SALMON POACHING BY THE TON IN RUSSIAN FAR EAST

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SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EFIS SENV ECON PGOV RS
SUBJECT: SALMON POACHING BY THE TON IN RUSSIAN FAR EAST

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1. Summary. Salmon poaching remains a serious concern for
environmentalists in the Russian Far East. Salmon stocks are in
danger of complete depletion, and law enforcement agencies have
been ineffectual at stopping over-fishing. The federal
government has developed various programs designed to save
salmon stocks and halt rampant poaching, but economic hard times
have made illegal fishing more attractive to poachers, and
corruption hinders enforcement.

Salmon Poaching Continues Unabated
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2. According to the recent World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Russia
report on illegal, unregulated and unreported catch of salmon in
the Russian Far East (RFE),the actual catch of chum salmon over
the past three years was 1.5 times higher than officially
reported. In 2006, the officially-declared volume of salmon was
273,000 tons. However, WWF calculations based on official
import figures from neighboring countries show that those
countries imported 426,000 tons of Russian salmon. The poaching
of salmon on spawning grounds has increased considerably in the
past decade across the Russian Far East, especially in
Kamchatka, Magadan and Sakhalin. The annual volume of roe
production, legal and illegal production combined, has increased
to 26,000 tons. WWF specialists asserted that about half of
this amount was procured by poachers and processed illegally.


3. According to Russian Fisheries Minister Andrey Krainiy, over
35 per cent of fish products purchased in local stores were
caught by poachers. Major General Valentin Letunovskiy of the
Russia Border Guard Directorate suspects that poachers earn more
than 500 billion rubles (USD 15 billion) per year. The illegal
salmon catch is almost the sole source of income for villagers
in remote RFE areas, where up to 90% of families live through
poaching. Poachers in Kamchatka, for example, harvest at least
54,000 tons of salmon annually, extracting only the roe, then
and discarding the rest of the fish.


4. The official salmon fishing season ends in October, and
winter is a popular time for transporting illegal catch.
Authorities have found huge volumes of illegal caviar and salmon
in hidden in caches ready for transport by automobile,
snowmobile, or helicopter for further domestic or overseas
delivery. For example, in late fall customs officials impounded
over 500 kilograms of caviar en route to Magadan by helicopter.
In Sakhalin, a vehicle with two tons of illegal caviar was
detained in September, and in Kamchatka traffic police happened
to stop a truck with ten tons of caviar aboard. Law enforcement
agencies are reporting seizures of tons of illegal caviar and
salmon products regularly, and numerous criminal cases have been
filed against poachers.


5. Fish poaching generally consists of three activities:
catching out of season and thereby harvesting fish during times
when they would normally reproducing; catching without permits,
which leads to environmentally detrimental fishing practices;
and catching with permits but over the authorized limit, which
leads to over-fishing.

Most Salmon Shipped to Asian Markets
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6. By far, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea import most
of Russia's salmon products. Japan is the leading importer of
salmon overall, and imports up to 25,000 tons of the more
expensive and endangered sockeye species per year. Chinese
imports of the less expensive Russian Pacific salmon have
increased to 50,000 tons per year, and sockeye has reached over
900 tons per year. WWF has recorded a large discrepancy in
official data on sockeye trade -- overall sockeye imports from
Russia by these countries exceeded the total officially
recognized Russian export by 27 percent. The difference in the
figures indicates a high level of undeclared salmon being
shipped to those destinations.

Enforcement Efforts Continue
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7. Recent raids by law enforcement agencies, Rosselkhoznadzor
(Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Monitoring),
and regional Fishery Supervision Agencies have shown some
success. In early autumn, a Coast Guard patrol discovered a
well-equipped poaching facility on Iturup Island in the Kurils
which had boats, large refrigerators, fish processing machines,
packing containers, and over 1,500 tons of caviar. In late
summer 2008, a special anti-poaching team impounded over six
tons of caviar and 129 tons of chum salmon in a raid along the
Yama River, a spawning area in Magadan Oblast. In the same
river last summer, authorities discovered 1,500 tons of decaying
chum salmon, which had poached for their roe. Thousands of tons
of decaying salmon carcasses left by poachers along roads and
river banks of spawning rivers are discovered every year

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throughout the RFE hinterlands.

New Regulations Come Into Effect
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8. According to an amendment to the federal law on fishing,
beginning January 1, 2009 all fish harvested in the exclusive
economic zone of the Russian Federation must be taken back to
Russian ports before being exported or processed for domestic
consumption. This would hinder poachers who often take their
catch directly to Asian markets and presumably would allow
Russian authorities the chance to conduct more thorough and
systematic inspections. A further amendment to the regulation
is expected that will mandate that all fish products delivered
to Russian ports must be sold through a state-regulated Russian
Fish Exchange.


9. WWF specialists suggest further expansion of regulation and
enforcement efforts, including stricter control over
transportation of roe, the use of aircraft to patrol spawning
areas, and regular verification by regional inspectors of
vessels accepting salmon. Some experts have suggested that the
federal government should establish a monopoly over salmon roe
trade.

Corruption Throughout the Industry
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10. The fight against poachers is complicated not only by
technical difficulties and lack of funding for enforcement, but
also by wide-scale corruption. Authorities at relevant agencies
sometimes turn a blind eye to poachers or warn poachers of
upcoming raids or patrols in return for set fees or a cut of the
profits. According to local experts, corrupt militia officers
have a fixed price list for allowing smugglers to ship
contraband -- from three rubles per kilogram of frozen salmon to
50 rubles per kilogram of caviar. Russian Fisheries Minister
Andrey Krainiy has acknowledged to the media that the fishing
industry is among the most corrupt in Russia. He also said that
"there are no poaching operations without official 'krysha', and
all poachers receive some kind of protection from
Rosselkhoznadzor, the Interior Ministry, the Border Guard
Directorate, or other agencies."

Comment
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11. Salmon poaching is a growing problem in the Russian Far
East. Though the authorities have shown some desire to crack
down, their efforts will not be effective unless the corruption
at all management levels in all agencies related to the fishing
industry is eradicated. Furthermore, the sheer number of
federal and regional agencies involved in the efforts is
unwieldy, and frequent restructuring of those agencies impairs
their ability to work efficiently. The question is what will
come first -- the eradication of corruption and poaching in the
fishing industry, or the eradication of salmon stocks in the
Russian Far East.
ARMBRUSTER