Sakhalin defines rules for salmon operations in 2009

The Commission on Anadromous Fisheries Management has recently gathered in Sakhalin to agree the rules for salmon operations in the province's fishing areas such as places for the fishing gear setting as well as the starting dates for the fisheries, reports www.fishnet-russia.com (www.fishnet.ru) with reference to PrimaMedia.

More specifically, the Commission has focused on the research data provided by the Basin's fish conservation and stock reproduction institutions. When getting the information on weak infill of the spawning grounds and basic rivers with salmon spawners, the Commission can follow recommendations of the scientists from SakhNIRO and Sakahlinrybvod research institutes and define the days when the fishery is suspended in order to let the fish escape to the grounds for reproduction.

Towards online management of the Pacific salmon fishery and duly information exchange, local administrations are recommended to organize collection of daily information on Pacific salmon catch rates and movement of raw fish from juridical persons and sole traders participating in the fishery.

The Commission has also approved places for setting the fishing gear in the Southwest Sakhalin in 2009. As for the remaining fishing areas of Sakhalin, due to the lack of recommendations from SakhNIRO and Sakhalinrybvod the Commission has decided to define such places with regard to the information provided by the local administrations.

Sakhalin's Vice-Governor Viktor Karepkin has informed the Commission about a decision taken by Vladivostok-based Far Eastern Research and Fishery Council on cancellation of the amendments on introduction of 6-km zones for fish hatcheries in the mouths of spawning rivers. If these amendments had come into force, the fishermen would have been not able to set the nettings at a distance of less 3km both sides from the river mouths, lake channels or lagoons, where the salmon hatcheries are located.

The idea of cancelling the amendments is to avoid infringement of the rights of these businesses at the expense of the others. If these amendments had been introduced, the situation would have been really tough both for the fishermen who have already taken the fishing sites into 20-year concessions and for the population of those villages where the residents have been traditionally fishing on legal grounds.