Following the Project Working Group’s Proposals
The outcomes of the past year and plans for 2015 were discussed at the next meeting of the Model River Mezen project Working group held in December.
The information on the project implementation progress in 2014, delivered by the coordinators Nikolay Shuktomov and Valentina Semyаshkinа, was supplemented by other meeting participants.
The Working group members, including the representatives of FSBI “Komirybvod” Alexey Politov and Vladimir Marichkov, department head of the Republican Centre of the Specially Protected Natural Areas Sergey Tsogoev, Udora residents Albert Loginov and Alexey Vurdov – approached the discussion with a great interest, had an extensive debate, and made a lot of relevant proposals for the plan of the future project implementation.
Albert Vasilyevich Loginov, a deputy of the Udora municipal district Council and the Working group member, representing the interests of the indigenous people community “Udorachi”, touched upon the situation in the Upper reaches of the Mezen in his speech. This is not the first year that the Udora residents have been concerned about it, due to an unceasing poaching on the salmon spawning grounds. In previous years, many people linked illegal fishing to the activity of the fishing grounds “Verkhnemezensky”, legally accessible for anyone getting a permit from FSBI “Komirybvod”, whereas no proper control over the situation was in place. However, a refusal of “Komirybvod” to lease these fishing grounds in the 2014 season has not really changed the situation. This problem was raised again at the recent session of the municipal district Council, and the deputies decided to consider in detail the possibility of restricted access to the upper reaches of the Mezen during the salmon spawning period. According to the Working Group member Sergey Tsogoev (Center for SPNA under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Komi Republic), it is quite realistic to impose such temporary restrictions at the republican level: they just have to be properly justified.
While discussing the plans, Alexey Ivanovich Vurdov drew attention to the necessity to carry out reclamation works on the Yirva: waterlogging and overgrowing of the river and its tributaries are ongoing, accordingly, the food supply is getting worse, which results in deterioration of fish resources. Last summer, an overview expedition along this river was organized within the project framework. Its participants fully realized the need to clear debris and carry out other reclamation works on many sites. However, first, it is required to objectively assess the volume of the necessary works, calculate the resources to be involved, and agree these works with “Komirybvod”. In accordance with the Working group proposal, these activities have been included in the project plans for the current year.
Besides, the Working group supported the proposal to hold an interregional conference on the Mezen problems in Koslan – it was planned for the last quarter of 2015.
At the suggestion of the Working group members, the plans have also been complemented by the activities on organization of the public control on the river, creation and placement of information banners on the most visited sites, holding a visiting session of the Working group in the neighbor Arkhangelsk district…
All of this will contribute to attaining the major objective – advancement towards sustainable river resources management in cooperation with the local population – residents of all three districts near the Mezen.
Translated by Irina Sokolova