From July 15 to the present, employees of the FishRPC (head of the expeditionary team Makambetov S.Zh., research associates Pangereev B.S., Igilik R., Zhdanko L.A., Bekturov D.S. and laboratory assistant Abishev N.B.) have been conducting summer research work on the Ile River and the Kapshagay reservoir according to BP 021 (PP 100) “Determination of fish productivity of fishery reservoirs and/or their sections, development of biological justifications for maximum permissible catch volumes of fish and other aquatic animals, the regime and regulation of fishing in fishery reservoirs of international and national significance and reservoirs of the Balkhash-Alakol basin protected areas. Section: Kapshagay reservoir and the Ile River.” The objective of this work is to assess the current state of the populations of the main commercial fish species to calculate the maximum permissible volumes of extraction of fish resources and other aquatic animals and to develop recommendations for the rational management of fisheries in the Kapchagay Reservoir, the backwater zone, and the upper reaches of the Ile River.

Currently, the expedition team is carrying out the following work:

– collection and analysis of hydrochemical samples;

– collection of hydrobiological samples during the growing season (zooplankton, phytoplankton and zoobenthos) and fish nutrition during the fattening period;

– collection of samples of natural reproduction of juvenile fish with a fishing seine in shallow waters, in the coastal zone of the Kapchagay Reservoir;

– setting up nets for biological analysis of commercial ichthyofauna in fishing areas (biotopes). During the period of research work on the Kapshagay reservoir, the chief specialist of the Kapshagay fishery inspection department of the Balkhash-Alakol interregional basin inspection of fisheries (BAMBIRH) E.O. Karbekov takes part.