     This issue sets out with a topical article "Is There Anything In Store For Russian Fishermen?" shedding light on the precarious state of the Russian fishing industry and warning of oncoming ecological disaster to strike in the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk.

     This issue's keynote is the Bicentenary of the Russian-American Company (RAC) and today's state of the territories once controlled by the RAC - the Russian America (Alaska and the Aleutians), Kurilskiye and Komandorskiye Islands. Get acquainted with the articles "The Quest Of Russian America", "The Russian Traces In The Hawaiian History", "From Moscow To Kurils To Moscow Or How To Better Organize The Kuril's Economy?", "Contemporary History Of The Komandorskiye Islands In Yarns And Documents").

     The Northern Pacific Magazine is pleased to introduce to its readers the well-known U.S. publications - The Alaska Geographic Magazine and The Salmon Conservation Magazine. These will update you on both the background of the contemporary problems of Alaska fisheries - "Herring", "Sablefish", "Halibut", "King Crab And Tanner Crab", and the American ecologists' side of the Kamchatka salmon conservation issue - "At The Crossroads".

     The largest ex-USSR collective fishery celebrating its 70 years in business became the focus of an article presented here by the collective fishery's former Chairman, S. I. Novoselov.

     The readers will find her a coverage of the recent tragedy near the Pribiloff Islands, entitled "The Black Ice".