A public discussion was held in the Komi Culture Center, Syktyvkar, on 26 October 2018. The discussion entitled ‘Role of Local Communities in Sustaining the Atlantic Salmon Population in the Mezen River’ was attended by representatives of the Working Group of the Model River Mezen project implemented by the Silver Taiga Foundation for Sustainable Development, and guest experts in fishery and fish breeding from the Komi Republic, Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions. The course of the discussion urged the participants to search answers for a great number of questions having emerged during the project. The three core questions were “What reasons prevent natural reproduction of the Atlantic Salmon in the Mezen?”; “Artificial Reproduction of the Atlantic Salmon – For or Against?”; “What is the Role of Local Communities in Sustaining the Mezen Salmon?” It turned out to be quite a difficult task to put the things right.
Amphibias, hydraulic jets, airboats, hydroplanes and helicopters are all on salmon’s way
The talk starts with some facts. As Nikolay Shilov, Model River Mezen project coordinator said, no one knows exactly now what Mezen tributaries the Atlantic salmon visit and how many of them do it for spawning, as there is no systematic state monitoring at the moment. There is one thing you can say for sure – the population of the Mezen salmon goes down each year. The fact is supported by the exact data provided both by locals and experts.
Nikolay Shilov, Model River Mezen project coordinator
It is common to believe that salmon started escaping the area in the 70s of the last century, when Bulgarian logging companies launched their operations in Udora district. But the researchers say that “the great depression” (reduced salmon catchment) began as long ago as in 1956, with the lowest point in 1992-1998, right after the perestroika. According to the famous Komi Republic ichthyologist V.G. Martynov’s estimations, before the depression the Mezen salmon population included 15-20 thousand individuals, while in the 2000s – from 0.6 to 1 thousand. In 1987, industrial catchment of salmon in the Mezen was suspended as a result of unprofitability. In the Komi Republic any catch of this fish is prohibited. According to the experts, catchment of the Mezen salmon reduced almost 70 times over the last 60 years – from 1,648 centners to a bit higher than 24. (According to the official data of the Federal State Fishery Agency “SevRybVod”, 24.6 centners of salmon were caught in Arkhangelsk region in 2016.
Valery Irkashev, representative of Murmansk region, head of the Murmansk Salmon Foundation, informed that illegal and uncontrolled tourist rafting activities damaged the Atlantic Salmon population at the spawning river Varzuga a lot. Each year up to 10 thousand tourists raft the river illegally. First, tourist groups of 10-15 people used canoes, but now hydraulic jets, airboats, amphibias, hydroplanes and helicopters are used to get people to the river. The peak of mass killings of the fish was in 2012-2014. As a result, the population of salmon in the Varzuga is almost extinct. Previously, schools of salmon reaching the Varzuga were as large as 100 thousand individuals, now their groups include from 1 to 10 thousand fishes. In addition to licensed amateur catchment the region allows industrial catch of fish (in the White Sea), however, the fishery companies suffer lower catchment volumes each year. According to Valery Irkashev, 40 years ago Murmansk region caught up to 1,000 tons of salmon per year, while last year the industrial catch was just 3.7 tons, with 26 tons allowed by quota, which means that industrial fishers caught just around 1,200 fishes. Based on the expert estimations, catchment of fish has reduced 270 times over the last 40 years.
Beavers against salmon?
“In the Komi Republic, local population believes that these are pontoon bridges, beaver dams and many other obstacles that do not allow the salmon to migrate for spawning there. The environment surely changes, but these are the least serious disturbances for the natural reproduction of salmon in the Mezen, to our minds,” Nikolay Shilov said.
According to him, depletion of fishery resources over the last 20-50 happened as a result of illegal fishing (wide use of fishing nets) caused by high unemployment rate and poverty among local people. A sharp decline of the Atlantic Salmon population is actually explained by overcatchment. As the Model River Mezen research proved, the volume of illegal catchment exceeds the legally allowed volume several times. Industrial wood harvesting and exploration of natural resources, which gave access to rivers for the general public, also had a negative impact.
“The main reason for the salmon population reduction is overexploitation, both legal and illegal. Salmon is depopulated intentionally and accidentally. We know some cases when people catch grayling with the use of chlorine (it is not a secret that such methods are also used), or with electric devices, so they make whole rifts, where young specimen of salmon live, uninhabitable. The adult, spawning population of salmon are not the only ones to suffer, sometimes youngsters are endangered as well,” Nikolay Shilov noted sadly.
Yury Shubin, representative of the Model River Mezen working group, also believes that poaching is the main reason for the reduced salmon population. “Spawners just cannot reach the spawning ground,” Yury Shupin says. Unlike Nikolay Shilov, he thinks that reduction of the Mezen salmon population was largely caused by changed natural and environmental factors over the last 20 years. “Owing to the global warming, hydraulogy, temperature and feed potential change. The changed conditions inhibit salmon youngsters growth,” Yury Shubin supposes.
“Poor supervision is the real problem,” Alexander Zakharov heading the group of ichthyology and hydrobiology in the zooecology department, the Institute of Biology of the Komi Scientific Center, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, says bitterly. “It is not only the Mezen problem, not the one of the Komi Republic only, the problem is relevant for the whole country. Now we are finishing the sturgeon stock, but years ago Russia used to have a huge stock of sturgeon. Weak fishery supervision is everywhere in Russia, not in Komi only. Reinforcement of supervision is the government’s task which was failed.”
Experts Yury Shubin and Alexander Zakharov
“It seems like we are fighting windmills!”
Will artificial salmon reproduction become a panacea? The Komi Republic has no such experience at the moment, but, as was reported by Valery Irkashev, Murmansk region makes such attempts to artificially replenish fish stock in some rivers, in particular, the Umba river. Murmansk region has 3 fish plants releasing salmon species into rivers. Last year, about one million of youngsters were released into the Umba. The cost of each baby fish was 200 rubles.
It is difficult to count exactly how many youngsters return for spawning, because young fishes are not marked before release. Around 90% are taken by poachers, and less than 1,000 spawners come back to the Umba. Owing to reinforced protection this year (even border police were engaged) more than 3,000 spawners have returned. “It’s a great achievement for the last 20 years,” Valery Irkashev proudly noted.
Artificial reproduction is implemented in Murmansk region through the Protect the Varzuga project expected to last for 6 years. The project is funded by the Barents Branch of the WWF.
As Valery Irkashev reported, it all started in 2014, when local residents wrote a letter to the Murmansk Region Duma (state assembly). The request stated that the salmon population in the Varzuga is endangered, while salmon catchment is the core of sustenance for the Pomorye people. After that, about 10 big meetings were conducted in the region, which resulted in creation of a working committee on salmon preservation in the Varzuga. Consequently, a comprehensive program was developed following the order of the governor.
According to the head of the Murmansk Salmon Foundation, in some minor rivers populations are completely depleted, so there is no chance for natural reproduction. But he is sure that an individual approach is necessary for every case. You need to create working committees, fulfil projects, examine the areas, and if the examination shows that the area is empty, implement artificial stock replenishment. “Well, of course, natural reproduction is 10 times more efficient than the artificial one. What are fish breeding plants? Construction of such a plant is our inability to ensure natural spawning. To replace the natural process by an artificial one you need hundreds, even thousands fish breeding plants. However, if we fail to ensure the natural process, we have to help through artificial stock replenishment, but we need to use certain advanced biomethods for fish breeding. It is necessary to use the experience of our foreign colleagues who have developed a lot of fish stock replenishment methods. In some cases it is enough to use smaller modular stations,” Valery Irkashev assures.
Artificial reproduction is especially needed in the rivers with densely populated banks. “Even scientists supporting natural reproduction say that such rivers as the Kola and Umba need to be stocked with fish artificially. People residing along the banks of these rivers suffer from unemployment. The only way to survive for the locals is to catch some fish in the river. Preservation actions are difficult to be implemented there. When you go along the Kola, you remove the nets installed, but if you look back, you see people putting nets again. It looks like fighting windmills. So, the only method to maintain the fish population is to operate a fish breeding plant on the Umba,” the head of the Murmansk Salmon Foundation says.
Introduction may lead to salmon gene pool erosion
The expert Yury Shubin thinks that artificial reproduction is necessary, because it is not only about the fish population reduction, but also about the destruction of spatial structure of rivers. “In our region the situation is different, our rivers have a lot of tributaries, and when previously experts noted distribution of spawning grounds along the main channel and tributaries, today spawning area is disseminated. Fish cultural activities may of course lead to gene pool erosion, but it is the best of a bad bunch,” the expert believes.
The ichthyologist Alexander Zakharov admits artificial reproduction possible, but he is quite pessimistic about this method. “Biotechnology, starting from obtaining spawners to keeping them, has not been tested well yet. We don’t know how it will affect the gene pool,” the scientist doubts.
Vladimir Maltsev, head of the Komi branch of the Federal Fishery Agency (GlavRybVod) totally disagrees. He states that Komi has specialists who are ready to adopt foreign experience and master the most up-to-date technology for stocking with fish and conduct tests. “There is no need today to discuss if fish breeding plants are necessary. Expressly yes. Places with no fish must be stocked with artificially bred youngsters. These are not only areas in the Mezen, but also in the upper reaches of the Pechora, the Ilych and tributaries of the Shchugor that need stock replenishment,” the head of the Komi branch of GlavRybVod argues heatedly.
He is decisively for “closing” such rivers as the Vym, Mezen and Pechora. “We won’t die of hunger”, Vladimir Maltsev states. “And the effect will be huge. Of course, supervision and control will be required.”
The head of the Komi branch of GlavRybVod informed that the documentation for the fish breeding plant construction in the Komi Republic is at the approval stage. It is expected that young fishes will be released everywhere in the region. The first batch of 500-700 thousand young graylings has been already released. Babies of cisco, omul and nelma are also planned for breeding and releasing. The AgroUdora cooperative in Udora district has tested the technology for pike reproduction. As the cooperative foreman Gennady Politov assures, pikes are already spawning. “We can already see some result. The pike swims in Krivushev-Ty lake like in an aquarium, they are all the same. It’s a great achievement for me,” Vladimir Maltsev cannot hide his emotions.
Prevent epidemics
Actually, artificial reproduction is not that promising, as it is shown by the head of the Komi branch of GlavRybVod. The topic was closed by Nikolay Shilov, Model River Mezen project coordinator, “When we meet Udora residents, we often hear ‘That’s the stream where salmon used to spawn, but not it doesn’t even come’. To restore micropopulations of salmon, which come to minor brooks, artificial reproduction is in fact something that is relevant. But unless there is control on the river, there will be no result irrespective of how many youngsters will be released, even though the locals insist on fish stocking. Everybody understands why they do it. Around 90 percent of the fish released will be harshly caught by local fishermen. There are other fish stocking methods as well. If you keep men away from rivers, salmon will return to minor rivers sooner or later. There are two-three percent of ‘explorers’ who will anyway enter new rivers and streams to inhabit the place, and we need to support the process, even though it is a very lengthy one.”
In addition, Nikolay Shilov gave some examples of negative effect of artificial fish stock replenishment. In some cases, both in Russia and abroad, artificially bred youngsters were infected with parasites, and after their release whole populations died. Huge resources were consumed to restore the schools of fish. Water reservoirs had to be decontaminated through complete eradication of all living organisms and further stocking with clean artificially bred individuals of the species eradicated. European and American experience supports the need to focus on natural mechanisms of salmon reproduction.
The problem of procuring and selecting spawners is one of the most challenging in artificial fish stocking. As Valery Irkashev said, there are fish stock replenishment methods with the help of smaller incubator redds, which do not need a lot of spawners – just 10 specimen will be enough. However, the efficiency of artificial incubator redds is 3-4 times higher than the one of natural redds. And the costs are minimal. Such low-cost methods are optimal for Russian conditions.
Role of local communities – positive or negative?
Good examples of local communities’ participation in maintaining Atlantic Salmon populations were reported by Valery Irkashev. Public fish protection was arranged under the Protect the Varzuga project in Murmansk region.
About 1 thousand people live in Varzuga. One third works at a local fishery firm, which offers amateur and sport fishing. The company also organizes preservation of fishery plots. And as soon as the Protect the Varzuga project was launched, it started conducting raids jointly with representatives of the community and supervisory authorities.
The whole district Tersky with the area of 2 million hectares has only 4 fishery inspectors. The area has over 40 bigger and smaller rivers. It is obvious that it is not possible for 4 men to supervise the whole area. That is why policemen, PA inspectors and public inspectors from the community are also part of anti-poaching teams, together with fishery inspectors. They patrol the river during the open water season right in spawning areas. Raid groups (from 4 to 10 people) spend 60 days on the river during open water. Extra monitoring is performed by anti-poaching groups from 20 May to 30 June, when tourist raft the Varzuga in large quantities.
“Previously, there was no poaching on these rivers. The population residing at the lower reaches followed a sacred rule – never touch fish heading for spawning. Over 600 years Pomors managed fishery resources at the Varzuga, and it was all fine. But over the last 30-40 years the development of technology and communications has led to manifold increase of amateur fishing, so the stock is getting depleted,” Valery Irkashev says.
Now, the Murmansk Salmon Foundation activists try to change the mentality of the locals and bring the old thinking, similar to the one when 100 years ago people though fish was theirs, back. The project facilitators believe that salmon will be used not just for eating. Today, many villages revive owing to tourism. And fish is the most attractive food for tourists. Tourists usually come to see the restored monuments, of course. But each of them would like to try a traditional fish soup in the evening. “The preserved fish stock will help Pomorye villages revive,” Valery Irkashev is sure.
Is poaching a human genetic disease?
Representatives of the Komi Republic are not that enthusiastic about participation of the locals in patrolling rivers. Natalya Vurdova from the Center of PA of the Komi Republic, having a long history of working as a fishery inspector in Udora district, ensures that these are mostly locals who poach in the Mezen. “5 years ago there were a lot of tourists on the river, but now you can hardly find any. Why? Because their expenditures never pay back. While the locals never go back home from the upper reaches of the river until they fill their 35-liter barrels with salmon,” Natalya Vurdova states.
Experts Alexander Zakharov and Yury Shubin also believe that local communities play a negative role rather than a positive one in maintaining the salmon population.
“I think, education of the new generation, enlightenment activities will provide a much better effect, than attempts to engage local population to supervisory actions which are to be fulfilled by the state,” Yury Shubin comments laconically.
Alexander Ermakov, director of the Center of PA of the Komi Republic, is positive about revival of the public inspector institute in Russia. “Unfortunately, their legal capabilities are quite limited. They serve as identifying witnesses only,” Alexander Ermakov said straight.
Participants of the discussion – Vladimir Maltsev and Alexander Ermakov
Nevertheless, he called for joining efforts to enhance the efficiency of control and supervisory activities and not to ignore public inspectors. The Center of PA knows some candidates for the position of public inspectors, who will be soon issued their ID documents after certification.
There won’t be a lot of such public inspectors, according to Alexander Ermakov. Most representatives of local communities prefer not getting involved in this initiative following the principle that informing on your neighbor is not good. The Murmansk representative Valery Irkashev admitted that in his region people are not willing much to participate in patrolling the aquatic area of the river. “We are trying to change their position through creating a community, we will organize territorial self-governments in village with the help of the state, such self-governments will deal, in particular, with environmental protection as well. We want to make people restore their confidence again that they can manage their resources. Territorial self-governments will shape public opinion that a person helping the fishery protection service is not a betrayer, but the one who serves the community through preservation and restoration of fish stock,” Valery Irkashev shares his plans.
Albert Loginov, who heads the Indigenous Peoples Community Udorachi said that he would agree to participate in such raids, if he were offered it. And if it ever happens, he will work for making those legal requirements implemented which he considers fair. “Today, amateur fishing by drift-nets is allowed at fishery plots at mid and lower reaches of the Mezen. It’s nonsense. In the upper reaches of the Mezen people also catch fish with drift-nets, as they observe their neighbours. Not a single fish will remain in this case”, Albert Loginov expresses his indignation.
Albert Loginov, head of the Indigenous Peoples Community Udorachi
Member of the Model River Mezen project working group Sergey Tsogov thinks that public inspectors will be useful only if they will be transferred from one district to another, for example, from Izhma to Ust-Tsilma, and vice versa, that means in case of cross patrolling. Sergey Tsogov is confident about it based on his 30-year experience in the fishery protection sphere. But according to him, you cannot eradicate poaching completely.
“It’s a genetic disease!” Sergey Tsogov exclaims. “In the Soviet era Komi had powerful groups consisting of fishery protection inspectors, militiamen, state inspectors of small vehicles, community activists, prosecutors and hunting supervision experts. From June to October, during months of autumn- and spring-spawning fish protection, 40-60 people from supervisory authorities moved on 4-5 large motor boats along the Pechora from the Nenets Autonomous Okrug to Vuktyl, escorting schools of fish. Up to 1,000 records used to be made, up to 3-4 tons of fish used to be confiscated, but people still violated the law. I talked to poachers arrested, and they couldn’t explain why they risked so much. They were simply charmed by flocks of fish. “You should have seen how she moved!” They called salmon as a she! How can you explain it?”
Hit them in the pocket
After the lyrical pause the participants of the discussion started offering tougher punishment. The most radical solution was suggested by Alexander Zakharov who claimed a fine of 20 thousand euros, 4 months of compulsory labour, and confiscation of the equipment.
Valery Irkashev believes that the fine for an illegally caught individual of salmon should be at least 100 thousand rubles. Now, the amount is just 1,250 rubles. “According to the acting legislation, depending on the damage, administrative penalty turns into a criminal one. But it is not about punishing, but reimbursing the damage. The cost value of one salmon during artificial reproduction is actually 100 thousand rubles. It is the price for the salmon to get back to the river. The salmon weighing 10 kilos costs 10 thousand rubles at the market, while a poacher pays just 1,250 rubles. The compensation is far from being fair. We are fighting addressing various legislative and executive authorities, but cannot prove our right yet.”
Having set all the issues straight, the discussion participants came to the conclusion that stakeholders of all three neighbouring regions participating in the talks need to join their efforts and exchange their experience more frequently.
Unfortunately, as Silver Taiga Foundation’s director Yury Pautov noted at the end of the meeting, it was only the Silver Taiga Foundation which worked on development of the Interregional program for the Mezen salmon preservation and reproduction. “Hopefully, other organizations will join us as well,” Yury Pautov summed up.
The discussion resulted in the decision to address the administrations of the Komi Republic and Arkhangelsk region with a statement saying that high-quality monitoring and preservation of salmon are only possible under the condition of interregional and interdepartmental cooperation and openness of all data obtained. The discussion participants submitted their requests to the Governments of Arkhangelsk region and the Komi Republic on support of the developed interregional program and provision of feasible state co-funding.
At the discussion
The discussion was part of the Barents-Baltic “Nature and Man” Program supported by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Komi Model Forest is the Only Model Forest in Russia
| News by Just AuthorYury Pautov took part in the skype meeting of the European Model Forests (MF) representatives in December 2018. International MF Network Secretariat participated in the meeting as well. There are more than 60 MFs in the world nowadays, 12 of them are in Europe including Komi Model Forest – the only MF in Russia nowadays.
The first MF was created in Canada in the beginning of 90s of the last century. Later on other MFs appeared in different countries of the world. Depletion of forest resources, loss of biodiversity and high conservation value forests, conflicts between stakeholders and other issues were burning at that time. And so the aim of the MF was to create a sustainable forest management model, a platform for solving the forestry problems at the given territory and to disseminate the gained experience later on.
In 1998 a few tens of MFs joined in the International Network. Each MF is unique but forest management in each of them should answer some necessary criteria – landscape approach, cooperation of all forest stakeholders, forest management innovations.
Komi MF is also a member of International MF Network since 2007 and so it is presented in all MF meetings and conferences. During the last meeting the MF representatives from Sweden, Poland, Croatia, Spain, Italy and other European countries exchanged the information about their activities and discussed urgent issues common for most of the forest areas.
Unfortunately, the MFs are not so active as they used to be due to the lack of financing first of all. Komi Mf is not an exception. In recent years only Silver Taiga Foundation support Komi MF under its projects. In particular, the MF demonstrational routes are being refreshed and used for educational purposes for Russian and international students.
According to Yury Pautov European MFs have better financial conditions than others as many of them get EU grants. It is not possible for Russia due to different penalties. Nevertheless, Komi MF is still a platform for many taiga forest innovations testing.
Photo from the International MF Network web site http://www.imfn.net
TOGETHER WITH KOMI VOITYR
| News by Just AuthorSilver Taiga representatives participated in the conference of interregional social movement Komi Voityr (Komi People) held on November 15, 2018 in Usogorsk village (Udora district of Komi).
Silver Taiga Deputy Director/Local Communities Project Manager Valentina Semyashkina proposed the local population to use the FSC-certification mechanisms extensively to defend their social interests while coordinating the actions with the logging companies operating on the territory. There are two large logging companies in Udora district (Mondi Syktyvkar and Luzales) and both of them are FSC-certified. The Foundation is ready to conduct some workshops and to explain the local population their rights in accordance with the FSC-standards.
Silver Taiga Deputy Director V. Semyashkina
Another issue proposed by V. Semyashkina was devoted to interregional salmon protection program developed under Model River Mezen project. According to the activists the program should be included into the state programs and be co-financed by the budget.
The participants of the conference decided also to remind the authorities about one more Komi Voityr initiative concerning the limitation of bioresources use in Udora Reserve. The proposal was already sent to the Ministry of Nature of Komi a year and a half ago and there is no answer yet.
Moreover, V. Semyashkina recommended to come forward with an initiative to Udora Delegates Council to keep the transportation of Moscow rubbish at bay. The conference participants agree that it is necessary to put a moratorium on transportation of rubbish from the center of Russia to the northern regions.
Besides, the whole host of social and economical issues were discussed during the conference.
Udora branch of Komi Voityr movement is one of the main Silver Taiga partners. V. Semyshkina thanked the social activists for the longstanding fruitful cooperation.
Udora branch of Komi Voityr movement is one of the main Silver Taiga partners
“PAINFUL” PUNISHMENT
| News by Just AuthorThe Government of the Russian Federation has approved new costs to calculate the extent of poaching damage.
For example, the cost for the Atlantic salmon damage has increased up to 11 times – from 1250 RUB to 13675 RUB. The cost for such popular in Mezen species as lamprey – 5685 RUB, grayling and pike – 925 RUB, ide and bream – 500 RUB, dace, crucian and perch – 250 RUB. The cost for the salmon roe has also raised. The half-price for the corresponded fish species will be added to each roe kilogram.
It should be also noted that penalty size for illegal fishing can be even higher when, for example, the fish is caught during the closed season or on the area where the fishing is limited.
The full text of the Governmental Order you can find in the official internet portal of the legal information (in Russian) http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001201811090001?index=0&rangeSize=1
CONTINUOUS SEARCH OF NEW COMMUNICATION FORMS TO INTERACT WITH LOCALS
| «Model river «Mezen» project by Just AuthorAnother meeting under the Silver Taiga Model River Mezen project was held on 26 October 2018 in the Center for Komi Culture, Syktyvkar. The project has been ongoing for 7 years already, and the number of people engaged has increased from 200 people (in 2011) to 1200 (in 2017). The Working Group has regular meetings with the involvement of experts to analyze intermediary results of the project.
Almost all members of the Working Group supported the Foundation’s activities related to creation of awareness among the population about the fishery resource issues and potential solution for such problems. The Foundation’s staff arrange meetings with residents of Udora, Leshukonye and Mezen villages located along the Mezen river, they organize “round-table” discussions and workshops promoting development of sustainable river management methods (12 round table meetings on river resource management have been conducted over the last years in total).
The Model River Mezen thematic supplement to the Udora district newspaper is still published and distributed among the population – over 40 issues with the circulation of 2,000 copies each have been printed over that last 7 years. The project team published a bright pin-up loose-leaf calendar containing information about the Mezen villages (500 copies each year) and distributes them among the Foundation’s partners. 4 issues of the Along the Mezen calendar have been published as well.
The project working group appreciated the Foundation’s data materials
The project circulates the project information booklet and other materials and installed information boards in Udora district schools. Villages of Udora district in Komi and settlements of Leshukonye district in Arkhangelsk region arrange popular lectures on the Mezen ichthyology. People are being well informed by libraries. The intellectual game What? Where? When? for youth has become a tradition in Udora district. Moreover, a team of students have been successfully volunteering to promote environmental topics in remote villages along the Vashka river.
The Summer Ichthyology School has operated since 2015. More than 80 school students have been trained there over the last 4 years. The environmental and regional study conference Istoki (literally “Beginnings”) featuring school students’ research presentations is held annually by the Komi Republic Center of PA and Udora district education administration. Each year around 50-60 children participate in various conferences. This year, the first environmental and regional study expedition was arranged for a group of schoolers and adults (their parents) along the interregional route passing by Bolshaya Pyssa, Latyuga, Zubovo, Rodoma and Vozhgora jointly with the company Ozherelye Udory (literally Udora Necklace).
“It is the only successful fish culture education project in the Komi Republic,” Tatyana Tyupenko, member of the Model River Mezen project working group, believes.
The inter-village Mezen Day event got special attention. About 600 people took part in it last year and this year.
“The Foundation found a very interesting way to communicate with the local population. Silver Taiga positioned rural residents really high with this event, actually they raised the status of a simple village dweller. The Foundation showed that it is a local resident who is the master of the land. A lot of people were engaged in the event, however, I felt very comfortable. It is necessary to continue this practice and maybe to launch a similar event in Arkhangelsk region, Alina Vaneyeva, member of the project working group and director of the Udora centralized library, said.
Gennady Politov and Alina Vaneyeva
“People are pushed away from the river resources by the mismatch between the laws and real life. Punishments are used for ordinary people only, not for big industrial monopolies. So, an ordinary dweller just says, “Dash it all!” That is why the main objective of the project is dealing with people,” said another member of the project working group and head of the Indigenous Peoples Community Udorachi Albert Loginov.
Working group members think it is important to continue the project’s focus on development of sustainable river management methods among the local population, in particular, through involvement of the AgroUdora cooperative.
“Fish stocking activities turned out to be very effective. We need more cooperatives. When AgroUdora started functioning, people’s interest rose. They began cutting grass along river banks, remove brushwood arount them,” Gennady Politov from AgroUdora believes.
Over 500 thousand young fishes have been released at the AgroUdora fishery plots. The Foundation’s staff justified the volumes and spots for fish release, digitalized and analyzed data of industrial logs. In addition, they organized workshops for Udora users on salmon redds monitoring and identification.
According to Galina Kuksa, head of the Water Resources Department, Dvina-Pechora basin water management board, the project needs to have a water resources management focus as well in order to assess the water quality in the Mezen and its tributaries in progress.
In general, the project results were assessed highly by experts. However, engagement of other public organizations, search of support in federal legislative and executive bodies were recommended by the Working Group members to increase efficiency.
INCUBATOR SALMON – TO BE OR NOT TO BE?
| «Model river «Mezen» project by Just AuthorA public discussion was held in the Komi Culture Center, Syktyvkar, on 26 October 2018. The discussion entitled ‘Role of Local Communities in Sustaining the Atlantic Salmon Population in the Mezen River’ was attended by representatives of the Working Group of the Model River Mezen project implemented by the Silver Taiga Foundation for Sustainable Development, and guest experts in fishery and fish breeding from the Komi Republic, Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions. The course of the discussion urged the participants to search answers for a great number of questions having emerged during the project. The three core questions were “What reasons prevent natural reproduction of the Atlantic Salmon in the Mezen?”; “Artificial Reproduction of the Atlantic Salmon – For or Against?”; “What is the Role of Local Communities in Sustaining the Mezen Salmon?” It turned out to be quite a difficult task to put the things right.
Amphibias, hydraulic jets, airboats, hydroplanes and helicopters are all on salmon’s way
The talk starts with some facts. As Nikolay Shilov, Model River Mezen project coordinator said, no one knows exactly now what Mezen tributaries the Atlantic salmon visit and how many of them do it for spawning, as there is no systematic state monitoring at the moment. There is one thing you can say for sure – the population of the Mezen salmon goes down each year. The fact is supported by the exact data provided both by locals and experts.
Nikolay Shilov, Model River Mezen project coordinator
It is common to believe that salmon started escaping the area in the 70s of the last century, when Bulgarian logging companies launched their operations in Udora district. But the researchers say that “the great depression” (reduced salmon catchment) began as long ago as in 1956, with the lowest point in 1992-1998, right after the perestroika. According to the famous Komi Republic ichthyologist V.G. Martynov’s estimations, before the depression the Mezen salmon population included 15-20 thousand individuals, while in the 2000s – from 0.6 to 1 thousand. In 1987, industrial catchment of salmon in the Mezen was suspended as a result of unprofitability. In the Komi Republic any catch of this fish is prohibited. According to the experts, catchment of the Mezen salmon reduced almost 70 times over the last 60 years – from 1,648 centners to a bit higher than 24. (According to the official data of the Federal State Fishery Agency “SevRybVod”, 24.6 centners of salmon were caught in Arkhangelsk region in 2016.
Valery Irkashev, representative of Murmansk region, head of the Murmansk Salmon Foundation, informed that illegal and uncontrolled tourist rafting activities damaged the Atlantic Salmon population at the spawning river Varzuga a lot. Each year up to 10 thousand tourists raft the river illegally. First, tourist groups of 10-15 people used canoes, but now hydraulic jets, airboats, amphibias, hydroplanes and helicopters are used to get people to the river. The peak of mass killings of the fish was in 2012-2014. As a result, the population of salmon in the Varzuga is almost extinct. Previously, schools of salmon reaching the Varzuga were as large as 100 thousand individuals, now their groups include from 1 to 10 thousand fishes. In addition to licensed amateur catchment the region allows industrial catch of fish (in the White Sea), however, the fishery companies suffer lower catchment volumes each year. According to Valery Irkashev, 40 years ago Murmansk region caught up to 1,000 tons of salmon per year, while last year the industrial catch was just 3.7 tons, with 26 tons allowed by quota, which means that industrial fishers caught just around 1,200 fishes. Based on the expert estimations, catchment of fish has reduced 270 times over the last 40 years.
Beavers against salmon?
“In the Komi Republic, local population believes that these are pontoon bridges, beaver dams and many other obstacles that do not allow the salmon to migrate for spawning there. The environment surely changes, but these are the least serious disturbances for the natural reproduction of salmon in the Mezen, to our minds,” Nikolay Shilov said.
According to him, depletion of fishery resources over the last 20-50 happened as a result of illegal fishing (wide use of fishing nets) caused by high unemployment rate and poverty among local people. A sharp decline of the Atlantic Salmon population is actually explained by overcatchment. As the Model River Mezen research proved, the volume of illegal catchment exceeds the legally allowed volume several times. Industrial wood harvesting and exploration of natural resources, which gave access to rivers for the general public, also had a negative impact.
“The main reason for the salmon population reduction is overexploitation, both legal and illegal. Salmon is depopulated intentionally and accidentally. We know some cases when people catch grayling with the use of chlorine (it is not a secret that such methods are also used), or with electric devices, so they make whole rifts, where young specimen of salmon live, uninhabitable. The adult, spawning population of salmon are not the only ones to suffer, sometimes youngsters are endangered as well,” Nikolay Shilov noted sadly.
Yury Shubin, representative of the Model River Mezen working group, also believes that poaching is the main reason for the reduced salmon population. “Spawners just cannot reach the spawning ground,” Yury Shupin says. Unlike Nikolay Shilov, he thinks that reduction of the Mezen salmon population was largely caused by changed natural and environmental factors over the last 20 years. “Owing to the global warming, hydraulogy, temperature and feed potential change. The changed conditions inhibit salmon youngsters growth,” Yury Shubin supposes.
“Poor supervision is the real problem,” Alexander Zakharov heading the group of ichthyology and hydrobiology in the zooecology department, the Institute of Biology of the Komi Scientific Center, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, says bitterly. “It is not only the Mezen problem, not the one of the Komi Republic only, the problem is relevant for the whole country. Now we are finishing the sturgeon stock, but years ago Russia used to have a huge stock of sturgeon. Weak fishery supervision is everywhere in Russia, not in Komi only. Reinforcement of supervision is the government’s task which was failed.”
Experts Yury Shubin and Alexander Zakharov
“It seems like we are fighting windmills!”
Will artificial salmon reproduction become a panacea? The Komi Republic has no such experience at the moment, but, as was reported by Valery Irkashev, Murmansk region makes such attempts to artificially replenish fish stock in some rivers, in particular, the Umba river. Murmansk region has 3 fish plants releasing salmon species into rivers. Last year, about one million of youngsters were released into the Umba. The cost of each baby fish was 200 rubles.
It is difficult to count exactly how many youngsters return for spawning, because young fishes are not marked before release. Around 90% are taken by poachers, and less than 1,000 spawners come back to the Umba. Owing to reinforced protection this year (even border police were engaged) more than 3,000 spawners have returned. “It’s a great achievement for the last 20 years,” Valery Irkashev proudly noted.
Artificial reproduction is implemented in Murmansk region through the Protect the Varzuga project expected to last for 6 years. The project is funded by the Barents Branch of the WWF.
As Valery Irkashev reported, it all started in 2014, when local residents wrote a letter to the Murmansk Region Duma (state assembly). The request stated that the salmon population in the Varzuga is endangered, while salmon catchment is the core of sustenance for the Pomorye people. After that, about 10 big meetings were conducted in the region, which resulted in creation of a working committee on salmon preservation in the Varzuga. Consequently, a comprehensive program was developed following the order of the governor.
According to the head of the Murmansk Salmon Foundation, in some minor rivers populations are completely depleted, so there is no chance for natural reproduction. But he is sure that an individual approach is necessary for every case. You need to create working committees, fulfil projects, examine the areas, and if the examination shows that the area is empty, implement artificial stock replenishment. “Well, of course, natural reproduction is 10 times more efficient than the artificial one. What are fish breeding plants? Construction of such a plant is our inability to ensure natural spawning. To replace the natural process by an artificial one you need hundreds, even thousands fish breeding plants. However, if we fail to ensure the natural process, we have to help through artificial stock replenishment, but we need to use certain advanced biomethods for fish breeding. It is necessary to use the experience of our foreign colleagues who have developed a lot of fish stock replenishment methods. In some cases it is enough to use smaller modular stations,” Valery Irkashev assures.
Artificial reproduction is especially needed in the rivers with densely populated banks. “Even scientists supporting natural reproduction say that such rivers as the Kola and Umba need to be stocked with fish artificially. People residing along the banks of these rivers suffer from unemployment. The only way to survive for the locals is to catch some fish in the river. Preservation actions are difficult to be implemented there. When you go along the Kola, you remove the nets installed, but if you look back, you see people putting nets again. It looks like fighting windmills. So, the only method to maintain the fish population is to operate a fish breeding plant on the Umba,” the head of the Murmansk Salmon Foundation says.
Introduction may lead to salmon gene pool erosion
The expert Yury Shubin thinks that artificial reproduction is necessary, because it is not only about the fish population reduction, but also about the destruction of spatial structure of rivers. “In our region the situation is different, our rivers have a lot of tributaries, and when previously experts noted distribution of spawning grounds along the main channel and tributaries, today spawning area is disseminated. Fish cultural activities may of course lead to gene pool erosion, but it is the best of a bad bunch,” the expert believes.
The ichthyologist Alexander Zakharov admits artificial reproduction possible, but he is quite pessimistic about this method. “Biotechnology, starting from obtaining spawners to keeping them, has not been tested well yet. We don’t know how it will affect the gene pool,” the scientist doubts.
Vladimir Maltsev, head of the Komi branch of the Federal Fishery Agency (GlavRybVod) totally disagrees. He states that Komi has specialists who are ready to adopt foreign experience and master the most up-to-date technology for stocking with fish and conduct tests. “There is no need today to discuss if fish breeding plants are necessary. Expressly yes. Places with no fish must be stocked with artificially bred youngsters. These are not only areas in the Mezen, but also in the upper reaches of the Pechora, the Ilych and tributaries of the Shchugor that need stock replenishment,” the head of the Komi branch of GlavRybVod argues heatedly.
He is decisively for “closing” such rivers as the Vym, Mezen and Pechora. “We won’t die of hunger”, Vladimir Maltsev states. “And the effect will be huge. Of course, supervision and control will be required.”
The head of the Komi branch of GlavRybVod informed that the documentation for the fish breeding plant construction in the Komi Republic is at the approval stage. It is expected that young fishes will be released everywhere in the region. The first batch of 500-700 thousand young graylings has been already released. Babies of cisco, omul and nelma are also planned for breeding and releasing. The AgroUdora cooperative in Udora district has tested the technology for pike reproduction. As the cooperative foreman Gennady Politov assures, pikes are already spawning. “We can already see some result. The pike swims in Krivushev-Ty lake like in an aquarium, they are all the same. It’s a great achievement for me,” Vladimir Maltsev cannot hide his emotions.
Prevent epidemics
Actually, artificial reproduction is not that promising, as it is shown by the head of the Komi branch of GlavRybVod. The topic was closed by Nikolay Shilov, Model River Mezen project coordinator, “When we meet Udora residents, we often hear ‘That’s the stream where salmon used to spawn, but not it doesn’t even come’. To restore micropopulations of salmon, which come to minor brooks, artificial reproduction is in fact something that is relevant. But unless there is control on the river, there will be no result irrespective of how many youngsters will be released, even though the locals insist on fish stocking. Everybody understands why they do it. Around 90 percent of the fish released will be harshly caught by local fishermen. There are other fish stocking methods as well. If you keep men away from rivers, salmon will return to minor rivers sooner or later. There are two-three percent of ‘explorers’ who will anyway enter new rivers and streams to inhabit the place, and we need to support the process, even though it is a very lengthy one.”
In addition, Nikolay Shilov gave some examples of negative effect of artificial fish stock replenishment. In some cases, both in Russia and abroad, artificially bred youngsters were infected with parasites, and after their release whole populations died. Huge resources were consumed to restore the schools of fish. Water reservoirs had to be decontaminated through complete eradication of all living organisms and further stocking with clean artificially bred individuals of the species eradicated. European and American experience supports the need to focus on natural mechanisms of salmon reproduction.
The problem of procuring and selecting spawners is one of the most challenging in artificial fish stocking. As Valery Irkashev said, there are fish stock replenishment methods with the help of smaller incubator redds, which do not need a lot of spawners – just 10 specimen will be enough. However, the efficiency of artificial incubator redds is 3-4 times higher than the one of natural redds. And the costs are minimal. Such low-cost methods are optimal for Russian conditions.
Role of local communities – positive or negative?
Good examples of local communities’ participation in maintaining Atlantic Salmon populations were reported by Valery Irkashev. Public fish protection was arranged under the Protect the Varzuga project in Murmansk region.
About 1 thousand people live in Varzuga. One third works at a local fishery firm, which offers amateur and sport fishing. The company also organizes preservation of fishery plots. And as soon as the Protect the Varzuga project was launched, it started conducting raids jointly with representatives of the community and supervisory authorities.
The whole district Tersky with the area of 2 million hectares has only 4 fishery inspectors. The area has over 40 bigger and smaller rivers. It is obvious that it is not possible for 4 men to supervise the whole area. That is why policemen, PA inspectors and public inspectors from the community are also part of anti-poaching teams, together with fishery inspectors. They patrol the river during the open water season right in spawning areas. Raid groups (from 4 to 10 people) spend 60 days on the river during open water. Extra monitoring is performed by anti-poaching groups from 20 May to 30 June, when tourist raft the Varzuga in large quantities.
“Previously, there was no poaching on these rivers. The population residing at the lower reaches followed a sacred rule – never touch fish heading for spawning. Over 600 years Pomors managed fishery resources at the Varzuga, and it was all fine. But over the last 30-40 years the development of technology and communications has led to manifold increase of amateur fishing, so the stock is getting depleted,” Valery Irkashev says.
Now, the Murmansk Salmon Foundation activists try to change the mentality of the locals and bring the old thinking, similar to the one when 100 years ago people though fish was theirs, back. The project facilitators believe that salmon will be used not just for eating. Today, many villages revive owing to tourism. And fish is the most attractive food for tourists. Tourists usually come to see the restored monuments, of course. But each of them would like to try a traditional fish soup in the evening. “The preserved fish stock will help Pomorye villages revive,” Valery Irkashev is sure.
Is poaching a human genetic disease?
Representatives of the Komi Republic are not that enthusiastic about participation of the locals in patrolling rivers. Natalya Vurdova from the Center of PA of the Komi Republic, having a long history of working as a fishery inspector in Udora district, ensures that these are mostly locals who poach in the Mezen. “5 years ago there were a lot of tourists on the river, but now you can hardly find any. Why? Because their expenditures never pay back. While the locals never go back home from the upper reaches of the river until they fill their 35-liter barrels with salmon,” Natalya Vurdova states.
Experts Alexander Zakharov and Yury Shubin also believe that local communities play a negative role rather than a positive one in maintaining the salmon population.
“I think, education of the new generation, enlightenment activities will provide a much better effect, than attempts to engage local population to supervisory actions which are to be fulfilled by the state,” Yury Shubin comments laconically.
Alexander Ermakov, director of the Center of PA of the Komi Republic, is positive about revival of the public inspector institute in Russia. “Unfortunately, their legal capabilities are quite limited. They serve as identifying witnesses only,” Alexander Ermakov said straight.
Participants of the discussion – Vladimir Maltsev and Alexander Ermakov
Nevertheless, he called for joining efforts to enhance the efficiency of control and supervisory activities and not to ignore public inspectors. The Center of PA knows some candidates for the position of public inspectors, who will be soon issued their ID documents after certification.
There won’t be a lot of such public inspectors, according to Alexander Ermakov. Most representatives of local communities prefer not getting involved in this initiative following the principle that informing on your neighbor is not good. The Murmansk representative Valery Irkashev admitted that in his region people are not willing much to participate in patrolling the aquatic area of the river. “We are trying to change their position through creating a community, we will organize territorial self-governments in village with the help of the state, such self-governments will deal, in particular, with environmental protection as well. We want to make people restore their confidence again that they can manage their resources. Territorial self-governments will shape public opinion that a person helping the fishery protection service is not a betrayer, but the one who serves the community through preservation and restoration of fish stock,” Valery Irkashev shares his plans.
Albert Loginov, who heads the Indigenous Peoples Community Udorachi said that he would agree to participate in such raids, if he were offered it. And if it ever happens, he will work for making those legal requirements implemented which he considers fair. “Today, amateur fishing by drift-nets is allowed at fishery plots at mid and lower reaches of the Mezen. It’s nonsense. In the upper reaches of the Mezen people also catch fish with drift-nets, as they observe their neighbours. Not a single fish will remain in this case”, Albert Loginov expresses his indignation.
Albert Loginov, head of the Indigenous Peoples Community Udorachi
Member of the Model River Mezen project working group Sergey Tsogov thinks that public inspectors will be useful only if they will be transferred from one district to another, for example, from Izhma to Ust-Tsilma, and vice versa, that means in case of cross patrolling. Sergey Tsogov is confident about it based on his 30-year experience in the fishery protection sphere. But according to him, you cannot eradicate poaching completely.
“It’s a genetic disease!” Sergey Tsogov exclaims. “In the Soviet era Komi had powerful groups consisting of fishery protection inspectors, militiamen, state inspectors of small vehicles, community activists, prosecutors and hunting supervision experts. From June to October, during months of autumn- and spring-spawning fish protection, 40-60 people from supervisory authorities moved on 4-5 large motor boats along the Pechora from the Nenets Autonomous Okrug to Vuktyl, escorting schools of fish. Up to 1,000 records used to be made, up to 3-4 tons of fish used to be confiscated, but people still violated the law. I talked to poachers arrested, and they couldn’t explain why they risked so much. They were simply charmed by flocks of fish. “You should have seen how she moved!” They called salmon as a she! How can you explain it?”
Hit them in the pocket
After the lyrical pause the participants of the discussion started offering tougher punishment. The most radical solution was suggested by Alexander Zakharov who claimed a fine of 20 thousand euros, 4 months of compulsory labour, and confiscation of the equipment.
Valery Irkashev believes that the fine for an illegally caught individual of salmon should be at least 100 thousand rubles. Now, the amount is just 1,250 rubles. “According to the acting legislation, depending on the damage, administrative penalty turns into a criminal one. But it is not about punishing, but reimbursing the damage. The cost value of one salmon during artificial reproduction is actually 100 thousand rubles. It is the price for the salmon to get back to the river. The salmon weighing 10 kilos costs 10 thousand rubles at the market, while a poacher pays just 1,250 rubles. The compensation is far from being fair. We are fighting addressing various legislative and executive authorities, but cannot prove our right yet.”
Having set all the issues straight, the discussion participants came to the conclusion that stakeholders of all three neighbouring regions participating in the talks need to join their efforts and exchange their experience more frequently.
Unfortunately, as Silver Taiga Foundation’s director Yury Pautov noted at the end of the meeting, it was only the Silver Taiga Foundation which worked on development of the Interregional program for the Mezen salmon preservation and reproduction. “Hopefully, other organizations will join us as well,” Yury Pautov summed up.
The discussion resulted in the decision to address the administrations of the Komi Republic and Arkhangelsk region with a statement saying that high-quality monitoring and preservation of salmon are only possible under the condition of interregional and interdepartmental cooperation and openness of all data obtained. The discussion participants submitted their requests to the Governments of Arkhangelsk region and the Komi Republic on support of the developed interregional program and provision of feasible state co-funding.
At the discussion
The discussion was part of the Barents-Baltic “Nature and Man” Program supported by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
FOREST MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE OF KOMI HAS BEEN PRESENTED IN SKOLKOVO
| News by Just AuthorSilver Taiga Director Yury Pautov reported before the future Russian leaders in the field of bioeconomics and sustainable forest management in Moscow management school SKOLKOVO during the forum «Sustainable forest management in Russia: importance for the companies at present time and in the future». Yury Pautov’s presentation was devoted to the experience of Komi Model Forest project under FSC-certification implementation in Komi. The forum was held on October 15-19, 2018.
SKOLKOVO – widely known scientific and innovation center, a platform for new management solutions including forest management. About 35 young forestry leaders from different regions of Russia including Komi participated in the forum. Besides Yury Pautov there reported the representative of the Ministry of Industry of Komi Andrey Krivoshein. He spoke about the bioeconomics development in the region.
The audience
Sustainable forest management is the balance of economical, ecological and social interests of different forest stakeholders. That is why the Silver Taiga presentation based on the results of Komi Model Forest project, which aim was a practical implementation of international sustainable forest management principals by the example of a typical Russian forest management and taiga landscape unit – Priluzje forestry unit with the area of 800 ha. The special attention Yury Pautov paid to the social interests of local communities during planning and organization of forest use on local, municipal, regional and national levels. He gave the concrete examples showing how it is difficult to achieve a harmonious development of the forest area without this social component.
The speakers of the forum
According to Yury Pautov the audience was most of all interested in such issues as recording and finding of mushrooms and berries sites for the local population during forestry planning and activity, consideration of the interests of rare but very active groups of hunters and fishermen. The experience of Silver Taiga Foundation and cooperating organizations in conflict management during forest use attracted the participants’ attention as well. The audience also agreed that the forestry and environmental legislation concerning the local population interests should be improved. Surely, the social issues of a voluntary forest certification were discussed among the others.
Photo by Yury Pautov
TIMBER COMPANIES SHOULD BE READY TO GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE CHALLENGES
| News by Just AuthorThis issue was discussed during the workshop «Evaluation of the possible climate change impact on forest and forestry in the North-West of Russia», held on October 4, 2018 in Pertozavodsk. About 40 specialists from scientific institutions, forest companies, government agencies, NGOs of the North-West of Russia, Finland and Sweden visited the workshop. Silver Taiga representatives Yury Pautov and Alexander Borovlev participated in the forum as well.
The aim of the workshop was to present the results of the joint investigations of Finnish, Sweden and Karelian scientists about nowadays climate change in Fennoscandia, the possible climate change models for the nearest 50 years and its consequences for the forest, forestry and forest industry as a whole in Barents region. The given workshop is interesting for Silver Taiga as the foundation is going to start a new project on estimation of carbon absorption by the forest ecosystems in different forestry development models in Komi Republic and in connection with climate change.
According to Yury Pautov the beginning of the workshop was very demonstrative when Kheli Peltola from Eastern Finland University proposed to answer the following questions: «Do you think that the climate is already changing?», «Do such changes influence the forest ecosystems and the forestry?», «Is it necessary to develop measures aimed at adaptation of forestry to the current and future climate changes right now?». The audience answered «Yes» unanimously all these questions.
At the workshop
All the reporters of the workshop noted that climate change has already influenced the forest use and regeneration. In particular, the snow breaks during winter time happen more often and it causes problems with the roads and river crossing in the northern regions. Late snow cover and poor soil freezing result in winter loggings limitations. All these problems are typical for Komi Republic and the North-West of Russia as well because up to 70% of wood is cut during winter time there.
Other problems that can appear because of climate change are destructive insects and forest diseases. According to Olli-Pekka Tikkanen from Eastern Finland University the number of eight-toothed bark beetles has increased in South and Middle Finland and it was decided to cut the wilted fir trees. The same situation was in Moscow area in 2010-2015 and in the adjacent northern continent. In Canada, for example, because of the bark beetles outbreak almost all shore pine forests (Pinus contorta) have disappeared. Not only forests suffer from climate change. Dieback of forest damage everything from food chains to the local economics. The scientists from Finland believe that it is necessary to take into consideration more stable forests including birch and wind-resistant pine trees during forest regeneration.
«Everything mentioned above proves that it is necessary to develop measures aimed at adaptation of forestry to the climate changes already now and different possible scenarios should be taken into account», – says Yury Pautov. «In particular, the forestry specialists in Sweden are cooperating already with the private forest users by convincing them to change the ways of forest management for adaptation to future negative climatic changes such as windfalls, fires, destructive insects. In Russia the main forest owner is the state and there are no completed programs on adaptation to climatic changes yet, they are in the process». According to Yury Pautov large timber companies are at risk above all others in this situation as they make serious investments into wood processing. New timber mills follow the current extensive forestry model — «cut and forget» and so they can have not enough forest resources for nonstop production.
SCHOOLCHILDREN FROM PRILUZJE TRIED THE ROLE OF FOREST STAKEHOLDERS
| News by Just AuthorSilver Taiga Foundation organized a meeting in Priluzje secondary school under International FSC-Friday event on September 28, 2018. The meeting combined the representatives of Priluzje forestry unit, Silver Taiga Foundation, Priluzje Public Forest Council, Letka school forestry unit and Objachevo schoolchildren.
Participants of the meeting
Silver Taiga Deputy Director Valentina Semyashkina told about the history of FSC-Friday, its goals and achievements. Silver Taiga participates in this event for several years running on different platforms with the involvement of school forestry units from different districts of Komi.
Silver Taiga Deputy Director Valentina Semyashkina speaking about FSC-Friday
Priluzje Forestry Unit Deputy Director Yury Serditov told about the school forestry units history in Priluzje. They were very successful in the 80s of the last century and in the beginning of 90s they were on the wane. Then in 2001-2003 school forestry units returned to life in several villages of the district. But nowadays only one of them is functioning in Letka village. However, according to Yury Serditov Priluzje Forestry Unit is ready to support the schools if they want to restart the forestry units’ activity.
Yury Serditov
Children from Letka forestry unit told their age-mates from Objachevo village about their “green” activities and their head Marina Sidorova discover the difficulties that the forestry unit faces. The main problem is the lack of funding of the participation in different ecological events outside the village and district. They participate only in the actions organized by Komi Regional Forestry Community as the Community reimburses the travel and meal expenses.
School children from Letka forestry unit told about their «green» activities
Konstantin Serditov, the representative of the district newspaper Znamya Truda (the member of Priluzje Community Forest Council) told about the Forest Council supplement to the newspaper with the focus on forest use in Priluzje district and invite the children to become the young correspondent of the newspaper.
Konstantin Serditov
At the end of the meeting Silver Taiga representatives conducted the business role-playing game aiming at solving the conflict between local people and a logging company. The game based on real events held in one of the forest districts in Komi. The school children tried the roles of the stakeholders participating in the certification process. According to FSC-standards certified logging companies should agree their activity with the local people, local self-government and other interested parties. There were seven groups representing scientists, environmental NGOs, tourists, hunters and fishermen, mushrooms and berries pickers, local self-government and logging companies. The conflict occurred due to the lack of information. The children tried to enter to negotiation process and to solve the conflict. Each group presented its vision. As the result, the children became familiar with social coordination of actions included in FSC-standards while playing.
Work in groups
“Ecologists” try to protect their rights
The “logging companies” have their own opinion
HOW TO REACH THE HEAVENS OF KENOSERO
| News by Just AuthorKomi designers of rural routes adopted the experience of Kenozero National Park (Arkhangelsk region) staff at the PA and Local Communities: Creating Conditions for Sustainable Tourism workshop held in Arkhangelsk region. The visit was arranged as part of the Barents Baltic Program “Nature and Man” under the umbrella of WWF and the Silver Taiga Foundation for Sustainable Development on 6-9 October 2018.
The workshop was prepared and facilitated by the National Park experts. Aleksandra Yakovleva, head of Development, Kenozero National Park, shared the park’s experience in engagement of the local population in environmental and tourism activity.
Representatives of the rural tourism sector from Udora, Syktyvdin, Priluzye districts and Syktyvkar took part in the workshop. They were rural guesthouse owners, representatives of territorial self-governments, staff of cultural and educational institutions who create and develop various (event, environmental, ethnographic) routes. During the visit they saw museum sites of the Kenozero National Park, ancient rural chapels, the unique temple complex of Pochezero churchyard belonging to 18-19 centuries, water mills rebuilt by the national park, the architectural park “Kenozero Spillkins”, the Mezenka stable yard, they got a chance to learn about the activity of the Center for Folk Arts and Crafts, Young Tour Guide School, Children Environmental Camp, local territorial self-government, and information center; they also walked the paths and routes embellished with pieces of art, and met folk bands’ members.
Participants of the workshop
They started learning about the historical and cultural heritage of Kenozero from the chapel in the village of Vershinino not far from the information center of the national park. For most participants it was the first time when they saw the so called “heaven” – a roof wall ornamented in a certain way. The frame of the “heaven’s” structure resembles the sun with radiating beams. The “heaven” consists mainly of eight, twelve or sixteen radial faces. Saint apostles and archangels used to be depicted on such “heaven”. Later on, the workshop participants saw many other decorated ceilings (with the national park having 17 samples of various “heavens”) during their visit, but the first impression was the deepest. It was surprising to see a chapel almost in any village in the Plesetsk sector of the national park.
“Heaven” in Vershinino chapel
“It is possible that chapels have been preserved here due to their remote location. Religious structures remaining in Komi villages are in extremely bad condition. Maybe it is because our people are not that pious. While here you feel each village has a soul,” Olga Toropova, head of the information and tourism center of Syktyvdin Folk Arts Center, shares her impressions.
“I liked that a Man is the cornerstone of everything in the national park,” another participant, Andrey Aksenovsky, notes.
The visitors from Komi were most impressed by the way the national park builds communication with the local population. Residents of Kenozero villages spread all over the lakes’ shores and islands are engaged in the tourism business of the park and work there not only as guards, cleaners, cooks or drivers, but also as state inspectors, taking part in protection of the park. These are the locals who guide tours, facilitate ethnographic programs and workshops as well.
Birchbark weaving workshop in the Center of Folk Arts and Crafts
In the Center’s blacksmiths shop
They make souvenirs, provide the national park with groceries from their vegetable gardens or mini-farms, lend guesthouses to tourists. In total, 77 percent of the Kenozero National Park staff are local residents. 15 ethnographic programs and 16 workshops have been developed jointly with the locals.
A guesthouse in the village of Tyryshkino
The owner of the guesthouse in Tyryshkino – Nina Fedotova
Household stuff in Nina Fedotova’s guesthouse in Tyryshkino
The visitors took most of the liking to young tour guides. An 8-grade student of Kenozero secondary general school told the guests about Kenozero crafts – smithcraft, pottery and carpentry. When doing it she demonstrated professional skills and confidence.
Student of the Young Guide School
The protected area has 27 guesthouses. There are certainly some requirements for the guesthouses, for example, you cannot attach siding to walls of the houses or install bright-coloured profiled sheeting on the roofs. Houses meeting the requirements are awarded a special Quality Label, and offered to tourists on a priority basis.
A guesthouse in the village of Zekhnova
Interior design of the guesthouse in Zekhnova
As participants of the informative visit noted, rural tourism does develop in the Komi Republic, but the rate of its development could be higher. One of the main reasons is that many facilitators act individually with no outside support. Therefore, tourism enthusiasts from Komi still have to do a lot to grow to reach Kenozero’s ‘heavens’ of tourism development level.
Svetlana Tyurnina, employee of the information and tourism center of Syktyvdin Folk Arts Center “Zaran”, believes it is necessary to reinforce the efforts in consulting, informational and educational support of rural tour facilitators in their area. Initiative residents of Kenozero villages are supported by the national park both with information and funds. The park conducts regular training workshops, internships, master-classes of the best Russian and foreign experts in various fields. As Svetlana Tyurnina notes, it is this type of support that rural tourist service providers in Syktyvdin district lack. Villagers act spontaneously without any well-thought plans, which surely leads to huge losses.
“To make it work in the Komi Republic we need to walk the whole path of the Kenozero National Park, which they started in 1991, more than 25 years ago. We will have to take even a longer way, as our history, landscapes and people are different. What is important is to keep to the route being systematic and consistent”, Andrey Aksenovsky thinks.
According to his words, the worst thing a tourist may face during the ethnographic tour is seeing an artificially decorated village.
“I didn’t have to involve my imagination in Kenozero to plunge into the past. I found myself in the ancient times immediately. There is nothing false, as the buildings, furniture, household items are authentic and people working with tourists are sincere. I am building a guesthouse in the village of Aranets in Pechora district, and I hope I’ll manage to make everything look authentic as well,” Andrey Aksenovsky continues.
Rowboat transfer to Guzhevo mill
Industrial architecture monument Guzhevo Mill
The workshop programme was very rich in events, the facilitators tried to show as much about the park’s activities as possible. The more impressions the participants got, the more questions arose. Many of them took a fancy for arranging similar routes and programmes in their places, so they were interested in various details a lot.
The participants were unanimous in expressing the need to adopt the experience of the settlement of Pocha in Plesetsk district. It is a forest settlement with barracks and high unemployment level. In the soviet era it had a forestry farm, which went bankrupt in the early 90s last century. Last summer the information center called “Pocha. Lived, Worked, Loved” was opened there. Owing to the initiative of the locals who had collected the information, photos and took part in building and cleaning activities, Pocha opened a site telling visitors about the history of the settlement, its workdays and holidays, about the hard labour of wood loggers and the logging process. Now the settlement is converting an old kindergarten building into A Forester’s Camp. The settlement has no place for events, concerts or gatherings now, as its recreation center is in breakdown state and may not be rebuilt.
Information center called “Pocha. Lived, Worked, Loved”
A tour of Pocha
“In Udora district there used to be forestry farms as well, and it would be great at least to install memorial boards with dates of foundation, closure and short stories of their residents there”, Olga Busheneva, activist of Syolyb territorial self-government, says.
Extended education teacher of Usogorsk Children Center of Arts and Crafts Dina Chuprova got an idea of opening an environmental camp for kids in Udora district with the involvement of available guesthouses after she visited the children environmental camp ELK not far from the village of Maselga.
The main result of the workshop was briefly outlined by Oleg Nikulin, director of the Priluzye District Center of Arts and Crafts under the umbrella of the head of the district, “The experience of the Kenozero National Park has reassured me that we are moving in the right direction in terms of rural tourism development. Well, it develops slowly, and we lack the resources that are available at the national park, but I realized that we are doing the right thing. I got really energized and encouraged to continue our work after getting to know the park’s staff and seeing the sites of historic and cultural heritage.”
Singing band “Zaznobushki” and the Komi visitor A.Aksenovsky
FORESTRY INTENSIFICATION – POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECT
| News by Just AuthorProblems of FSC certification in boreal zone, in particular, introduction of sustainable intensive forestry and conservation of intact forest landscapes (IFL) were discussed at the 3rd FSC Inernational Pan Boreal Members Meeting. The meeting was held on 11-13 September 2018 in Tallinn. At the same time, issues related to FSC controlled wood strategy and introduction of the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) concept were raised. The forum welcomed 65 experts from such boreal states as Russia, Sweden, Finland, Canada, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Norway. Marina Korolyova, head of Certification and Ecology, Mondi Syktyvkar, and Yury Pautov, director of the Silver Taiga Foundation for Sustainable Development, took part in it on behalf of the Komi Republic. Yury Pautov shared his views of the results of the meeting.
Global advantages and disadvantages of the intensive forestry
As reports given over the three days showed, FSC boreal members are unanimous in terms of forestry intensification. Their position focuses on such statements as “Yes, intensive forestry allows to obtain more valuable wood from smaller area”, “Yes, it is necessary, as it will help preserve intact forest landscapes”, “Intensive methods should be introduced with the account of negative experience of Scandinavia, for instance”, “FSC certification standards for intensive forestry model should take national features of different countries into consideration”.
The main challenge of the intensive forestry model is, on the one hand, application of such forestry methods as artificial forest regeneration, including use of selected planting stock, clones, and introduced wood species, multiple improvement thinnings, complete utilization of biomass obtained, use of chemical methods, fertilizers and amelioration of forest areas. On the other hand, all that leads to reduction of natural biodiversity of forest landscapes and ecosystems, which partially contradicts to FSC certification ideas oriented not only to cost efficiency, but also to environmentally acceptable, socially beneficial, long-term and sustainable use of forests.
Forestry intensification in boreal forests is not about creation of plantations, like in tropical and temperate zones, but about introduction of intensive forestry methods in order to grow the most valuable and demanded wood species on exploited areas focusing on preservation of biodiversity on the forest landscape level. At the same time, there are serious limitations implied in sustainable forestry intensification practices. FSC principles and criteria include some restrictions, in particular, one cannot practice irrigation of swamps and waterlogged forest areas significant for sustaining of water resources of the area, introduction of foreign wood species, spreading of genetically modified plants, in addition, the use of herbicides and arboricides, as well as chemical fertilizers, is to be mandatorily restricted in forests.
Nevertheless, as modern practices of developed forest countries prove, it is difficult to ensure accelerated growth of valuable forests in the boreal zone without active forest regeneration efforts and regular tending of plantations. According to UN and World Bank experts’ forecasts, consumption of timber continues growing and is accelerating, as the Earth’s population increases. Unless any measures are taken, the needs of the global economy will result in expansion of wood harvesting operations over intact landscapes, and the global community risks losing them both in the boreal zone and all over the planet. However, for the FSC system the boreal system is of utmost importance, because the biggest and most numerous FSC certificate holders are in Canada, Russia, Sweden and Poland, and tropical forests, for which FSC was founding 25 years ago, are covered by FSC certification less, having the same or higher amount of problems though.
Specifics of Estonian forestry management
A filed trip to FSC certified forest areas near Tallinn was organized as part of the meeting. Elements of intensive forestry practices applied by Estonian FSC certificate holders for clear cutting, forest regeneration and tending were demonstrated.
Estonian forestry management is characterized by the fact that half of its forest fund is owned by individuals, and the average size of a private forest plot is just around 5 ha. Moreover, most owners do not live near their forest areas, but in urban areas or even in other countries. That is why special companies interested in FSC certified forest products and contracted by owners deal with forestry management.
Many forest farms in Estonia are neglected today. Their owners move to cities or other countries.
Cutting of mature spruce forest on a private forest plot owned by a person who has left the country causes a lot of challenges. Each time, the facilitator of forestry management conducts detailed consultations both with the plot owner and with owners of adjacent areas. Multilevel consultations are a standard practice in Estonia, which is both time and effort consuming. However, Estonian legislation does not require intensive management or tending of planted stock from private forest owners, that is why many private forest areas undergo natural reforestation after final cutting, just like in Russia.
Key biotopes have to be preserved during clear cutting of certified areas in Estonia
Cuttings get overgrown by deciduous species like birch, aspen or alder fast. And only following recommendations of professional companies some area owners deal with planting of forest species and tending of young forests. Most private forest owners prefer not to spend money on such costly activities, even though the state subsidizes for part of reforestation and tending costs. “It proves that private property practices do not solve problems with managing forests. You will need more than a decade to elaborate forestry standards and requirements to private forest owners. Years will pass before forest owners see it not only as a source of here-in-now profit, but an object for long-term capitalization of forest value for themselves, their descendants and the state, as it happened in Sweden and Finland,” Yury Pautov believes.
A forest owner is explaining reforestation specifics at the cutting area (Estonia)
Locally
According to Yury Pautov, the topic discussed at the previous FSC International Boreal Meeting is acute both for Russia and for the Komi Republic, which is included in the federal project of intensive forestry and forest use deployment among other 5 forest districts. As a result, Silver Taiga’s projects, in particular, related to landscape planning of forestry management, use of GIS methods and aerospace remote sensing materials, assigning of the official status of specially protected natural areas to a number of intact forest tracts in Komi, are just in time. The foundation is planning to create the Koygorodok National Park, Osa and Karpogory Natural Reserves at remaining IFLs, retaining of landscape and ecosystem diversity of forests under the intensive forestry model, preservation of biodiversity during forest cutting, and others.
Photo by Yury Pautov