Collaborators: Sergei Surmach
Role: Co-founder of Blakiston’s Fish Owl Project; Co-investigator and primary Russian collaborator for resource selection study
Education: M.S. Biology, Far Eastern State University, Vladivostok, Russia, 1988
Title: (1) Staff ornithologist and (2) Director (see below)
Affiliation: (1) Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Biology and Soils, Vladivostok, Russia, and (2) Amur-Ussuri Center for Avian Diversity
Sergei lives in Vladivostok, and is widely recognized as the leading Blakiston’s fish owl expert on the Russian mainland. He has been working with the species for more than a decade, since his fortuitous discovery of a juvenile on the Iman River in the mid-1990s. In addition to his position at the Institute for Biology and Soils, Sergei is the director of the Amur-Ussuri Center for Avian Diversity, a group of Russian ornithologists that manage scientific projects and promote avian conservation by developing and printing popular and scientific articles.
Selected Publications:
1. SURMACH, S.G. 2006. Short report on the research of the Blakiston's fish owl in the Samarga river valley in 2005. Peratniye Khishchniki i ikh Okhrana 5:66-67. (in Russian with English summary)
2. TAKENAKA, T., S.G. SURMACH, AND S.V. AVDEYUK. 2002. Results of habitat researches of Blakiston’s Fish Owl in Russia and its importance for environmental activity in Japan. Report of the Pro Natura Foundation 9:1-6. (in Japanese)
3. SURMACH, S.G. 2000. Present status of the Blakiston’s Fish Owl (Ketupa blakistoni Seebohm) in Primorye. Proceeding of Ornithological Society of Japan 10:23.
4. SURMACH, S.G. 1998. Present status of Blakiston's fish owl (Ketupa blakistoni Seebohm) in Ussuriland and some recommendations for protection of the species. Report of the Pro Natura Foundation 7:109-123.