- TCA English Language Newspaper in Central Asia More nets than fish Date:26-08-2005 10:53 Country: Kyrgyzstan Source:TCA<> Author:
BISHKEK, August 26 (TCA). #In Kyrgyz lakes, Their moaning sadness is so deep blue, As if they are guilty of how humans# misdo,# said once poet Robert Rozhdestvensky as if he in his time could foresee this sensitive issue of today. After numerous talks on the radio, on television, and in mass media, the workers of the State Resources Inspection together with the head of the State Forestry Service (SFS) T. Musuraliyev and Academician A.O. Konurbayev, have initiated the prohibition of commercial fishing at Lakes Son-Kul and Issyk-Kul, in order to preserve the bio-variety of the animal and plant kingdom and the ichthyological fauna there.
#The earth#s pain has neither beginning nor end.# Similarly, continuous commercial fishing on Lake Son-Kul has become a matter of concern for ornithologists as well. Last year they saw only one couple of Indian geese, as compared to 200 in recent times: birds don#t find quiet secluded corners there any more. The fish stock is so exhausted that this has become an object of the Kyrgyz Public Prosecutor General Office#s investigation. Then the rhetorical questions arise: Who is to be answerable? Maybe the head of the Fishery Inspection under the Ministry of Agriculture will make the matter clear?
#More than 40 years ago this unique water reservoir was fishless,# tells ichthyologist Mukhtar Alpiyev. But the researches of the workers of the Issyk-Kul Biological Station and the Department of Hydrobiology of the Tashkent State University conducted since 1960 showed rich forage reserves at Lake Son-Kul, both in qualitative and quantitative respect. In 1968, 40 two-years-old pelyads were let into the lake, and in early 1970#s numerous mass stocking with pelyad and chir larvae was made several times. After that, since 1977 Lake Son-Kul began to rank as the second-largest fishing grounds following Issyk-Kul. But biotoxicosis in 1979 that caused mass deaths of the fish and then irrational fish industrial management by the Fishery Inspection under the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources have led to a noticeable reduction of the fish stock. Such a posture of affairs has induced Academician A.O. Konurbayev to appeal to Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources, and Processing Industry (MAWR & PI) A.V. Kostyuk with the recommendation to urgently prohibit commercial fishing there till 2006. A.O. Konurbayev submitted an expert judgement based on data about commercial fishing during many years, which says, #In recent time approximately 600 tons of pelyad were caught annually, instead of planned 140 tons. The catches of whitefish were not registered, as quotas were issued on pelyad only. Unfortunately, in some places young whitefish was over-caught by 40-50%.#
#We say that these or those bird or animal species become extinct, but it#s not so evident with fish,# says Asylbek Tologonov, head of the Fishing Inspectors under the Bio-Resources State Control Service attached to SFS. Fish was caught by nets with small meshes 35 x 35 mm, which is smaller than allowable, and the number of nets 100 meters long in the lake reached 3.5 thousands! It is a legalized poaching, nothing else!#
At present this is the State Forestry Service (headed by T. Musuraliyev) that exercises supervision over the protection and reproduction of the fish stock, in compliance with the laws on the animal kingdom and fish industry. But formerly, in 1980#s all the functions were in the hands of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources, and Processing Industry. In 2003 the ministry made a tender for the distribution of fishing grounds on Lake Son-Kul. For reasons unknown, there was not a single representative of the state control organ in the selection committee. As a result, 17 subjects were given the right to work on the lake, instead of 4 # 8 that had artificial reproduction bases. Specialists of the industry had many questions about the criteria of the selection of the bidders. For example, the application of Karakol-Balagy firm that had a good base was waived, while other firms without necessary equipment or specialists won the tender! Factually, the Ministry of AWR & PI combined industrial fishing and supervision, which led to profoundly negative changes. Fish reproduction in natural and artificial water reservoirs having the status of fish industrial economies began to drop. For instance, Lake Issyk-Kul used to give 12 thousand centners of fish, now less than 2,000 centners. Figures cited M. by Alpiyev are more expressive than words: in 2003, on Son-Kul a catch of pelyad per a net dropped from 35 kg to 2-3 kg.
One more statistical evidence. According to Eresheyev, the dynamics of commercial catches at many water reservoirs decreased 15-20 times. Earlier 1200 tons of fish were caught from all water reservoirs; now only 50-70!
Worried and full of pain is the look of ichthyologists and hydrobiologists who dedicated many years to studying water ecosystems # endemics are becoming extinct!!! The scaleless asman, the marinka, and others found only in Lake Issyk-Kul have already been registered in the Spices Endangered Book.
By Decree #749 dated November 11, 2002, Kyrgyz government prohibited giving commercial fishing permits to business subjects.
The State Committee established by N.Tanayev studied the situation during a year and a half. As a result, on February 25, 2004 the government issued Decree #103 with the list of permissive documents to be issued by executive power bodies and their structural divisions. The State Forestry Service was empowered to issue licenses for utilizing animal and plant kingdom objects, including fish.
According to Clause 4 of the Law on fish industry, and in compliance with its status, the Ministry of AWR & PI has been appointed to be a specially authorized governmental organ for managing fish industry. It is to shape and carry out a single policy in favor of the improvement of the fish industry. The ministry is also in charge of the arrangement of industrial fish-breeding and its protection.
This was about natural water reserves. Now about ponds. #Formerly there were about 1,000 hectares of the pond reserve, and the output of pond-based fish industrial economies amounted to 40% of all the catches,# says Eresheyev. #Even Toktogul and Orto-Tokoi water reservoirs achieved the status of fish industrial economies after adjusting and acclimatization work. Tyup Bay of Issyk-Kul was used for breeding the carp. It had hatcheries. But instead of restoring the ponds and organizing pond-based fish industry, the ministry of AWR & PI switched over to the exploitation of natural water reservoirs where control over the amount of caught fish was not so easy. Poachers have piled with fish all roadside cafes from Bishkek to Karakol, Naryn, and Tash-Kumyr. All the cafes have picturesque announcements saying #Fried and fresh fish.# Inspectors from numerous controlling offices also ask for fish as a tribute. But all the countries that really take care of their bio-resources are trying to exercise commercial fishing namely in ponds. Our neighbor, China, has been involved in commercial fishing for more than 5,000 years, and catches more fish from one pond-based fish economy than we ...