Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ULAANBAATAR620
2007-10-30 07:03:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Ulaanbaatar
Cable title:  

MONGOLIA'S MEGA-FISH IN FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL

Tags:  SENV KGHG PGOV ECON EAID MG 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2588
RR RUEHGH RUEHLMC RUEHVC RUEHVK
DE RUEHUM #0620/01 3030703
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 300703Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1614
INFO RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 1945
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 3005
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5825
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2706
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 0524
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 1596
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA 1504
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 0165
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 0359
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0845
RUEHVC/AMCONSUL VANCOUVER 0093
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0049
RHMFISS/HQ EPA WASHINGTON DC 0019
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHDC
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP WASHINGTON DC 0760
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ULAANBAATAR 000620 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/CM AND G/OES
TREASURY PASS USEDS TO IMF AND WORLD BANK
MANILA FOR USED TO ADB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV KGHG PGOV ECON EAID MG
SUBJECT: MONGOLIA'S MEGA-FISH IN FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ULAANBAATAR 000620

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/CM AND G/OES
TREASURY PASS USEDS TO IMF AND WORLD BANK
MANILA FOR USED TO ADB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV KGHG PGOV ECON EAID MG
SUBJECT: MONGOLIA'S MEGA-FISH IN FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In Mongolia the taimen, a giant member of the
salmon family and a prized catch for sport fishermen, is becoming
increasingly rare and facing a number of threats. This was
underlined October 17 at a taimen conservation conference in
Ulaanbaatar. Hucho Taimen (aka Siberian taimen) are said to pull
like a pit bull, live for decades and measure upwards of six feet
long. Researchers say they are imperiled by overfishing, a lack of
governmental protections, and global warming. Other threats loom on
the horizon, including the construction of a hydroelectric plant on
the Eg River and the prospect of expanded mining operations.
Conservationists are encouraging residents of the Eg-Uur watershed
area, in remote northern Mongolia, to embrace high-end fly-fishing
and ecotourism. Some such tourism is occurring, but taimen survival
is undermined by the lack of a concession system, a paucity of
rangers and a surfeit of irresponsible tour operators, researchers
say. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) The Mongolian taimen, a giant member of the salmon family
and a prized catch for sport fishermen, is growing increasingly rare
and faces a number of threats. This was underlined October 17 at a
taimen conservation conference in Ulaanbaatar, where 60 academics,
environmentalists and Mongolian Government officials heard
researchers provide an update on the fourth year of a five-year
study on taimen populations, migration and spawning. Researchers
from the University of Wisconsin (Madison),University of California
(Davis),University of Nevada (Reno) and the National University of
Mongolia are conducting the most extensive study ever undertaken on
hucho taimen (aka Siberian taimen),which are found only in Mongolia
and Russia, often live three decades or more, can exceed six feet
and according to sportsmen, pull like a pit bull.

REMOTE STRETCH OF NORTHERN MONGOLIA
--------------


3. (SBU) The study is centered on the remote Eg-Uur watershed area,

a triangular wedge in the northern provinces of Hovsgol and Bulgan.
Bordered by the Eg and Uur rivers, the area has come under
increasing strain from overfishing, poaching and a lack of
governmental protections. According to the latest data, the area is
now home to only 2,000 taimen. Experts said the fish is imperiled,
in part, by the lack of a consistent catch and release system. The
fish is also threatened by global warming, which reduces water
levels and raises water temperatures; taimen require cold water.
The future will bring graver threats, including a Mongolian
Government hydroelectric power plant on the Eg River and the
possibility of expanded mining operations. (Note: There is
currently only one major mining operation in the Eg-Uur watershed
area. Researchers tested water samples but did not detect any
mining-related chemicals. However, artisanal mining is believed to
occur in the area, and thorough research on possible water
contamination has yet to be carried out. End Note.)

SPECIES AT RISK, BUT NOT LEGALLY PROTECTED
--------------


4. (SBU) Although the slow-growing taimen are listed on the
Government's "red list" of at-risk species, no law specifically
outlaws their removal from a river. Catch-and-release is
encouraged, but this practice is not widely known or practiced by
most local residents -- nor the many wealthy and influential
Mongolians who visit the area to do battle with the giant fish. The
Taimen Conservation Fund (TCF),an NGO that organized the study and
conference, encourages residents of the watershed area to embrace
high-value, low-impact fly-fishing and ecotourism. While this has
resulted in some well-heeled foreign tourists visiting and engaging
in catch-and-release sportfishing, some Mongolians continue to hunt

ULAANBAATA 00000620 002 OF 003


taimen illegally with nets or spears, sometimes during the spawning
season. Not all of the poachers are locals; some are high-rollers
from Russia, drawn by the area's stellar fly-fishing opportunities
and by the opportunity to hunt wild boar and two types of deer.

NO CONCESSION SYSTEM YET IN PLACE
--------------


5. (SBU) The ongoing study is aimed, in part, at prodding the GOM
into establishing a clear concession system whereby stretches of the
Eg-Uur watershed area are rented out to tour operators, which could
be held accountable. However, no concession system has yet been put
in place. At present, a tour operator (in many cases, a fly-fishing
operator) has to enter into a contract with the local government of
one of the nine counties that make up the watershed area. The
contract must then be approved by the provincial government, and the
operator then has to obtain from the Ministry of Nature and
Environment (MNE) a US$48 catch-and-release license for each angler.
This may seem a relatively straightforward process, but many
operators say it is time-consuming, costly and overly bureaucratic.
Many tour operators find ways around these three steps, allegedly
greasing palms along the way. The conference heard that even when
US$48 is collected for a caught taimen, the money reaches the MNE
and "disappears," with no investment made in protecting taimen
stocks.

EARLY MISSTEPS
--------------


6. (SBU) Between 2003 and 2006, efforts to set up a concession
system were complicated by missteps of the Global Environmental Fund
(GEF),which funds the TCF. The GEF had vested much of the
operational authority for the concession system with the central
government. The GOM was to tender fishing rights to a consortium
made up largely of sport-fishing companies that meet
technical-capacity requirements. Few firms could meet these
requirements; in fact, only one American firm active in the Eg-Uur
Watershed could meet these specifications. (That firm was also
involved in the formation of the TCF and in obtaining the grant from
GEF.) In the system envisioned by the GEF, no one would be allowed
to fish in the concession unless permitted by the concessionaire,
and the concessionaire would have unspecified enforcement powers.
In effect, Mongolians would not be allowed to fish in their own
country, while relatively wealthy foreigners could cast and catch
with abandon. Understandably, this did not go down well with locals
and generated tremendous ill will toward the TCF project, which in
turn slowed progress on protecting taimen. Nowadays, the TCF is
pushing a more inclusive, community-based approach, to obtain buy-in
from local residents. Local residents acknowledge the change in
approach, but past mistakes have made them skeptical.

IRRESPONSIBLE TOUR OPERATORS THRIVING...
--------------


7. (SBU) Tour operators who are willing to skirt the rules and to
pocket imaginary GOM fees can generate handsome profits. One tour
company we contacted without identifying ourselves told us that a
foreign angler can obtain GOM permission to catch and release a
taimen for $120. For an additional $150, the company explained, the
angler could take his taimen home. Although there is, in fact, a fee
for sportfishing, there is no official fee that one can pay to take
a taimen trophy home. (Note: There is a brisk and illegal sale in
preserved, mounted taimen in Ulaanbaatar; some are offered at local
markets market for around $50. End Note.)

... AMID CHRONIC LACK OF RANGERS
--------------


ULAANBAATA 00000620 003 OF 003



8. (SBU) The GOM's primary line of defense against poachers -
rangers - are too few to cover the necessary terrain, a point driven
home at the conference. Moreover, rangers are poorly paid and
subject to bribes from tour operators and well-heeled Mongolians. A
total of 772 ranger positions are supposed to be filled nationwide,
but only 444 rangers are currently employed (382 by the central
government and 62 by provincial governments). Mongolian authorities
blame the shortfall on budgetary limitations. In the Eg-Uur
watershed area, home to 50,000 residents, at least 30 rangers are
active.

UNCERTAIN FUTURE
--------------


9. (SBU) The TCF claims that mining is wreaking environmental and
social damage in many Mongolian watersheds. It cites such negative
impacts as sedimentation, nutrient loading and the alteration of
river hydrology, all of which can interrupt or block the spawning or
migration of taimen. The Eg-Uur watershed area has thus far escaped
the worst mining-related damage. Whether it will remain a pristine
idyll for sport fishermen, and their prized taimen, will depend
largely on the whether the GOM can regulate mining in the area, halt
overfishing and ensure that the hydroelectric plant doesn't harm the
ecology of the Eg River. Post will continue to monitor the
situation and explore what the USG can do to promote the taimen's
survival.

GOLDBECK