Shoyna
Encyclopedia
Shoyna is a coastal village (selo), located on the Kanin Peninsula
in northern Nenets Autonomous Okrug
, Russia
.
It was founded in the 1930s by fishing families who named the settlement after the Shoyna ("forsaken") River. An abundance of fish and sea life led to prosperity within the collective farm organized there, and by the 1950s some 1,500 persons lived in Shoyna with a fishing fleet numbering more than seventy vessels.
Ultimately, reckless trawling led to the utter annihilation of the benthic
life, which decimated the fishery. More than half of the village is now buried under sand dunes deposited by the wind. It is thought that damage to permafrost
and destruction of the sea bottom released the sand, which has overwhelmed residents' abilities to control the drifts. The collective farm no longer operates; today, just three hundred inhabitants live at Shoyna, supported mainly by unemployment benefits and pensions.
There is a lighthouse at Shoyna, built in 1960 as a navigational aid to mariners on the White Sea
. Several shipwrecks line the shore as a testament to the treacherous waters. No roads or railroads connect the area with the south. Transportation to the outside world is by ship or air. The civilian airport is a dirt runway 650 metres in length. Local travel is by "truckcycles" (motorcycles with truck wheels).
In 1994, documentary filmmakers came to Shoyna and shot footage of the community. The resulting film, Zanesyonnyye Vetrom (Blown in with the Wind), was released in 2000.
Shoyna lies immediately south of the 167 square kilometer Shoyninsky State Nature Reserve, established in 1997 to protect the spring and autumn staging area for the Lesser White-fronted Goose
(Anser erythropus), an Arctic species threatened with extinction. In 2002, Dutch researchers discovered that the nearby Shoyna marsh is an important stopover site for Brent
and Barnacle
geese, with counts approaching almost ten percent of the total Russian flyway population.
Kanin Peninsula
Kanin Peninsula is a large peninsula in Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Latitude : 68° Longitude : 45°It is surrounded by the White Sea to the west and by the Barents Sea to the north and east. Shoyna is one of the few communities on the peninsula....
in northern Nenets Autonomous Okrug
Nenets Autonomous Okrug
Nenets Autonomous Okrug is a federal subject of Russia .It has an area of 176,700 km2 and population of 42,628 as of the preliminary results of the 2010 Census , 21,296 of whom live in Naryan-Mar, the administrative center.-Geography and ecology:The arctic ecology of this...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
It was founded in the 1930s by fishing families who named the settlement after the Shoyna ("forsaken") River. An abundance of fish and sea life led to prosperity within the collective farm organized there, and by the 1950s some 1,500 persons lived in Shoyna with a fishing fleet numbering more than seventy vessels.
Ultimately, reckless trawling led to the utter annihilation of the benthic
Benthic zone
The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. Organisms living in this zone are called benthos. They generally live in close relationship with the substrate bottom; many such...
life, which decimated the fishery. More than half of the village is now buried under sand dunes deposited by the wind. It is thought that damage to permafrost
Permafrost
In geology, permafrost, cryotic soil or permafrost soil is soil at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years. Ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of...
and destruction of the sea bottom released the sand, which has overwhelmed residents' abilities to control the drifts. The collective farm no longer operates; today, just three hundred inhabitants live at Shoyna, supported mainly by unemployment benefits and pensions.
There is a lighthouse at Shoyna, built in 1960 as a navigational aid to mariners on the White Sea
White Sea
The White Sea is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast. The whole of the White Sea is under Russian sovereignty and considered to be part of...
. Several shipwrecks line the shore as a testament to the treacherous waters. No roads or railroads connect the area with the south. Transportation to the outside world is by ship or air. The civilian airport is a dirt runway 650 metres in length. Local travel is by "truckcycles" (motorcycles with truck wheels).
In 1994, documentary filmmakers came to Shoyna and shot footage of the community. The resulting film, Zanesyonnyye Vetrom (Blown in with the Wind), was released in 2000.
Shoyna lies immediately south of the 167 square kilometer Shoyninsky State Nature Reserve, established in 1997 to protect the spring and autumn staging area for the Lesser White-fronted Goose
Lesser White-fronted Goose
The Lesser White-fronted Goose is a goose closely related to the larger White-fronted Goose .It breeds in northernmost Asia, but it is a scarce breeder in Europe. There is a re-introduction scheme in Fennoscandia....
(Anser erythropus), an Arctic species threatened with extinction. In 2002, Dutch researchers discovered that the nearby Shoyna marsh is an important stopover site for Brent
Brent Goose
The Brant or Brent Goose, Branta bernicla, is a species of goose of the genus Branta. The Black Brant is an American subspecies. The specific descriptor bernicla is from the same source as "barnacle" in Barnacle Goose, which looks similar but is not a close relation.-Appearance:The Brant Goose is...
and Barnacle
Barnacle Goose
The Barnacle Goose belongs to the genus Branta of black geese, which contains species with largely black plumage, distinguishing them from the grey Anser species...
geese, with counts approaching almost ten percent of the total Russian flyway population.