RUSSIA: Poaching and pollution threaten rare Caspian salmon and sturgeon

Fisheries inspectors fight poaching and pollution in the river Terek in the Russia's north Caucasus region, where rare Caspian salmon and sturgeon come to spawn. Fishing on the Terek River, which flows through the territory of several republics in the Russian Caucasus, can be an exciting experience. Along with small fish like bream and carp one can catch a salmon or even a sturgeon. Terek is one of three rivers where rare Caspian salmon and sturgeon come to spawn. This is what makes it attractive not only to anglers but to poachers as well. Video footage from North Ossetian fisheries inspectors have captured two men casting a net. They rush to catch the poachers, but by the time they met them in the nearby woods and escort them to the boat, the catch is gone, probably dumped into the water. In the regions where the Terek flows, poaching is one of the most lucrative businesses. All kinds of fish, including sturgeon and rare Caspian salmon, swim in search of shallow and warmer waters in order to spawn caviar. Here they fall prey to illegal explosives and nets used by the poachers. "Sturgeon from the Caspian Sea - and the Caspian Sea has the largest number of sturgeon - goes for spawning into three rivers: Terek, Volga and Ural. And in the past the largest number of sturgeon came for spawning here, to Terek. I remember seeing shoals of sturgeon 15-20 kilometres long," said fisheries inspector Igor Bondarenko after detaining a man using an illegal net. Nowadays to spot sturgeon in the Terek waters is rare luck. Uncontrolled and wide-spread poaching has brought caspian sturgeon and salmon to the brink of extinction. The sturgeon population in the Caspian has fallen by more than 90 per cent since the late 1970s because of overfishing - legal and illegal. Caspian salmon was included in the Red Book of endangered species. Anti-poaching measures undertaken by the regional authorities have so far proved to be ineffective due to wide-spread corruption and a lack of financing of fisheries inspections. According to Bondarenko, driving in their only vehicle - an old Russian-made jeep - it is almost impossible to catch poachers who are usually well-equipped and use high-speed motor-boats. But poaching is not the only threat for the rare Caspian fish. Another enemy is pollution. Bondarenko and his team are driving towards Pavlodolskaya dam in Mozdok. Here, there appears to be damage to the environment by local businesses. "When, in spring, the scheduled repair works are carried out on the dam and the water from the upper part is discharged, a lot of fish get poisoned as a result of this. And large amounts of dead fish cover the banks of the river from here all the way to Chechnya," said Bondarenko, showing foamy unclear water, falling from the dam. In North Ossetia alone, there are 38 distilleries and all of them dump their waste into the Terek. In neighbouring Kabardino-Balkaria, the situation is the same. In the last several years, efforts have been made to save the decreasing population of the Caspian salmon. At the fish-breeding facility in Ardon, 200,000 salmon fry are released into the Terek every year. "This fish is included in the Red Book and we are trying to prevent it from disappearing from the Caspian sea. That's what our two fisheries are doing and thanks to our work you can still find this fish in the Caspian Sea," said Ardon fishery director Alimbek Gutiev. As of next year, the fishery hopes to release up to 700,000 salmon fry into the Terek. But despite these efforts the future of the rare fish is bleak. Two fisheries breeding Caspian salmon on the banks of the Terek cannot compete with the large scale poaching of this rare fish.

ITN Source | August 3, 2007

Tags:. .measures. .illegal. .scheduled. .disappearing. .enemy