Surrounding society and the main economic activities of the region of residence

According to the 2023 data, there were 15,393 residents in Koryakskiy Autonomous Okrug (KAO), over half of which were indigenous ethnic groups: 11 percent was made up by Itelmens; 46.6 percent by Russians, 30.3 percent by Koryaks, 15 percent by the Chukchi, 8.5 by Evens and 0.5 by Kamchadals.

The traditional economic activities for indigenous ethnic groups include fishing, reindeer herding, sea mammals hunting. Kamchatka is one of the major suppliers of fish and seafood in Russia.

Extracting mineral resources plays an important role in the economy of the region. Kamchatka’s subsoil riches contain gold, silver, platina, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, combustible gas, lignite and bituminous coal, semiprecious stones etc.

The economic crisis caused by the transition to the free market economy in the early 1990s led to the disruption of the economic sectors vital for the indigenous population of Kamchatka. Many subsidised companies where indigenous residents worked closed down. Among these was the Palana district factory of artisan craftworks and its branches working in ethnic settlements, including the one in the Itelmen settlement of Kovran.

The KAO authorities sought a way out of the crisis in the industrialisation of the area, including the expansion of mineral mining. The indigenous ethnic groups were at first far from pleased about the idea: “Mining for gold or platina can lead to the disruption of river beds and spawning areas”; “Extraction of coal, platina and gold can have an adverse effect on our main key asset, the salmon”.

Nonetheless, there was expansion of industrialisation in the region. In compliance with the Subsoil Law passed by the Koryakskiy Okrug Duma, the trading companies (mostly in mining and fishing) had to allot money to the Okrug authorities. According to an article of this law, half of these funds were given to the Fund for Support of Indigenous Minor Peoples created by the Duma in 1995. The trading and industrial companies also were to remediate disrupted pastures, provide jobs for the locals, support reindeer farms etc. Each mining company had several settlements under its patronage and had to take care of their welfare. So the industrial enterprises of the Okrug became a vital source of material support for the indigenous ethnic groups living in the area. 

The Koryakskiy Okrug Duma along with the Association of the Indigenous Minor Peoples of the North established in 1990 drafted and passed a series of laws supporting the traditional economic activities and culture of  the indigenous population.

Itelmens along with other ethnic groups of Kamchatka were enthusiastic participants of the process of “cultural reassertion”. 1989 saw the creation of the Tkhsanom Council for Revival of Itelmen Culture of Kamchatka (CRIC) (in 1993 it was renamed into the Tkhsanom Council of Kamchatka Itelmens (CKI). One of the main goals of the Council program was the following: “To set up an independent multisectoral production in order to revive the material culture of Itelmens and provide jobs in the traditional farming”. 

In 1997, Kovran was the place for signing an address to the KAO governor from 13 communities from Kovran, Tigil, Sedanka, Verkhny Khairyuzovo with a request to create the Thsanom Area of Traditional Environment Management. On December 2 ^nd , 1998, the head of the KAO administration, Itelmen V.T.Bronevich sanctioned the administrative ruling to set up the Thsanom Area of the Traditional Environment Management with an area of 2,180,752 hectars in the south of Tigilski District with its northern boundary along the river Utkholok. They started to restore ecologically friendly means of transport: produce traditional Bat boats, revive sledge-dog breeding. There were plans for coming back to “tribal” rivers, with the support of the World Wildlife Fund, they set up ecological stations to fend off poachers from the rivers. Sadly, in December 2000, the KAO governor signed a decree to abolish the ruling which established the Thsanom Area of Traditional Environment Management.

Kamchatka’s indigenous population makes efforts to develop entrepreneurship in traditional economic sectors such as reindeer farming, fishing, sea mammal hunting. The state legislation passed back in the Soviet era concerning self-employment (1986) and cooperation in the USSR (1988) brought in innovations into the forms of traditional farming. In summer 1988, there were already 10 cooperatives and 29 self-employed people. But the development of new forms of farming ran into difficulties, both material and psychological. Besides, indigenous entrepreneurship did not receive enough support from the local authorities. The fact that there was a conflict of interests between the industrial fishing companies and the fishing communities among indigenous ethnic groups is testified by petitions of residents of Kovran to the bodies of power of Kamchatka Krai etc. The indigenous population goes on fighting for its rights of priority in using natural resources.

The indigenous population receives essential material and moral support from the Fund of Compensation (in Favour of Peoples of the North) established in Kamchatka in the 1990s and led by the former Head of the Oblast Department of the Peoples of the North A.I.Belashov. The Fund pays pensions to elderly people, allots scholarships to students from the North, holds charity events to help sick children. The Fund plays a major role in supporting the ethnic cultures of Kamchatka’s indigenous population.