Characteristics of recreation fishing for smelt (Osmersus eperlanus eperlanus morpha spirinchus) in the river Pregolya within the city of Kaliningrad

Abstract

For the first time, studies of amateur smelt fishing within the city of Kaliningrad during the spawning run of the smelt family (Osmeridae) were carried out. Thanks to the monitoring of recreational fishing in the spring season on the river. Preholiday, where smelt (Osmerus eperlanus eperlanus morpha spirinchus) and European smelt (Osmerus eperlanus eperlanus) come to spawn from the Vistula Lagoon, the localization of amateur fishermen, attendance of fishing grounds was determined, the analysis of catches, species composition, size structure of the target type and intensity of fishing. The calculation of catches for effort made it possible to establish the dependence of the mass character of fishing on the size of the catches, and the second on the values of water temperature. The value of catches per effort varied significantly from single specimens to an average kilogram of fish per hour of fishing. With the warming of the water, the catches reached their maximum values, which is caused by an increase in the efficiency of catching smelt these days. It has been determined that recreational fishermen are a good indicator of the spawning run, since some fishermen conduct “control catches” in advance to determine the presence of the target species in their catches, then proceed directly to the catch. Thanks to the calculated indicators, the final stage of the spawning run of the smelt family in the river was established. Pregolya. The final stage of the study was the calculation of the daily catch and the total catch of smelt by recreational fishing for the period of spawning migration, depending on the intensity of the spawning run and the mass character of recreational fishermen. According to the results of calculations for the entire observation period in 2023, the catch of smelt in the river. Pregolya amounted to 0.515 tons.