Changes in Attitudes of Sakhalin Population towards the Purity of the Okhotsk Shore

Sergey Prokopenko
Professor of Sakhalin State University, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia

Abstract

It is well known that the main problems of the sea of Okhotsk are caused by anthropological influence. In the middle of the XX century the principal damage was done by whaling flotillas and shoremen fishing herring and salmon. At the end of the XX century another powerful factor appeared, the factor of pollution by waste products thrown down to the sea of Okhotsk from the Amur River by Russian Far East and Chinese industrial enterprises.
At the end of the XX century and the beginning of XXI century waste disposal virtually ceased (the positive side of crises); rivers flowing into the sea of Okhotsk became purer. But oil and gas development works started in the Sakhalin offshore and the sea of Okhotsk is under the negative impact again.
Today on the territory of Sakhalin Region a definite work is underway on changing the attitude of population towards surrounding ecological system. It aims to give the idea that the man is not simply a user of natural resources, but the element of the environment that takes care about its preservation. At schools an educational course is introduced to give the youth ecological upbringing. During summer ecological camps for young people begin their activity in Sakhalin. Two public ecological organizations are actively taking part in the environmental protection of the sea of Okhotsk State and municipal government officers together with business representatives and community are studying advanced experience of environmental protection in other countries in order to implement the best technologies in Sakhalin.