Three Periods of Taimyr Management: Low, Subsidized, and Open Access Harvesting

The Taimyr herd in Russia is possibly the largest wild Rangifer herd in the world and similar to other large migratory herds, has experienced dramatic fluctuations in herd numbers. Russian scientists have divided the last 6 decades into three periods reflecting population trends and management actions. In the Pre-commercial period (1950-1970) the population grew from a low (110,000) in the 1950s to over 300,000 in 1970. During the period the harvest on the herd was relatively low. Further as the herd grew numbers were augmented by domestic stock of reindeer, which were 'swept up' by migratory wild reindeer. During the Commercial hunting period (1970-1990) the state encouraged and subsidized intensive, controlled 'farming' (i.e large-scale harvesting) of wild population to stabilize population and promote social and economic progress. As a consequence the herd 'stabilized' at around 600,000 by end of period. In the Uncontrolled period (1990-present) state subsidies were removed following the collapse of the Soviet Union and suddenly it was not economical to 'farm' wild reindeer. As a consequence, there was drastically reduced harvest and despite signs of poorer reindeer health and physical condition, the population grew rapidly to 1 million animals by 2000. After 2000 the population peaked coincident with high harvest returning primarily due to poaching, resulting in a dramatic population decline. Currently the herd is estimated at 600,000 animals.

In this paper we describe the impact of harvest during these three periods on herd performance and discuss the effect of a strong state controlled system on population fluctuations of a large migratory Rangifer herd.