The Biodiversity Conservation Center (BCC) has completed its Let’s Protect
the Russian Desman Project, which was carried out in 2001-2002 with
the support of the National Parks Fund. The aim of the project was to investigate
the condition of the Desman population in Russia, to develop and introduce
conservation measures, and to raise public awareness of the Desman population
and habitat.
Records of the Russian Desman throughout most of its habitat were kept over two years. Assistance was provided by the Department of Hunting Resources Protection and Development (Russian Ministry of Agriculture) and the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Nature (Ministry of Natural Resources) as well as by regional agencies in charge of game animal protection, control and regulation. The desman records were kept over an area of approximately 30,000 square meters of riverbanks, lakeshores and man-made reservoir shores in 34 regions of the Russia.
Records of this sort were last made in the 1970s, when the population was estimated at between 50,000 and 90,000. Population records were made in 1985, but within a much smaller area. The collected data indicated that the population was fairly stable only in the Ryazan, Kursk, Kurgan and Volgograd regions. Overall, Russia’s Desman population has dropped precipitously since 1985 (by roughly 25%). Today there are only some 30,000 desmans left. Fishing with illegal stationary nets and electric nets in desman habitat is the main culprit.
Also as part of the project, the BCC analyzed the functioning of the Seltsovsky hunting farm. The farm was set up in 1985 in the Vladimir Region; it specializes in Desman conservation. The efficiency of such non-traditional forms of Desman conservation turned out to be very high. That is why the farm received financial support for information displays, transport repair, purchasing uniforms, binoculars, boats, fuel and lubricant, and organization of bio-technical measures to raise the water level on two water reservoirs inhabited by the Desman. The creation of similar farms in other desman habitat could help protect the species.
The BCC will continue to study the situation with the Desman and its conservation.
Our plans include: a detailed analysis of desman records, publication of
a summary project report in scientific and other specialized editions, a
meeting of experts to develop an action plan to ensure Desmana Moschata
conservation, launching a campaign against illegal nets, publicizing the
problem of the Desman and small water reservoirs conservation. A video film
about the Russian Desman shot by the Bryansky Les (Bryansk Forest)
film studio will help increase public awareness; it will be shown to different
audiences and on television.
A. Zimenko, V. Kuznetsov, G. Khakhin,
Biodiversity Conservation Center
