**5.4 Nature park "Beringia"**

Nature park "Beringia", founded in 1992, is located in Chukchi Autunomous District and includes a part of Bering Sea water area (Fig. 1 (4).

In addition there are five **Nature Monuments of regional significance** that have protected marine area within their borders: «**Verkhoturov Island**», «**Witgenstein Cape**», «**Witgenstein Rock**», «**Yuzhnaya Glubokaya Bay**» and «**Anastasia Bay**». It is planned to crerate some new marine nature parks and state nature reserves of federal significance. However all already existing SPNA-s with the exception of Commander State Biosphere Reserve are just nominal organizations without real system of nature protection service. As far as the level of knowledge on their biodiversity is concerned it is extremely low and scientific studies seem to us to be the major task for future.

However it should not preclude the possibility of seaweed harvest on the territory of SPNAs even with high nature protective rank. For instance, Commander Reserve is thought to be perspective for plant resources exploitation in the areas with permitted economic activity (Selivanova, 2008b). It is necessary to elaborate well-grounded recommendations on permissible level of harvest that in its turn should be based on reliable estimate of algal resources. Correct estimation of resources is important for proper decisions on biodiversity conservation not destroying ecosystem integrity and providing restoration of natural seaweed resources.
