Travel Blogger on Chukotka: Fishermen Keep Caviar and Give the Fish to Seagulls

Russian travel blogger Elena Liseikina visited Chukotka and described a region that lives by its own rules. In her blog “Travels with a Camera” on Zen, she wrote that much of what seems ordinary elsewhere looks completely different in Russia’s far northeast. “Caviar here is a resource, and fish is almost like waste,” she said. Fishermen take the caviar and give the fish carcasses to seagulls or anyone nearby, which she said would take a mainlander time to get used to.

She also noted that vegetables and fruit cost more than meat, whaling and hunting other sea mammals are allowed, polar bears often come by, planes can be waited for for weeks, and there are more roads in winter than in summer. Summer itself lasts about two weeks, she said. Although it is formally longer, there are very few truly warm days. Liseikina visited in early August, calling it the peak season, and was lucky to have a few days warm enough for a hoodie.

The same blogger previously visited the village of Lorino and summed up life there as “groceries are delivered once a year.” Sea vessels bring supplies during a short navigation window after the ice clears, so residents have to plan their stocks in advance.