditions of the Aleuts.
In addition, due to the softening of the nature protection regime during the transformation of the reserve into a national park, harvesting of food forest resources and other non-wood forest resources for their own needs is allowed in the protected areas, the possibility of amateur and sports hunting, hunting in order to ensure the conduct of a traditional lifestyle is established.
At the same time, the task of protecting the natural resources of the Commander Islands has been preserved, since the national Park, as well as the reserve, is a specially protected natural territory of federal significance.
Seven species of fish from 173 species registered in the protected area are included in the Red Book of Russia and the Red Book of the Kamchatka Territory. Among the Red Book species are a narrowly endemic population of lake coho (kayaks), a residential sockeye salmon of Kitovoye Lake, located on Bering Island, and a small population of chinook salmon of the Lisinskaya River. Unique objects of flora and fauna are the objects of close study of scientists.
Volunteers provide substantial assistance to protected areas. This year, the National Park invites those who wish to work on Bering Island. The volunteer season will last from June to October. Volunteers are required to help employees of the departments of science, tourism and security, as well as for the improvement and development of tourist facilities and infrastructure.
On April 22, the staff of the national Park will hold a meeting with the residents of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, during which they will tell about the specially protected natural area and hold a master class.
The Commander Islands include two large islands – Bering and Medny, as well as two small islands – Ariy Kamen and Toporkov, which are located in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. From the south, the islands are washed by the waters of the Pacific Ocean, and from the north by the waters of the Bering Sea.
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