Characteristics of bottom fauna of small reservoirs of the Steppe zone of Ukraine

The article is devoted to the study of the bottom fauna of small reservoirs of the Steppe zone of Ukraine and the search for approaches aimed at increasing fish productivity. The need to increase the fish productivity of reservoirs has put on the agenda the problem of increasing and improving the forage resources of fish. Increasing fish productivity by increasing stocks of industrially valuable fish species is possible by expanding aquatic invertebrate habitats by acclimatizing or relocating them to new reservoirs, introducing new species into all parts of the food chain that use food resources of reservoirs, i.e. by reconstructing benthic fauna. The main solution to this problem is the introduction and acclimatization of valuable forage aquatic invertebrates. Despite the fact that Ukraine has a very significant fishery fund of freshwater reservoirs, the state of many fisheries enterprises at the present stage is characterized by a decrease in production. The decline in fisheries production is largely due to a set of interrelated socio-economic and environmental limiting factors that emerged during the transition to market relations. The urgency of the problem and the biological productivity of water bodies are determined by the activity of aquatic organisms – an important part of which is the benthic fauna. Rational use of water bodies plays a significant role in the development of the country's economy and the preservation of the ecological situation.