Plenary Speaker Abstracts
Poster Abstracts
(1) The paper goals are to evaluate ecological and social consequences of ongoing changes in Russian reindeer husbandry and hunting, and to present a prognosis of their development.
(2) By the 1980s, Russia had highly productive reindeer husbandry (2.3 mln. tame reindeer produced 41,900 tonnes of live weight) and game husbandry (900,000 reindeer produced up to 13,800 ton of meat). Most of tame reindeer were property of the state and co-operative farms. About 7,000 - 20,000 reindeer in each farm were divided into herds of 1,500 - 2,500 animals. The state generously subsidized the production of meat, so that the income received from selling meat would be sufficient to cover the expenses of salary, transport, communication, field tents, and cloth. The economic crisis led to the destruction of reindeer husbandry. In many areas there has been a fivefold decline in the number of reindeer. Now, the question of an urgent concern is: will the reindeer husbandry survive and what consequences for wild reindeer populations will follow as a result of extension of pasture availability.
(3) Our study of reindeer husbandry and hunting demonstrates that there are evolutionary, ecological, and ethological determinants of size of the reindeer herds, migratory routes, population sex and age structure, and methods of management. The minimum size of group that herdsmen can control by using reindeer alertness is 35, for normal management practice it is 100; the usual size of big herds is 1,000 - 2,000. Before 1930s, when the socialist reconstruction of the reindeer husbandry began (we studied the development of Kamchatka and Chukotka reindeer husbandry), rich herdsmen owned up to 5,000 animals that were kept in herds of 1,500 - 2,000 animals. These herds had large areas of winter roaming and long (up to 300-400 km) summer migratory routes. Also, there were smaller herds of 100-300 animals owned by small owners. These small herds correspondingly used small territories for wintering and short (30-70 km) summer migrations. Large herds and their migratory routes were repeated later in the Soviet reindeer husbandry structure. Now, we observe a partial return of the situation prevailing before the 1930s. In Evenkiya and on the Kola peninsula the ancient forms of "near-settlement" reindeer husbandry are restored; herds of reindeer (small in taiga zone and fairly large in forest-tundra zone) are kept under temporary control (day by day in winter and irregularly in summer).
(4) We need to discuss a probability of the quick growth of wild reindeer population due to increased availability of free pastures. The Taymyr population of 600,000 wild reindeer and the Wrangel island population of 3,000 feral reindeer have been harvested since 1993 only on the small scale. However, contrary to what could be expected, observations in these areas in 1993 - 1998 have not indicated catastrophic growth of these populations. Factors of climatic changes, centennial fluctuations of wild reindeer numbers, and changes of migratory routes probably will be able to regulate the population growth. A comparison of long-term fluctuations of numbers of wild and tame reindeer in Russia demonstrates a more smooth pattern of tame reindeer fluctuations and dramatic changes of wild reindeer numbers.
(5) There were rarely found wild, feral, and tame reindeer coexisting in the same herds. They conserve their genetic identity (Semenov-Tien-Shanskii 1977, Shubin & Ephimtseva 1988, Zheleznov 1990). Our experimental study of alertness of wild, feral, and tame reindeer has demonstrated great innate differences. Feral and tame animals are less alert and vigilant; repeated disturbance of them by a human leads to decrease in a flight distance. Wild reindeer exhibited different behavior: after being disturbed repeatedly, they increased flight distance. Reindeer that was released from human control and became feral can be returned under human control even after a long time.
(6) Originally, the domestication of reindeer was probably not connected with taming. From managing reindeer herds during hunting man moved to control reindeer behaviour keeping animals in big herds. As a consequence, man needed to accept a nomadic way of life. The main benefit of the new arrangement was an opportunity to receive products at any moment; it was a guarantee against starvation. Some hunting tribes and natives which practised only hunting disappeared while natives practicing reindeer herding survived and became numerous (nentsi, koryaks, chukchi). Reindeer husbandry is a more reliable technology of reindeer exploitation. The identity of management methods of hunters and herders is important for prediction of survival of natural culture of human-reindeer relationship. However, scientific description of national practice of reindeer management will be important to conserve in order to teach young generations.
(7) Probable scenarios of development of the reindeer husbandry:
(8) The urgent practical assistance to reindeer herdsmen must be not paternal but motivating them to increase husbandry. Financial support to cover a part of meat cost as well as support of market of velvet antlers will be very important. Under these arrangements, herders will be interested in producing more meat, and local human population will have more meat available for consumption. Also, as it was before 1940s, a number of factories where herders could sell meat and other their products and buy flour, tea, and other goods will be necessary. Sponsorship of reindeer husbandry for transport and sport is recommended.
Author: Dr. Leonid M. Baskin Institute of Ecology and Evolution, 33, Leninsky prospect, Moscow, 117071 RUSSIA
By: Öje Danell
Present problems in Swedish reindeer husbandry have background in changes in the past as well as the modern economic and social development in the region and the country. The Reindeer husbandry developed in quite recent historical time from economies based on a multi-sided use of natural resources including hunting, fishing, and a small-scale intensive and largely stationary rearing and management of tame reindeer under farm-like conditions. The large-scale semi-domesticated reindeer husbandry of today grew from small privately owned tame flocks as a substitute for rapidly declining and ultimately extinct wild herds 300 - 400 years ago due to over-harvest. During this century, the reindeer husbandry has developed to a large-scale extensive type of transhumance pastoralism where the privately owned flocks are merged in large herds and loosely herded during the snow-free season and more closely herded in smaller winter-flocks during the winter season.
Grazing resources are managed by herding communities ("Saami villages") as a common property with its own inherited problems. Access to grazing lands has significantly decreased during this century both due to loss of traditional summer ranges towards or along the Atlantic coast following a gradual closure of the Swedish-Norwegian border for reindeer migrations between countries, and expanding industrial forestry and other regional and national economical interests in the winter grazing areas. Recently, the pressure from recreational interests has increased considerably, especially in the present summer grazing areas. Conflicts between reindeer industry and formal land owners has escalated in the winter areas due to lack of a legally defined extent of the grazing rights. These rights are increasingly challenged by the state and private landowners and brought to court trials for resolution. A currently growing strain on the reindeer industry is caused by the national commitments to restore viable populations of large predators. These predator populations are mainly located in the reindeer herding areas, with the semi-domesticated reindeer being a major food resource.
Thus the problems today are of socio-economic and legal kinds as much as they are of natural resource origin. Reindeer husbandry of today is a professional occupation comparable to family farming but publicly not fully conceived as such. The industry suffers from a low economic turnover, which limits the space for investments and development of suitable production means, in comparison with agriculture. External legal regulations on reindeer husbandry rights partly counteract the use of reindeer husbandry as a uniting base for the cultural development, which among other things interferes with structural changes needed to strengthen reindeer husbandry from business economic point of view, and makes optimum use of the basic resources more difficult to achieve. The decreased margins in the resource base has an aggravating effect in this context. The present reindeer husbandry seems to be increasingly vulnerable for variation in weather conditions. Since reindeer husbandry today is more of an economic operation than in the past, people cannot stay unless there is a net revenue. Total depletion of grazing resources is therefore not likely to occur through high grazing pressure only. More likely is the threat caused by the combined uses, where the other users are not dependant on, and need to preserve, the resources which reindeer husbandry requires. The main problem is therefore to develop a system for adaptive optimum use of the ranges for various purposes, with the economic net output from the reindeer herd being one important goal.
Previous reindeer research in Sweden, as in other countries, has largely been focused on the biological aspects of reindeer husbandry with nutrition/feeding, carcass composition, animal health issues, losses, herd productivity, and selection of recruitment animals, impacts of forestry operations on lichen resources and problems caused by the Chernobyl accident as main topics. The present research efforts have been broadened to stress the human-ecological and socio-economic context for reindeer husbandry as a part of Saami and northern economic, social and cultural life. Deeper knowledge in biological aspects of reindeer husbandry is still essential, but knowledge in other disciplines with relevance for reindeer husbandry need to be achieved parallelly and integrated with the biological knowledge.
The reorientation of the research has resulted in a broader network between disciplines and research institutions. The majority of the research is carried out in connection with post-graduate education programmes. The financing is very diverse, including faculty resources, research councils, government and Nordic Council funding, funds for environmental strategic research (MISTRA), EU funding as well as industry funding and partnerships in development projects carried out by the industry itself or in co-operation with research organisations. The latter usually aim at development of various technical aids, testing and implementation of alternative management solutions or improvement of the competence and skills in the industry, e.g. the use of IT in the mangagement. The industry is also building up its own research information service as a complement to the traditional research information channels.
Development of the tools and strategies for adaptive management of reindeer pasture resources is becoming a major field of research. It includes improvement of remote sensing aided techniques for identification, mapping and monitoring habitat resources, establishment of economically affordable survey methods for quality assessment and quantification of forage biomass, and development of calibration tools in order to facilitate adaptive management strategies as a part of the industry's own planning. Traditional knowledge on pasture use is identified and contrasted against scientifically proved knowledge. Research aiming at developing common planning and optimising strategies for reindeer husbandry, forestry operations and other consumptive and non-consumptive uses of reindeer grazing ranges are in the initialisation stage.
Research efforts within herd and animal management aim at finding optimum stocking rates/condition levels of animal stock and optimum herd structures in order to maximise the conversion efficiencies of pasture to economic net revenues. Selective recruitment of calves and culling of adults with the help of production records is another possibility already practised to some extent, but strategies and possible drawbacks are under further investigation. Supportive feeding and management under late pregnancy and calving, when nutritional requirements and supply are as most disparate in Nature, is an example of potential management improvements studied. However, feeding is not generally expected to be an economically feasible measure except in emergency situations. Radioactive caesium is still a problem in reindeer pastures and is devoted some further research in order to better understand the long-term dynamics of this contamination. Animal handling techniques have so far been studied mainly from animal welfare and meat quality perspectives. Reindeer meat is however a rather unknown product on a broader market since most of it used to be locally consumed. Further investigations related to the sensorical quality of meat from different types of animals and different management systems are currently on the way.
The research on economical and social aspects of reindeer husbandry is presently concentrated on resource and business economics aspects, aiming to better understand the conditions under which reindeer husbandry enterprises work, and to stimulate the development of better organisational forms and planning tools for reindeer industry in general. The foundation of the common rights used by reindeer husbandry and Saami in general are studied from a theoretical property rights perspective in order to elucidate the principles, or lack of principles, behind the recent development of reindeer husbandry rights. Business economic research include analyses of the extent to which individual enterprices can make their own decisions in business economic matters vs. decisions done by the herding community. Another research about to be started concern resource and business economic analyses of reindeer husbandry eneterprices under various management strategies and competing influences from other users of natural resources.
The interaction of reindeer husbandry with conflicting interests, such as predator conservation, forestry and recreation, is addressed in several presently initiated projects. The aim is to suggest co-management and co-existence solutions rather than to just survey the mutual impacts on each other.
Author: Öje Danell Dept. of Animal Breeding and Genetics Reindeer Husbandry Unit P.O.Box 7023 S-750 07 Uppsala SWEDEN
By: Igor Krupnik
Several recent surveys and first-hand reports indicate that the reindeer-herding economy and subsistence culture of the Siberian indigenous people are undergoing a dramatic crisis. Their very survival and continuity are reportedly threatened by severe economic hardships, loss of reindeer stock and of the institutional and financial support from the state. Herders and their families are leaving the tundra and forest camps for villages, in search for any source of employment, health services, as well as for the mere sense of belonging and stability. The process is amply documented across Siberia by native leaders, journalists, and visiting researchers; and this conference may well encourage the first comprehensive account of the ongoing crash of what is rightly called 'the beginning of the end of yet another branch of human civilization' (Zadorin).
There is hardly an easy way to develop an interdisciplinary 'research strategy' under such circumstances, from logistical and ethical perspectives alike. Any scientific study in the time of crash has to address two basic issues: Is the situation adequately documented (both generally and/or locally), and: Is there any place for the reindeer people to go and to turn to in search of economic and cultural survival? Both issues, in fact, can be approached with some reserved optimism when examined against the documented historical experience of the Siberian native people.
Traditionally, native economies in the Russian Arctic and Siberia were ar-ranged under some sort of nomadic-sedentary continuum that supported amazing diversity in the lifestyles and in the modes of resource utilization. Differences in residential mobility were well established culturally as well as ecologically. Increase and decrease in annual mobility were practiced as adaptive responses to a changing wealth in domestic reindeer stock, to the fluctuating level of major subsistence resources, and/or to the dominant environmental trend that could bring 'hard times' to either inland herders or coastal sedentary hunters and fishermen.
Russian documentary sources of the 1800s and the early 1900s are full of terrifying accounts of the devastating losses of reindeer stocks by native herders caused by occasional environmental catastrophes and epizootics. These produced indescribable terror among local herd-owners who could go overnight from wealthy nomads to sedentary paupers. The Soviet-induced modernization of the Siberian indigenous peoples triggered an even more dramatic transformation, particularly with the advent of collectivization of native economies after 1930. The new regime followed a strategy of enforced sedentarization. It eliminated rich herders, oppressed year-round nomadism, and launched a full-scale policy of active social engineering by closing smaller villages and family nomadic camps. The Soviet policy eventually caused disintegration of the nomad-ic-sed-entary subsistence continuum in Siberia. It caused a huge shift of the formerly nomadic population towards sedentism, village life, and state welfare economy.
This historical record by no means diminishes the scale of the present-day misfortunes but it points out to both experience and resources that were once used by the Siberian native herders in the times of hardship. One of their most successful adaptive strategies was remarkable regional diversity, both cultural and ecological, of subsistence reindeer economies and lifestyles. The Soviet state almost succeeded in replacing this diversity across Siberia with a more or less uniform pattern of a large-scale, heavily subsidized, and centrally planned reindeer industry. Recent indigenous revival in Siberia followed by the collapse of the centralized state economy in 1991-1992 opened new stimuli for native reindeer pastoralism, particularly in the Yamal-Nenets and Taymyr Areas, in northern Sakha/Yakutia, etc. Under the most favorable conditions, one may expect to see again in these areas a new population shift toward nomadism and restoration of certain subsistence/cultural diversity, after several de-cades of state engineering and enforced sedentariza-tion. This can be a true 'window of opportunity' for native herders and researchers alike. The re-emerging diversity of pastoralist lifeways has to be surveyed, tested, and documented as the way to ensure continuity and survival.
In several other areas in Siberia the old reindeer economy of the Soviet era all but collapsed and the reindeer stock is at its lowest level on record. While local people experience enormous suffering and cultural loss, the process, again, follows a fairly traditional pattern, i.e. rapid shift to the sedentary lifestyle under emergency conditions in tundra. Thus, the old nomadic-sedentary 'subsistence continuum' could once again become a venue for cultural adaptation and population redistribution. This time, however, that would be hardly a response to an environmental change but a mere survival strategy in the era of economic instability and social deprivation. The situation creates tough ethical challenges to social scientists and other researchers. Both the current painful transition and the endangered legacy of the Siberian 'reindeer-herding civilization' have to be amply documented &endash; if native cultural endurance and/or good scholarship are to offer a plausible solution.
Author: Igor Krupnik Smithsonian Institution
Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) were first introduced to Alaska on the Seward Peninsula in 1892. At that time, no other large ungulates, e.g. caribou (Rangifer tarandus granti), moose (Alces alces) or muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus), occupied this portion of Alaska. For approximately 40 years after their introduction, reindeer abundance and range expanded rapidly on and beyond the Seward Peninsula as they, facilitated by intense Saami husbandry techniques and an attitude of aggressive industry expansion, exploited an open niche. Beginning in the late 1930s, social, political, economic and biological developments began to reverse this trend. By the 1950s through late 1980s, reindeer on the Seward Peninsula stabilized at roughly 25,000 animals in 12-15 herds. During this period of relative stability in the reindeer industry, the species composition and abundance of wildlife on the Seward Peninsula changed dramatically: 1) moose began to naturally reoccupy this area in the late 1940s; 2) muskoxen were first introduced in 1970; 3) wolves were essentially extirpated during the mid to late 1970s; 4) brown bear abundance reportedly increased; and 5) the Western Arctic Caribou Herd began to recover from a low of 75,000 (1975) to 463,000 animals (present size) and expand onto portions of the Seward Peninsula. Despite its highs and lows, reindeer herding has been practised continually on the Seward Peninsula since 1892 and become important to local village social structure and economics. This paper examines management of reindeer and wildlife in this region.
Authors: Jim Dau, Rose Fosdick Alaska Department of Fish and Game Kotzebue, AK USA
By: Vladimir Mikhailovich Etylin
In the far northeast of Russia, the northern reindeer is represented by two groups: domestic reindeer (khargin) and local Chukotkan wild reindeer. The Chukchi, an exception among reindeer herding peoples, endeavored to cross-breed their domestic reindeer with wild specimens, using the gene pool of wild deer as a means of renewing the bloodlines of domestic reindeer. A complex relationship existed between these two populations, and humans have always been active participants in this natural biological link.
Reindeer herding in Chukotka reached a peak at the beginning of the 1970s when the number of domestic reindeer surpassed a half-million head and reindeer herding provided 80% of the demand for meat in the large northern industrial region. By contrast, the number of wild deer has fluctuated between 35,000 to 50,000 head, and the hunting of wild deer no longer plays a defining role in the economics of traditional reindeer herding/hunting. In the 1990s, the number of wild deer has for the first time exceeded the number of domestic deer (estimated at 180,00 and 156,800 respectively).This demands serious scientific investigation, the reorientation of socio-economic priorities, and new strategies for resource management in the Chukotka.
The author proposes a multi-year, comprehensive program of scientific monitoring of the number, migration routes, and ethology of the population of wild deer, and their contact with domestic reindeer of Chukotka.The central idea of the program is that reindeer herders themselves will play an ongoing, leading role in the capacity of observers.The task for scientists will be to work out the methodology and carry out scientific analysis of the data obtained by the reindeer herder-observers. We propose using an original scientific methodology that has already been tested in Chukotka with the Greenland whale monitoring program that has demonstrated great scientific effectiveness and social significance.The author hopes that this program will help to save and preserve two unique populations of reindeer.
Author: Vladimir Mikhailovich Etylin Head of the Laboratory of Traditional Resource Management Chukotka Affiliate of the SVKNII DVO RAN First Vice-President of the Union of Reindeer Herders of Russia RUSSIA
The northern region of the Russian Far East comprises a large territory of the eastern part of Eurasia within Chukotsk and Koryaks Autonomous Okrugs and Magadan and Kamchatsk oblasts. The following vegetation zones and subzones are represented here: arctic and subartcic tundra, Siberian dwarf pine (Pinus pumila) forest-tundra, and Larch (Larix dahurica) north taiga forest. Most of the territory is mountainous; therefore, vegetation is marked by distinct altitudinal differentiation. The main vegetation resources of this region are reindeer pastures and larch forests. The following anthropogenic factors influence reindeer ranges conditions: fires, overgrazing, deforestation, and industrial construction and mining. Before the early 1990s, there were more than half a million domestic reindeer annually grazing on the pastures of the northern Far East, and therefore, overgrazing was the main factor of vegetation dynamics at that time. Later, as the number of reindeer in the region dropped significantly, the pirogenic factor became the leading determinant of change of vegetation cover. The role of fires in vegetation dynamics also increased because of virtual absence of any measures to extinguish these fires.
The perspectives of plant resource usage of the northern Russian Far East are directly connected to the strategy of the economic development of the region and the state policy concerning indigenous population. It is clear that the role of reindeer herding will be less significant under new market conditions and given notable reduction of the state's involvement in the development of both industrial and agricultural sectors of the economy; at the same time, the perspectives of attracting investments into the mining industry remain good. Therefore, it is possible to predict that the use of plant resources for reindeer herding needs will be restricted to localized territories at the areas inhabited by indigenous peoples; the land area allocated for mining and industrial construction will increase; and deforestation will remain on the same level. Because the larger part of the former reindeer pastures will not be used in these processes, it is possible to increase the system of nature reserves and other protected-nature zones.
In accordance with the economic strategy in the region, the main directions of scientific research of vegetation of the northern Far East will be development of the theoretical base for the inventory control and monitoring of plant resources' conditions employing advanced computer technologies for storage and processing of information, including satellite imagery; and study of the behavior of natural ecosystems under extreme conditions and in the changing climatic conditions. The applied research will concentrate on the problems of improving technologies in agricultural production , reindeer herding management, rational land management, and land usage. Special attention will be given to the development of measures for restoration of vegetation at mining sites.
Author: A.N. Polezhaev Institute of Biological Problems of the North, Far Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences 18, Portovaya Street, Magadan 685000 RUSSIA
By: Dmitri Syrovatski
Reindeer inhabiting vast territories and feeding on scarce grass, bush, and moss resources under harsh Northern climatic conditions constitute the major factor determining the economy and lifestyle of more than 20 indigenous peoples in all northern districts, oblasts, republics, and national okrugs of Russia.
In recent years, in the period of perestroyka and deep economic crisis in Russia, the reindeer herding as an extensive branch of the economy has been in deep recession. Unfortunately, the crisis continues to worsen. The population of reindeer in Russia from the early 1991 to the end of 1997 has declined 34 percent. During this period, it decreased 28 percent in Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug (AO), 41 percent in Taymir AO, 48 percent in Koryak AO, 68 percent in Chukotka AO, 83 percent in Evenki AO. Should this tendency persist, many peoples will end up without reindeer in the forthcoming 4-5 years.
Meanwhile, it becomes obvious that the reduction of the reindeer population in the Russian North not only injures indigenous economies and indigenous lifestyle but also affects their demography.
The problem of the reindeer herding is a matter of the greatest concern among the specialists. The situation is so serious that it may lead to the disappearance not only of reindeer but of the whole peoples. However, the problem cannot be studied thoroughly and more actively in situ because science in Russia, as it is known, has financed neither expeditional nor traveling expenses for several years, so scientists simply cannot reach reindeer herding farms and teams.
Realizing moral and civil responsibility for the destinies of reindeer herding and reindeer herding peoples, we, specialists, cherish the hope of obtaining sponsorship assistance for studying the existing situation in the reindeer herding which would enable us to develop measures to stabilize the reindeer herding and then subsequently, restore and develop it.
At present, reindeer herding loses the major backbone of the industry: not only elder pensioners but experienced family herders have left because of the lack of regular support from the state, irregular and long-delayed salary payments, and deterioriating life conditions in the field teams. In the regions experiencing deep recession of reindeer herding, these workers are replaced with people who cannot find a better job in villages and who are insufficiently skilled in reindeer herding.
In our opinion, we can achieve stabilization and further development of the reindeer herding only by improving the herders' living standards and providing the guarantee of regular salary payments that would meet needs of a herder's family. Only then will it be possible to return skilled herders to the industry and stop deterioriation of the reindeer herding.
The problem remains -- where should the funds for the improvement of the herders' living standards and stable salalry come from since there will be no reproduction of the existing reindeer population and hence no production of goods in the forthcoming years?
Author: Dmitri Syrovatski, Scientist Zootechnician, Ph.D. (Economics), Yakutsk, RUSSIABy: Yulian Konstantinov, Petya Mankova
During the recent years but especially with the present deterioration in the economy of the former Soviet Union, sustainable use of traditional renewable resources in the Far North has entered into a new critical phase. The abandonment of the Soviet collective farm with its central planning, subsidizing, and marketing, has been followed by a crisis in reindeer-herding.
Private herding - which was expected to appear - is facing very seriousobstacles and is not happening in the Region where this team is working - the Kola Peninsula (NW Russia). In the resultant void both people and animals are developing survival strategies relying on traditional knowledge as well as on whatever residual Soviet features can be utilized. The study of these dynamic developments in the context of the current sharply accentuated economic crisis, we see as a direction for research of growing priority.
It is necessary for joint teams of anthropologists, ecologists and animalbiologists to conduct such interdisciplinary research. We place a great emphasis on the importance of long-term field-research directly with reindeer-herding crews (brigadi), at tundra-camps (bazi) and in direct contact with herds. Knowledge collected from reindeer-herders and from herd-observation is to be compared with official sources at agrocentres, as well as archival sources in bigger cities.
Authors: Yulian Konstantinov, Petya Mankova Bulgarian Society for Regional Cultural Studies Institute for Anthropological Field-Research, New Bulgarian University, P.B.59, Sofia, BG-1233, BULGARIABy: Anatoly A. Alexeyev
From a socio-economic point of view, the traditional economy of the minorities before the Soviet power was an original all-round pattern that was important for leading a nomadic way of life based on hunting and reindeer herding. After the Soviet power the socio-economic reorganizations have turned over the traditional way of life of the northern peoples. Since the 1950s the minorities' economy was undergoing consolidation and was being transformed into collective-farm and state-farm system. In such a system, the number of reindeer increased, and as a result, the grazing pressure on the reindeer pasture was increasing as well. Thus in Russian Federation the reindeer herding was undergoing an extensive development. During transition to market economy, the traditional branches of economy: reindeer herding, hunting, and fishing, have plunged into deep crisis. Today, we need cardinal political and socio-economic measures on preservation and revival of traditional branches of economy because reindeer-herding, hunting, and fishing constitute a base for creating normal life conditons in the North. The North is not competitive under new market conditions. In these conditions, the total number of reindeer is declining. For example, in 1980, there were 380,000 animals in republic of Sakha, in 1998, there are only 200,000 reindeer left. The unemployment among the minorities is increasing. Russian Federation needs a detailed state national policy concerning minorities and their economy. The policy has to deal with:
Where the northern peoples live, it is necessary to consolidate the legal foundations of the peoples of the North regarding their ethnic territories and natural resources, strengthening of their scientific and socio-legal protection, establishment and regulation of the payments for natural resources, determination of indemnity for a damage.
So, the new socio-economic and political conditions in Russian Federation require a new approach to solving the problems of survival of the northern peoples and their economy, based on a reindeer herding, hunting and fishing.
Author: Anatoly Afanasievich Alexeyev Assistant Professor University of Yakutsk 13, ul. Kalandarashvili 23/1, apt. 53 Yakutsk, 677013 Sakha Republic (Yakutia) RUSSIA
By: Mauri Nieminen
Reindeer husbandry is an important source of livelihood in Northern Finland and in Lapland. Any Finnish citizen or herding cooperative that act in reindeer herding area have the right to own reindeer. At present, there are about 6,700 reindeer owners. Reindeer husbandry is under jurisdiction of Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. In accordance with the Reindeer Herding Law (1990), the reindeer herding area (123,000 km2) is divided into 14 different earmark districts and 56 herding cooperatives (paliskunta), whose duty it is to protect the reindeer stock, promote reindeer husbandry, prevent reindeer from causing damage or from straying into the territory of other cooperatives. The 20 cooperatives in the north occupy the area (designated area) specifically allotted for reindeer herding. In this area, land is protected mainly for the use of reindeer industry. Number of reindeer in cooperatives varies between 500-13,000. Each cooperative in Finland is an administrative unit with a board of directors and a leader (poroisäntä). Within the cooperative, all owners must be members of the "paliskunta", and as prescribed by the Reindeer Herding Law, all cooperatives are members of the Association of Reindeer Herding Cooperatives (Paliskuntain yhdistys).
The "Paliskuntain yhdistys" is a semi-offical institution mainly funded by state in contrast to Norway and Sweden where administration is a responsibility of the State Department of Agriculture. The duties of "Paliskuntain yhdistys" are:
"Paliskuntain yhdistys" is responsible for constructing and maintaining over 2,000 km of fences along the national borders. It also approves new reindeer earmarks and maintains a registry of them. The office of the "Paliskuntain yhdistys" is located in Rovaniemi in northern Finland, but it has 4 advisory officers of reindeer husbandry working in different parts of reindeer herding area. "Paliskuntain yhdistys" publishes a journal for reindeer herders named "Poromies", and it has the experimental reindeer station in Kaamanen. The administrative board of the "Paliskuntain yhdistys" has 16 members and the representatives, the Reindeer Parliament (Poroparlamentti), meet annually in the beginning of June.
Reindeer herding is conducted by the owners, but their salaries originate from the cooperatives. All infrastructures, such as fences, corrals, cabins and also slaughterhouses belong to the cooperatives. Only northern Finland has a Sami reindeer herding similar to Norway and Sweden, but there are no exclusive Sami rights connected to it. Approximately 5,000 Sami live today in Finland. However, only few (about 600) of them are reindeer herders. A larger part of Finnish reindeer herding is practiced as supplement to agriculture and forest industry. Today, reindeer herding is very important to the tourism in Lapland
Reindeer ownership is very dispersed in Finland. Of approximately 6,700 reindeer owners, two-thirds own fewer than 25 counted reindeer, and among them 3,000 own less than ten; only 500 own 100 or more reindeer. Two in three reindeer are owned by people with at least 50 animals. The number of reindeer owners is highest in Sodankylä, over 900; there are fewer than 700 in Inari and around 500 in Rovaniemi rural district. In Utsjoki, Enontekiö and Savukoski, reindeer owners account for just over 10 per cent of the population. The average age of reindeer owners is 42 years. Reindeer management still attracts young people, almost 1300 reindeer owners being under 25. Age is seldom an excuse for retiring from the profession, as shown by the 850 reindeer owners over 65 years of age. Only a fifth of owners are women.
Reindeer management differs markedly from area to area. In the southern reindeer herding area reindeer numbers are relative low and reindeer management tends to be an auxiliary occupation. Due to the shortage of lichen and other winter feed, intensive supplementary feeding is required trough most of the winter. During the winter of 1996-97, about 40% of all reindeer received supplementary feeding, and today about 25 million kg hay and concentrates (85 kg/reindeer) are used to feed reindeer. Today, reindeer density in the whole reindeer herding area is about 1,9 reindeer/km2. In the north, reindeer densities and numbers per owner are greater, and natural grazing is more common than farther south. Two-thirds of all reindeer are to be found north of the line Salla-Sodankylä, in an area designated specifically for reindeer management.
It is estimated that there are 800 full-time reindeer herders in Finland. Two-thirds of them live in the designated area and almost every other one in the Sami homelands. In Inari there are almost 170 professional reindeer herders and in Sodankylä around 90. In Utsjoki, Enontekiö and Savukoski, reindeer herding accounts for over 10 per cent of jobs. In 1994, reindeer management provided a good half of the gross earnings of herders with more than 50 reindeer; agriculture and forestry accounted for 20%, salaried income for 12% and pensions for about 10%. Reindeer management provided at least four-fifths of the income of around 440 people. Relatively speaking, its significance for income was greatest for young owners, that is, under 35-year-olds, even though the number of animals they own is still rather low. This finding reflects the poor employment situation of young people in remote districts.
The volume of work involved in reindeer management has declined by roughly a third in just over a decade. Work input amounts to over 200,000 working days, or roughly 900 manpower years. The average number of working days per reindeer in the northern management area is 0.8; farther south one half day more. The larger the herds, the smaller the work input per animal, owners of more than 150 animals work no more than 0.6 days per reindeer. Collecting of reindeer account for a quarter of the work input; a similar proportion goes into supplementary feeding and feed production.
The gross margin of reindeer management is about 40-50% in Finland. The costs arising from both supplementary feeding and the use of vehicles total FIM 20 million, and from other activities over FIM 10 million. Reindeer owners do not consider their profession particularly profitable. Above all they value closeness to the nature, independence and the opportunity to foster the traditional way of life. The professional status of reindeer management could be raised by promoting rotational grazing, developing small-scale meat processing facilities, introducing structural changes, enhancing the image of the profession, and putting a greater effort into training, guidance and research. In the northern management area the dialogue between nature and the economy is deepening.
Changes in reindeer management, the current situation and future prospects are examined in terms of their professional implications. The subject is examined from four angles: 1) overall trends in reindeer management, 2) reindeer ownership, 3) the socioeconomic aspects of reindeer management, and 4) the "image" of reindeer management, with particular reference to the state of the profession, its future and the challenges facing it.
The 1970s and 1980s were years of rapid expansion for reindeer management. Within 15 years, favourable weather conditions, antiparasite medication, supplementary feed, modern technology, calf slaughter and other factors all contributed to a vast increase in reindeer, and hence reindeer meat production, so much that by the early 1990s the total number of reindeer was approaching 430,000, and reindeer meat production exceeded 4 million kg. In recent years, the numbers of living and slaughtered reindeer have decreased. During 1992-96, the number of living reindeer varied between 202,616 - 215,310. The structure of reindeer herd during the season of 1996-97 was the following: females - 79 %, males - 6 %, castrates - 1 % and calves - 14 %. Due to excess numbers of reindeer, stocks had to be culled. At the same time problems arose with the processing of reindeer meat. As a result, demand slumped and prices plummeted. In a few years the outlook for reindeer management changed drastically. Since then the profession has been marked by uncertainty and change. The number of reindeer is now below the permitted level. During the season of 1996-97, the number of living reindeer in herds was over 202,000, slaughtered reindeer 80,000 and meat production about 2 million kg. Income from slaughtered animals amounted to FIM 58 million.
In the seasons of 1992-93, in the whole area, there were slaughtered 88,365 &endash; 131,869 reindeer annually. In the designated area, during the season of 1996-97, there were slaughtered only 43,583 reindeer and in other areas 44,782 reindeer. During 1992-96, in the whole area, 71% of all slaughtered reindeer were calves, 19% were females, 3 % were males, and 7 % were castrates. In the designated area, there were calves constituted 67% of slaughtered reindeer, and females 21 %, in the rest of the area per cents were 74 % and 18 %. There are now 10 slaughterhouses conforming to the EU standards in reindeer herding area in Finland.
In the season of 1996-97, the whole area produced about 1 million kg of reindeer meat. The greatest reindeer meat producer in the whole area was Muotkatunturi (99,934 kg) and the smallest - Vanttaus cooperative (8,860 kg). The meat production/living reindeer was 9,9 kg in whole, 7,6 kg in the designated area and 14,1 kg in the rest of the area. Most meat/living reindeer produced in designated area was in Ivalo (13,4 kg) and the lowest - in Käsivarsi co-operative (2,0 kg). The mean carcass weight of cooperatives in the whole area was 23,4 kg (variation 18,7 - 28,1 kg). The mean weight of the carcasses which were sold for bulk buyers was 22,7 kg, for direct sale - 24,4 kg and for own use - 25,1 kg. In the season 1996-97, the mean price/kg was FIM 29, and the whole output was over FIM 58 million. In autumn, females meat included protein 22,3 %, calf meat 20,4%. Female meat included fat 3,5 % and calf meat 2,1 %. Calf meat included more water than female meat. In calf meat, the amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids was 6,5 % and in female 4,8 %.
About 3,000 reindeer die each year in traffic, most on highways in Finland. Such damage is concentrated in the more heavily settled districts of reindeer husbandry area. Reindeer die on the highways mostly during the snowiest months of the winter and in the summer. In 1997, about 3,400 reindeer were found killed by big predators. The worst predators were wolverine, bear, and eagle.
Reindeer research in Finland was started after 1932 when the new Reindeer Herding Law came into force. Studies about the effects of reindeer grazing on the fields and the first feeding experiments were started in Apukka, in the Lapland research station at the end of 1950s. Also studies about reindeer parasites were started. Breeding studies were started in Puolanka Askankangas in 1962 and continued in the experimental reindeer station in Kaamanen, and also in Apukka. The experimental station in Kaamanen (founded in 1965), has lately been the centre of many reindeer studies and experiments. The total area of station is 43 km2 and the number of reindeer is between 150-200.
Our reindeer research and studies of some biological questions about reindeer during 1970-73 were funded with the money by SITRA (Foundation of Finnish Independence). Later researchers in the universities of Helsinki, Oulu, Kuopio and Lapland, and also in the College of Veterinary Medicine and in different research institutes have done reindeer research. Finnish reindeer research was planned and organized during 1980-82, and the first office of reindeer researcher was founded in the spring of 1980 in Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute. The reindeer research station of this institute began its operation in Kaamanen in summer of 1994.
Reindeer research has been concentrated mainly to clear up many important biological problems and possibilities in reindeer herding. Both basic and practical reindeer research has been carried out. Overall 14 dissertations have been prepared, and many other are being prepared just now. Based on these dissertations and many other studies the knowledge about biology of reindeer is rather good. We have also a lot of knowledge about parasites and diseases in reindeer. Antiparasitic treatments in reindeer were started in Kaamanen experimental station in 1974, and now nearly 80% of living reindeer are treated with larvicidal drugs during winter. During the last years the research has been concentrated to study the amount and causes of calf mortality in Kaamanen experimental station and in different cooperatives. Radiotelemetry has also been used in studies.
The condition and area of reindeer winter pastures were noticed in many reports of committee in the beginning of this century. The Reindeer Herding Cooperatives mapped the condition of pastures later in different cooperatives by surveying. The first inventory of pastures was achieved in Finland in 1966. Many inventories of reindeer pastures were carried out later together with inventory of the state forests. During 1995-98, Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, Reindeer Research and the Department of Geography of Oulu University inventoried winter and summer pastures in whole Finnish reindeer management area using Landsat 5 TM satellite images and test areas. There were striking differences in pasture condition and natural occurrence between different parts of the reindeer management area. The condition of most of the reindeer lichen pastures can be classified as poor. There are also striking differences in quantity and quality of reindeer summer pastures. Because of this, the supplement feeding of reindeer has increased and extended today to all co-operatives. Now many studies are focused to solve the problems and economy of the supplement feeding.
In the recent years, the research has been conducted on transport and stress of living reindeer and also the chemical composition of reindeer meat and fats. Now, there are studies of composition and use of reindeer blood. Many studies of reindeer skin and fur are also being conducted. Many investigations are conducted on reindeer milk, and now together with Norwegian scientists, we study milking of reindeer by hand and machine and the chemical composition of reindeer milk during producing period.
Only few studies have been carried out in reindeer industry and practical reindeer herding in Finland. However, two books about reindeer husbandry in Finland were published. Some researchers have written a few articles about reindeer herding as source of Lappish livelihood, and mainly foreign scientists have studied the changes in Finnish reindeer herding after so called "snowmobile revolution".
Nordic Council of Reindeer Research (NOR) was founded in 1980 to develop and also coordinate the reindeer research in the Fennoscandia. Collaboration between northern countries is now increasing, and for example, together with Norwegian scientists, we now study breeding and calf production of reindeer in Kaamanen experimental herd. There has also been increased cooperation with Russia, in the area of reindeer research and education in reindeer herding.
Development and coordination of reindeer research in Finland need further attention. We need more detailed knowledge about reindeer and changes of reindeer herding. A reindeer research station has good facilities, and it is important to organize and make basic reindeer research in Finland more practical. Collaboration between different universities and research institutes has to be more effective, and in the future, reindeer research has to serve and to help more our practical reindeer herding. We also have to increase activity to study more the economy of reindeer husbandry.
Author: Mauri Nieminen Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute Reindeer Research Station 99910 Kaamanen FINLAND