vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #540 / Social life / Reading article...

The Popov Island, located 30 kilometers from Vladivostok and flooded with tourists during summer months, struggles poverty and unemployment the rest of the year.

The Popov Island, with the current population of 1,350 people, is officially part of Vladivostok’s Pervomaisky district and has its own administration, police station, a branch of the Institute for marine Biology of Russian Academy of Sciences, a school, a hospital and a small club.

The island, a 1.5-hour ferry travel from the city, bears its name in the honor of Andrei Popov, commander of Russian squadron which in the 1850-s made a travel from the port of Kronschtadt in the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

The local fishery factory, once a plant the island residents were proud of, now does not operate – and only abandoned buildings and a rusty sign on the fence reminds of the old times. After its closing, people either left the island seeking new jobs, or went to register in a local unemployment agency. Currently, over 200 islanders are filed in the employment center.

Locals who have regular jobs either work for the state organizations or tourism. The island has eight tiny tourist recreation areas, with all of them functioning only in summer and the workers receiving meager salaries.

According to head of administration of the Popov and Reineke islands Oleg Noskov, each year about 36,000 people visit the island in summer season for recreation. However, no money from tourists goes to the island’s budget.

Among other problems, Noskov mentioned electricity, heat and water supplying. The residents of the island’s 373 private houses do not have centralized running water service and have to take cold water from 14 water-pumps and four wells. Bad roads are also a pain, though, according to Noskov, repair works are being conducted.

“The island desperately lacks a large enterprise which could give working places for locals,” Noskov says. “It is clear that construction of a large plant here is not possible, but creating a local mini-factory is realizable, “he added. Currently the residents survive of fishing. Coastal fishery plant could provide local residents with more jobs, Noskov thinks.

“There used to be much fish, while now it is difficult to catch even a plaice,” says pensioner Viktor Mitkin. According to him, the island’s biggest issue is transport communication with Vladivostok with the ferry working only in summer. “The island will not survive on its own,” he lamented.