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The Bolshaya (,Словарь названий гидрографических объектов России и других стран — членов СНГ
, Federal Service for Geodesy and Cartography of Russia, 1999, p. 52 upstream from its confluence with the Plotnikova: Быстрая ''Bystraya'')Большая (река на Камчатке)
Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...
is a river in the western
Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...
,
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. It is used for spawning by various species of
Pacific salmon ''Oncorhynchus'', from Ancient Greek ὄγκος (''ónkos''), meaning "bend", and ῥύγχος (''rhúnkhos''), meaning "snout", is a genus of ray-finned fish in the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae, native to coldwater tributarie ...
. The Bolshaya (including its upper course Bystraya) is long and has a catchment area of .


Course

The Bolshaya is the largest river in the west of the Kamchatka Peninsula. It rises in the southern end of the
Eastern Range The Eastern Range (ER) is an American rocket range (Spaceport) that supports missile and rocket launches from the two major List of rocket launch sites, launch heads located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center ( ...
(Ganal Range), as does the river
Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...
, which flows to the east. The sources of the Bolshaya are in the Ganalsky Range. The upper part is called the ''Bystraya''. This is joined from the left by the Plotnikova at from the river mouth to form the Bolshaya. The Plotnikova is long, with a catchment area of . There are many other tributaries, including the Nachilova and Goltsovka. The basin has more than one thousand lakes. There are mineral springs in the basin, including the notable Malkinskoye deposit. The mountains of the upper basin have exposed crystalline rocks, while lower down, the land is mostly covered in
peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...
. The banks are lined with typical Kamchatka forest, with
birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...
and dwarf cedar. The river is deep and up to wide. It forms the Bolshaya Lake at its mouth. At its mouth the Bolshaya is more than wide. It flows in a generally-southwesterly direction to the coast, where it turns and flows in a south-southeast direction for about along the east side of a narrow sand-and-gravel spit before emptying into the
Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...
at the end of the spit. An 1870 account said that it received the river Apatcha above the town of
Bolsheretsk Bolsheretsk () or Bolsheretsky jail is an abandoned village on the west coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. Over a 200-year period, Bolsheretsk was a military fort, a prison, a port, and a village. Bolsheretsk was founded in 1703 as a for ...
and then ran for to the Sea of Okhotsk. Large boats could navigate the river to within eight miles of the town. According to the
United States Hydrographic Office The United States Hydrographic Office (USHO) prepared and published maps, charts, and nautical books required in navigation. The office was established by an act of 21 June 1866 as part of the Bureau of Navigation, Department of the Navy. It wa ...
(1932):


Settlements

The village of Malka is on left bank of the upper part of the river. The first use of the name Malka is by the French traveler Barthélemy de Lesseps in 1787. He said it had five or six huts and 15 sheds, on the bank of the Bystraya, surrounded by high mountains, with a hot spring nearby. The village of
Bolsheretsk Bolsheretsk () or Bolsheretsky jail is an abandoned village on the west coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. Over a 200-year period, Bolsheretsk was a military fort, a prison, a port, and a village. Bolsheretsk was founded in 1703 as a for ...
was located near the point where the Reka Bolshaya and Reka Bystraya converge, about upstream of Ust-Bolsheretsk. In the late 1920s, the people of that village on the islands decided to relocate to a more convenient location on the Kavalerskaya channel down the river. In the spring of 1928, there were already three houses on the Kavalerskaya channel, and two more were under construction. The new village was formed by 1930. Until 1990, it was called the Bolsheretsky state farm () after its location on the right bank of the Bolshaya. In 1990 it was renamed Kavalerskoye.


Russian exploration

Russian explorers led by Vladimir Atlasov reached the river at the end of the 17th century, and the first map of the region was based on their accounts. The
Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...
geographer Semyon Remezov mentioned the river at the start of the 18th century, calling it "Kiksha". This is probably close to the original
Itelmen language Itelmen () or Western Itelmen, formerly known as Western Kamchadal, is a language of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan family spoken on the western coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Fewer than a hundred native speakers, mostly elderly, in a few settlements ...
name, from the word "kyg", which means "river". "Reka Bolshaya" means "Big River" in Russian. The name Bolshaya was given in the 18th century to distinguish it from the other, smaller rivers in the region. The estuary was used as a sanctuary by sailors, who would enter at high tide. When the tide fell, the boats would rest on their sides, but the soft bottom saved them from damage. The German geologist and traveler Karl von Dietmar, who visited the region in the middle of the 19th century, noted that the mouth of the river had been relocated to the north by the local people before the Russians arrived so that the fish would follow a route that made them easier to catch. There were a number of shipwrecks at the mouth of the river in the 18th century, including the
galliot A galiot, galliot or galiote, was a small galley boat propelled by sail or oars. There are three different types of naval galiots that sailed on different seas. A ''galiote'' was a type of French flat-bottom river boat or barge and also a fla ...
''Okhotsk'' and the flotilla of three ships commanded by Lieutenant V. Khmetevsky.


Fish

In the summer, pink salmon,
chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Oncorhynchus, Pacific salmon. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other vernacular names for the species include king salmon, quinn ...
,
coho salmon The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family (biology), family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon (or "silvers") and is often ...
,
sockeye salmon The sockeye salmon (''Oncorhynchus nerka''), also called red salmon, kokanee salmon, blueback salmon, or simply sockeye, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it. This species is a ...
, and
arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes, as well as Arctic and subarctic coastal waters in the Holarctic realm, Holarctic. Distribution and habitat It Spaw ...
spawn in the river. Historically, the Bolshaya has been one of the world's most productive wild salmon rivers, with diverse salmon species. It is one of the main
chum salmon The chum salmon (''Oncorhynchus keta''), also known as dog salmon or keta salmon, is a species of anadromous salmonid fish from the genus ''Oncorhynchus'' (Pacific salmon) native to the coastal rivers of the North Pacific and the Beringian Arctic ...
rivers in west Kamchatka, along with the Icha and Kikhchik rivers. These three rivers are also the main
coho COHO, short for Coherent Oscillator, is a technique used with radar systems based on the cavity magnetron to allow them to implement a moving target indicator display. Because the signals are only coherent when received, not transmitted, the concept ...
streams in the region. Chum salmon migrate in the Bolshaya at about per day. Pink salmon spawn in the Bolshaya from the sea. In years with large runs, they go further upstream than in years when the runs are smaller. Most of the 320,000 inhabitants of the Kamchatka Peninsula live in the south, near to the Bolshaya. The river has provided a vital source of food and work for many local communities. In addition to commercial fishing, amateur fishing is also widespread. In the decades leading up to 2010, there have been high levels of blatantly
illegal fishing Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) is an issue around the world. Fishing industry observers believe IUU occurs in most fisheries, and accounts for up to 30% of total catches in some important fisheries. Illegal fishing takes pl ...
, uncontrolled by the corrupt law enforcement and fishery agencies, and threatening the fish stocks. In 2011, a public salmon council was created in Ust-Bolsheretsky District to protect the salmon of the lower Bolshaya basin, and in 2013, a second council was created to protect the upper part of the basin. These councils have been active in combating poaching and restoring sustainable fishing practices.


Notes


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * {{authority control Rivers of Kamchatka Krai Drainage basins of the Sea of Okhotsk