The Alyutors. The Surrounding Society and the Main Economic Activity of the Region of Residence

There are four districts in the Koryak area: Karaginsky, Olyutorsky, Penzhinsky and Tigilsky, almost all of the population of which is represented by rural residents. The districts include 27 villages and one urban-type settlement, Palana, the administrative center of the area. The territory associated with the traditional settlement of the Alyutors is administratively included in the Olyutorsky and Karaginsky districts. The center of the Olyutorsky district is the village of Tilichiki. Currently, the basis of the district’s economy is fishing and the extraction of minerals. Reindeer husbandry and hunting are also developed among the ethnic group. One of the ancient villages of the Alyutor people is the village of Tymlat in the Karaginsky district. The economic situation in the Olyutorsky and Karaginsky districts is basically similar to that of the Koryak area as a whole.

The fishing industry (that encompasses catching and processing), reindeer husbandry and hunting are the main economic areas of the district in which the indigenous population, including the Alyutors, participate. The mining of coal and non-ferrous metals, work related to the electric power industry and transport are carried out primarily by new settlers and the descendants of Russian dwellers.

With the transition to free market in the 1990s, the Koryak Area Duma, with the participation of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, developed and approved a set of laws supporting the traditional economic activities and culture of the indigenous population.   

Based on the “Law on Subsoil”, adopted by the Koryak Duma, the mining companies operating in the area were required to transfer a portion of profits to the disposal of the area authorities. Half of the funds went to the local Fund for the Support and Development of Indigenous Peoples, created in 1995. The funds that came mainly from mining and fishing companies were used to train personnel, support creative teams and national enterprises, provide assistance to reindeer farms, people with disabilities, large families, and the development of native languages.

Nevertheless, from the 1990s onward, the economic situation in the area became very unstable, which was manifested in the destruction of the most important economic sectors of the indigenous population, primarily reindeer husbandry. The crisis was caused by a sharp reduction in the number of reindeer, the collapse of reindeer-breeding state farms, and a failure to pay reindeer-herders their wages. In the Olyutorsky district, the number of reindeer decreased from over 46 thousand (1990) to 10.7 thousand (2010).

The state of fishing and hunting industries was also very alarming. The shutdown of state industrial enterprises had a negative impact on hunting. The hunters were forced to look elsewhere to sell the furs and, as a rule, had to settle for next to nothing or even exchange furs for food. The economic problems of the1990s have not been fully resolved to this day. In 2002, the Public Fund for the Revival, Development of Reindeer Husbandry and Fisheries in the Kamchatka Territory was created, which is still operational. The social activity of the indigenous peoples of Kamchatka and the increased level of their legal culture inspire confidence that even in harsh market conditions they will be able to preserve and develop their unique ethnic cultures.