ABSTRACT
In the first place, the environmental monitoring carried out in the Azov Sea area for more than ten years has provided a rather complete set of empirical data. These data throw light upon various aspects of the interacting economic and natural components of the basin. The anthropogenically reduced river runoff and its intraannual leveling by the upstream reservoirs have radically changed the conditions under which the Azov Sea ecosystem previously existed. Two alternatives aimed at restoring the desired levels of reproduction of food-fish populations are under trial in the Azov Sea. They are further promotion of commercial fish breeding, and specially regulated water discharges in order to provide optimal hydrological regimes in the tail waters of the reservoirs during the entire spawning cycle. The Azov Sea investigations make it possible to trace the nature of the deformations and establish a long series of changing patterns.
