Abstract (eng)
The primal focus of this thesis is the rights for fishing of indigenous populations in the
Kamchatka Krai, the Russian Far East. The work is written within the frame of legal
anthropology aiming to investigate the governmental restrictive measures in fishery management
sphere and how they impact the indigenous population’s socio-economic position. Moreover, the
thesis goal is to investigate, what role the indigenous peoples of the Kamchatka Krai are taking
in distribution and managing of the natural resources.
By investigating this specific field, a brief history and current trends of the fishing
industry of the Kamchatka peninsula are analyzed, moreover, it is clarified, what actors are
involved in the process of fishing quota distribution and fishery management process; what
customary laws regarding nature management have been practiced by indigenous communities;
what role salmon plays in the life of indigenous peoples, and also, the notion of poaching, the
norm and legality are investigated in different legal practices placed within the legal pluralism
scheme.
Furthermore, the analysis of current policies and the impact of legal frameworks help to
gain an impression about the situation with indigenous rights in the context of resource
distribution in the analyzed geographic area.
The ethnographic study involved qualitative methods deriving from social and cultural
anthropology. The qualitative content analysis, participant observation, and interviewing were
major research strategies. Policy documents and media research results were used to embed
empirical findings. The thesis offers new insights on fishery management as a contested field and
depicts the current position of indigenous people in its regulation and distribution.