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Каспинфо июнь 2002 |
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Название: Проблемы сохранения осетровых на англ. языке Главные Пункты: * К социальным браконьерам власти относятся более снисходительно, чем к так называемым коммерческим, т.к. в регионе царит безработица. Если 10 лет назад на 350 жителей прибрежной деревни было 2 барконьера, то теперь, скорее, наоборот. * Браконьерство становится все более жестоким бизнесом: браконьеры готовы убить каждого, кто посмеет взять из их сетей хотя бы одну рыбину. (05.06.2002) Полный Текст Проблемы сохранения осетровых на англ. языке Проблемы сохранения осетровых на англ. языке *** Not Enough Caviar Left For All The Poachers Agence France Presse, May 5, 2002 By Michel Viatteau Astrakhan - Between low-level poaching and large-scale mafia plundering of sturgeon, which police are powerless to curb, illegal catches are eating up stocks in the Volga and Caspian Sea of the fish which produce prized black caviar. Sergei studies and lives in Astrakhan, but his home lies some 40 kilometres (25 miles) away from Russia's caviar capital, in a village nestling upon one of the countless streams in the Volga delta, which stretches over 15,000 square kilometres. "I poach to make ends meet," he said as he pushed his motor boat -- the kind dubbed "baida" by the locals -- off the Volga's white sand. Behind his back, the great river flows peacefully, a perfect illustration of nature's relentless course that nothing can change -- an impression that nonetheless is completely false. "In 1990, I caught up to 10 sturgeons daily. By 1996, I could still catch two or three every day. But last year, it took me a week to get as much," the young man said. Official figures confirm his observations. According to the UN Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), official catches of Caspian sturgeon plummeted from 30,000 tonnes a year in the late 1970s to less than 3,000 tonnes 20 years later. For Sergei, the explanation is simple. "Ten years ago, there were two poachers in my village of some 350 people. Now it's a rare thing not to be a poacher. Collective farms and factories are closed, and people must make a living," he said. However, besides the "social poaching" mostly tolerated by the state because of rampant unemployment, the so-called "commercial poaching" also takes its toll on the sturgeon resources. It was that underground industry that President Vladimir Putin labelled as "monstrous" during his recent visit to the region. This kind of poacher generally has high-speed motor boats, sonar detectors and even special buoys that allow them to keep track of their nets via satellite connections. "And how are we supposed to catch them?" questioned Yury Tolstov of the public agency charged with taking care of the sturgeon population in the Volga delta. "They have Yamaha and Johnson motor boats, each at least 100 hp strong. We have only one boat," he complained. However, small-scale poachers have a more cynical explanation, saying that the illegal caviar industry is well protected by accomplices in high places and has efficient export routes. Still, officials are cautiously optimistic on the eventual outcome of their losing battle. The sturgeon population increased last year and the endangered fish was once again seen near cities like Volgograd, Tolstov assured. In addition, Tolstov's agency has released 50 million baby sturgeon bred in captivity, and plans an operation to pave the way for sturgeons which would attempt to move up river in May. Tolstov takes particular pride in a novel technique which would allow roe to be removed from female fish without killing them and used to breed more sturgeons rather than delight gourmets in New York or Tokyo. Tolstov's quarrel is with a CITES-brokered moratorium on fishing beluga sturgeon passed last June by Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan that was lifted in March after eight months. "This will benefit only poachers," he scoffed. In any case, poaching -- which, according to CITES, accounts for 90 percent of all caviar trade -- has not slackened since, and caviar is on sale in Astrakhan markets for some 80 dollars a kilogram. That is double the price asked in the delta's many villages, but still half as much as in downtown supermarkets. *** Poachers' Tales Abound In Russia's Volga Agence France Presse, May 5, 2002 Astrakhan -- The joys and woes of a poacher's life are a favourite topic of conversation for beer lovers in Astrakhan's central park, which lies in the shadow of the city's top tourist attraction -- the white-walled and gold-cupolaed Kremlin fortress. "My uncle last year caught a fish which contained 94 kilograms of caviar. He bought himself a new Volga car," one idle taxi driver reminisced. His comrade had a far darker story to tell. An old man from his village went off fishing and discovered a large net filled with sturgeons. Seeing no one around, he took the haul for himself and sold it for a high price, returning the next day to repeat the trick. On the third day his luck ran out. The owner of the net tracked him down and shot him dead, as he stopped his boat to claim his prize. Another companion had another poachers' tale to tell. According to him, during the time of former president Boris Yeltsin, villagers in the nearby Kalmykia region opened fire with machine-guns on cargo ships to scare them away from their nets. Recently, armed Kalmyks even took a group of Russian fishers who ventured into their territory hostage, stole all their equipment, catch and car, and forced them to work as slaves drawing nets for three days, he claimed. |