Hydrobiological Society

(full name, All-Union Hydrobiological Society; VGBO), a voluntary public organization of Soviet scientists doing work in the area of hy-drobiology, ichthyology, and related branches of theoretical and applied science. Founded in 1947 under the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

The first council of hydrobiologists in the USSR was the Society of Water and Water-life Researchers, which was established in Moscow in 1923 at the initiative of the Soviet scholar S. A. Zernov and was active for ten years. The chief goal of the VGBO is to promote the development of hydro-biology and ichthyology, to improve the teaching methods in these disciplines, to spread information, to put into practice the latest achievements of the field, and to actively encourage scientists and scholars to solve the current theoretical and economic problems. The VGBO organizes conferences, reports, seminars, consultations, and competitions, and it maintains contacts with foreign scientific institutions and societies, conventions, congresses, conferences, and symposia. It publishes scientific literature and collections of specialized articles. The VGBO has belonged to the International Association of Theoretical and Applied Limnology since 1968. As of 1971, there were 2,300 scientists in the VGBO. There are branches, divisions, and groups of the society located in various republics and cities of the Soviet Union.

The activities of the society are directed by the Central Council, which is elected at the society’s convention once every five years. The president from 1947 to 1970 was L. A. Zenkevich; since 1971 the president has been G. G. Vinberg.