Mail 12.10.00
Hi, Roberto! This is Fedor with another portion of
the news from the Russian Rivers Network in the "Bereginia" newspaper
No.(93) 10 of October 2000. HOW MANY MINUTES BEFORE THE DISASTER WE
HAVE? After the creation of Kuybyshev water reservoir near the villge
of Kamskoye Ust'e the river had washed away about 100 m of the bank.On
the Volga river this situation is observed everywhere and makes a
very gloomy perspective.Here the situation is aggravated by the fact,
that the water comes close to the huge reservoirs with the petrol
products, constructed at the beginning of the last century. THe old
people of the village say, that since the time of filling of the water
reservoir sevral streets of the village had slid down in- to the river
since 1956. Every year here the banks are being destro- yed, as well,
as the houses on them. Despite the assertions about the situation
that will stabilize in time it actually only gets worse and worse.
It is hard yet to say when the slides will reach the reservoirs, but
sooner or later it will happen. Reinforcement of the banks with the
concrete blocks is a very costly excersise , which is also not ef-
fective, because they could also destroy and slide into the water.
This type of disorder have been going on for decades, and nobody seems
to care , including the energy producton people, who regulate the
wa- ter level by passing the water through the dams. If no measures
are taken we will be witnesses of another man-made environmental disaster.
What other arguments are needed to counter the views of those who
lobby the necessity of dam construction on flat rivers? Vadim Marfin,
Kazan' LIVING KNOWLEGE ABOUT LIVING VOLGA For ten years in a row young
activists from the creative associa- tion "Zuid-West" have been organizing
and implementing expeditions along the Volga river, examinig 120 km
of the river length annually. This year they travelled from Vasylsursk
in Nizhni Novgorod province till Cheboksary. We met one of the leaders
of the expedition V.A. Mu- zalev, the chief of the department in the
educational center No.109 of Moscow, where "Zuid-West" association
is a part. - How children in the ordinary schools are tought? - asked
Vladi- mir Anatolievich. They use a black board, a chalk and textbooks.
The majority gets dull and want to leave the classes , as soon, as
possib- le. We , from our side want to give live knowledge during
such expedi- tions, when romantisism intervens with the study of hystory,
culture, environmental education, botanics, biology. For the children
it is ve- ry interesting to move in the sail boat and to eat food
made on the camp fire. And we say, that first look around, draw pictures,
describe what you see, learn from the local population folk legend
or a tale. They first feel reluctant to work on vacations, but further
on get in- terested. The children start to understand interconnections
between various sciences and in the end everything, that happenes
in the soci- ety and nature. The Volga could be studied all life long
, relaying the task from generation to generation. We continuously
accumulate new experience : ask the older generation, take water samples,
carry out bothanical, bio- logical and other researches. For 10 years
we have travelled from Tver' to Cheboksary. We entered just every
tributary... If the wind is fair the boats could develop the speed
of 15 km/per hour under the sa- il. We break the route into the portions
of 20 km per a day so as not only to observe the surrounding landscape,
but to carry out scientific researches. Question: I understand, that
special skills are necessary to ma- neuver boats and to make resaerches...
-We collect children from 5-th or 6-th forms. Two years they learn
to handle the boat, to work with the sail, to raw. Only the third
year students are allowed to examine the Volga in big expeditions.
They are well trained in all respects. Out of 40 recruites only 12
stay with us in the end. But those children who are the most trained
and motivated do not want to leave the club. That is why after three
years studies they work, as team leaders and head expeditions in Tver'
province. Also they make reconnaissance of the "field of operation"
for the next year. This year the major team travelled from Vasilsursk
to Cheboksary and the reconnaissance team for the expedition of 2001
travelled from Kazan' to Cheboksary. They found good places for the
stands, beautiful sites , got friendly with the local people. Question:
It takes really talented people to do such work... - One of them is
a water ecologist , candidate of biological sci- ences of internal
waters of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His name is Alexander Krylov
and he is a good teacher and educator of the popu- lation. Under his
guidance the children take water samples, biota and make hydrological
researches. This year we involved in our work Viktor Zakonnov, who
works in the same institute and is an expert in bottom sediments.
During the expedition Mr. Zakonnov made mapping of the bot- tom ground
of Cheboksary water reservoir, which should be carried out every 10
years. Here the expedition helped the institute to do its re- gular
work and the expert cause much interest on the side of children. Question:
What is the most special feature of your expedition? The main stress
was made for the ethnography. Mari-El republic is the same ,as Africa.
The ways , the folklore, the habits , are very special and unique
here in the republic. The most amazing was, that the Mari people do
not forget their ancient arts, like making canoes of a whole wood
trunk. Those boats are well operated at the Volga ri- ver even now,
and sometimes show better characertistics, than modern ships. This
art is thousands of years old. Mari peop- le use the same tools, as
their ancestors. But to our regret the real specialists are getting
rare now. We met only a dozen of people in Mo- untainous - Mari district,
who remember the know-how of their grand- fathers. Quite unexpectedly
, near Koz'modemiansk we met the participants of the expedition of
Mari Institute of Archeology, which is headed by Valery and Tatiana
Nikitin. For 27 years already they involve children in archelogical
excavations. The archeologists are examining a medieval town of Mari
people. It occupied a large area in a beautiful place : a mountain,
and steep slopes on the three sides 72 m high. There remained the
moat and the rampart. From the top the view is simply magnificent,
if you do not know, that after the construction of Cheboksarskoye
water reservoir there was created a huge lake, which united several
lakes into one, and this water surface is a ordinary bog now, where
the depth of water is knee high only and the water blooms. Question:
And how is the environmental situation with Cheboksars- koye water
reservoir now? -The fishermen from Yurino villge said, that the fish
population is decreasing. This is no wonder for all. There is a lot
of sludge on the bottom and it coveres all the feeding places of the
fish. The fish escapes into the cleaner tributaries and in Mari fishery
area the fish catch is practically zero. Now about the raising of
the level of the water reservoir - the fishermen are sure that no
raising will be done. The reason is, that even now the water level
there is maximal, and no more space to raise. During the flooding
period water surpasses all the limits already. The dyke in Yurino
is in a very bad condition. The system of emergency pumps does not
operate. If they raise the level Yurino will be no mo- re... By the
journalist Svetlana Proshel'tseva. WORK AND CELEBRATION In Nizhni
Novgorod and other places of Russia after river bank cle- an-ups they
organized celebrations, concerts, dances. Many children youths participate
in the clean-ups. DUMP AND TREASURE FIELD ON THE RIVER BED. In the
Volga river in Nizhni Novgorod they started to take out metal scrap
and old submurged ships from the river to be recycled. The works were
funded by the Ecological fund of Nizhni Novgorod pro- vince. SAVING
THE BLACK DRAGON Intergovernmental nature conservation relations with
Chinese Pe- oples Republic in Amur river basin. The hystory of intergovernmental
nature conservation relations- hips with the Chinese People's Republic
in the basin of Amur river reflects all the stages of the existance
of USSR and CPR and also the modern period after 1991 - the period
of transfer of the Soviet Union' resposibilities for China to Russia,
as well, as bilateral contacts in the environmental protection sphere.
It is well known, that Amur river basin ( the Chinese name of Amur
is Black Dragon) possesses natural unique characteristics, which not
only provide for fulfillment of socio-economic tasks of Amur ter-
ritories, but which are also of high value for the whole world. First
scientific contacts of the two countries in the basin were fulfilled
in the sphere of the study of fishery resources, geological prospects
and also navigation safety on Amur, Ussury and Sungary. Serious mutually
profitable relations of the Parties involve coo- peration in the sphere
of hydrological and meteorological provision for the economies of
the two bordering territories. At the end of 1990 ties China and the
USSR started joint develop- ment of the "System of the joint use of
the water resources of the ri- vers Amur and Argun' " . The signing
of this agreemnent is yet to come. The protection of the ecosystem
of Amur river basin is a compli- cated and sometimes problematic question.
Its implementation depends on many factors: these are economic resources
of the region and the country , social readiness of the population
for the implementati- on of environmental tasks, interest of the government
not to work for the short-term political goals ,but for the long-term
work for geting out of the environmental crisis, and also international
support for the most significant environmental projects. In Amur river
basin the international environmental cooperation with the Chinese
side started to be actively implemented in 1989 after the establishment
of the new period of good neighbour cooperation with the Chines Peoples
Republic. The cooperation of the whole range gover- nemtal and non-governmental
organizations and agencies both political and scientific , as well
, as administrative made it possible to es- tablish working relations
for many socio-economic issues... ...In 1999 it was possible thanks
to the efforts of the public regional committee for protection of
the Volga river and "KEDR" party to participate and support the movement:
"Russian Rivers Network" in Nizhni Novgorod. The network is based
on basin principle. One of the directions of the movement is stage
by stage steady soluti- on of transboundery environmental problems.
A workshop in Khabarovsk in September this year for the basin , where
the coordinator of this movement from Nizhni Novgorod participated
even more enhanced the sig- nificance of the citizen's actions on
both sides for the real improve- ment of environmental situation at
Amur, Ussury, Sungary and other ri- vers of the basin. All this made
it possible to implement the major and first prio- rity task of physical
involvement of the Chinese side to nature con- servation cooperation
at the territory of Amur basin. THe efforts at this stage are to be
focused on the Agreement between the Administra- tion of Khabarovsk
province and the Peoples Government of Heiluntszian province on the
environmental protection measures from the year 2000 till 2005. Under
this situation it is seen that the instrument for the imp- lementation
of the Agreement may be the Bureau for international pro- jects of
the Department of Natural Resources of Khabarovsk Krai, which is funded
from bugetary and non-budgetary sources. The mechanism of the cooperation
must at this preserve accessible international experi- ence : meetings,
conferences, communication , joint actions in coope- ration with Russian
Rivers Network, examinations, expeditions and dec- larations. All
this could serve ,as a model for the creation by the both sides of
the legislative base for the cooperation and drawing the attention
of the international public in the shape of the UN Conventi- on "On
the protection of Amur river basin ecosystem". If we start wor- king
effectively in this direction we are bound for success. Victor Saikov
KEDR party council memeber "Amur" program coordinator. -- mailto:kov@dront.ru
MAIL 29.09.00
Hi, Roberto! This is Fedor with another portion of
rivers and lakes-relating news. This information was taken from AVE-Info
bulletin 6(65),June 2000. Translation of Fedor Krylov "Let's help
the river". Water Resources. The mistery of Svetloyar. In the vicinity
of Vladimirskoye village of Voskresensky district in Nizhni Novgorod
province there is located Svetloyar lake. It is unique and the most
clean and clear. A lot of legends is connected with the lake. For
more, than 300 years already it has been attracting pilgrims like
a magnet. A beautiful legend anbout the town of Kitezh is connected
with it. But the origin of the lake is still a mistery. Alexey Kiselev
an emloyee of the department of astronomy of Nizhni Novgorod pedagogical
University and his colleagues are trying to find an answer to it.
Between the rivers of Kerzhenets and Vetluga there are a lot of small
rivers and creeks and in the plains among the forests there are a
lot of lakes. However all those lakes are shallow, bog-like and are
covered by reeds and algae. Svetloyar lake is different. The water
in the lake is crystal-clear. It does not contain addmixtures and
they say, that it heals various wounds. The surface of not covered
with duckreeds and bulrush which is uncommon for the lake flora. It
is also amazing, that river crawfishes live in the lake. In last September
Alexey Kiselev headed an expedition to Svetlo- yar lake. A working
hyposesis was put foreward about meteorite origin of the lake and
found several peculiarities of the lake, which support the hypothesis.
About the truth of this hypothesis speaks the ratio between the depth
of the bowl and the diameter of the lake, which is 500 m. This is
characteristic for complex meteorite craters. The slope of the bank
has the shape of terraces: steep declination-underwater terrace, anot-
her steep declination - again a terrace - then a slope - deep water
bowl. This could be explained by the fact, that during explosion in
the various layers of rocks, which differ in thickness and nature
the craters of different diamers are formed. In thicker rocks for,
example , the craters of smaller diameter are formed. The looser layers
(sandstone) are usulally at the surface, the thicker layers (red clays)
- the deepest and the most ancient. The rocks of the bankhills are
located by: horizontal layers: at the base the sandstone, ontop the
clays. The bottom of the lake is formed by red-brown clays of Perm
geological period with iron inclusions, i.e. from the same matter,
as the upper part of the hills. Such location of the rocks and clay
, when the most ancient layers locate at the surfa- ce are observed
during meteorite impacts. It is significant, that the appearance of
such clays at the surface is not observed anywhere bet- ween the rivers
of Vetluga and Kerzhents. The workers of the expedition found the
stones, which are formed by the alloy of the sandstone- the impactites.
The origin of the im- pactites could be only explained by the consequences
of the meteorite explosion. By this it could be also explained why
the water in the la- ke is so clean: the exploded underlayer rocks
were scattered and ope- ned was the communication with the underground
water layers. The soft rocks serve as a natural filter. And finally:
on the basis of the wood fragments, found by the participants of the
previous expedition by "Literaturnaya newspaper" in 1969-1971 the
experts first came to the conclusion, that the shape of the wood suggested,
that they were the products of human activiti- es, may be of the inhabitants
of the town of Kitezh, that went under water, like Atlantis. Alexey
Kiselev says, that such fragments could be formed by the shock wave
from the meteorite explosion. This is not romantic of course, but
may be closer to the truth? Why the norms were elevated? In Vyborg
( a town near Saint-Petersburg) several years ago they started implementation
of the municipal program on installation of wa- ter-meters, including
individual ones. Due to lack of resources the program was discontinued.
The data obtained showed that an average fa- mily consumes less water,
that the established norms. With the norm of 220 liters per capita,
the real figures are from 90 till 160 liters per capita. The reasonable
questions arise: why and who wins by eleva- ting the norms of water
consumption and why the program was disconti- nued? May be because
the real result did not correspond to the fore- casted one? AVE-Info.
AVE-Info 7(66) Water resources The Nature is Alive Thanks to Water-
-this is the understanding of the Greens of Moscow province. The nature
of Moscow province suffered great changes during the last one hundred
and fifty years: during this time half of the springs and a big number
of small rivers have decreased by 25 percent. The total length of
rivers in the area of East-European plain decreased by 15 per- cent
and in the stepp zone- by 45 percent. In most cases this was cau-
sed by the change in the kind of woods and by incorrect woodfelling
practices. At the open forest-free lands the water from melted snow
washes off quickly and in huge volumes. The forests keep it by tranferring
it underground and store it till the summer needs. The old-age forests
, especially oak and basswood with a strong root system, perform this
function better, than the young coniferous (they make more, than 40%
of trees in Moscow province). At the forest-free areas the melted
snow waters wash-off the soil and dig ravines. All this do harm to
the vegetation and destroy the landscape structure. If some creek
disappeared-it means, that something was changed in the nature, a
bog was dryed-up , so some river will lose the same vo- lume of water.
Here goes one example. River Lelukh - a tributary of Klyaz'ma river
- it takes source from a lake almost covered by weeds, passes through
a bog and takes in water. The bog was dried up (a local collective
farm needed new lands), so the river disappeared. In fact it restarted
10-12 km down stream in the area of underground source. Sanitary and
epidemiological agencies, and environmental protec- tion bodies monitor
the drinking water quality, the condition of water objects, the discharges
from the plants and farms. They do not pay at- tention to the creeks
and streams - the sources of small rivers. The citizens' organizations
and activists help them. They make tourist stands, the fire places,
cleaned the pathes of the rivers Se- verka, Lopasnia, Rozhai, in Domodedovski
district, Neznaiki in Odint- sovski district and Chavlinki in Chekhovski
district. Moscow provicial NGO "Istritsa" under ROLL/USAID project
started to revive the creeks and sources of small rivers in the basins
of Istra river, which is the source of drinking water for Moscow.
The first results of the research brought about unexpected re- sults.
Juging from the information of the old people it was possible to localize
the places of the creeks, which disappeared for recent 50 years. The
number of such spots was more, than 10. "Istritsa" NGO stepped up
with the initiative of restoration of the forgotten and "buried" sources
of small and big rivers. If activists erect a pole with the name of
a small creek and make the place look nice , and do regular monitoring
- be sure the creek will revive and local people will feel resposible
for it and take care about it. ---------------------------------------
Tourist, be polite to Nature! A unique river Msta, in Novgorod province
(the North-West of Rus- sia) has been attracting tourists, sportsmen
and picknikers like a magnet. After them they leave unimaginable quantity
of empty boxes, follen trees and camp fire places. So as to protect
this nice area a coalition was organized in the beginning of this
Summer. The coalition "Mountainous Msta-2000" inclu- ded Novgorod
club "Ecologia", scout club "Spring", NGO "Mountainous Msta", school
association "Small Spring", and a school association "Hope" as well
, as a businessman V. Glezdunov. The information was provided by Novgorod
club "Ecologia". For ten days more, than one thousand and a half tourists
visited the Opechinski rapids of the mountainous part of Msta. The
activist guards counted 474 tents, 142 cars and 175 fire places. This
year here they organized 55-th Russian canoe competions among juniors.
It is about 400 participants. Thanks to the input of Vladimir Glezdunov
tourists did not need to cut trees for fuel. He provided about 14
truck loads of fire wood, as well, as the toilets , the garbage containers
(the environmenta- lists took away about 3 truck loads of garbage).
The dry toilets of classic Russian style were relocated several times
due to fill-up. What about tourists? They were grateful for the conveniences
and were happy, that the artificial rapids in the river was removed.
(The rapids was the cause for the destruction of many boats and injuries).
The majority of tourists were not against a modest fee of 10 roubles
(40 cents) for the maintenance of the area in the condition close
to natural. At the opening of the next season the activists proposed
to hold a festival. The coalition will be preserved, because the members
of the coalition in the course of work and struggle became very good
fri- ends. The experiment is over. The main result is that the people
un- derstood, that the river Msta has friends who take responsibility
for it. AVE-Info ---------------------------------- The third water
tap. In Yekaterinburg in the house No.59 street of Blukher, in 48
flats out of 76 appeared an unusual third tap. Now the tenants can
get really clean water in necessary volumes. One liter costs 40 kopecks
(1 cent). Thus on under the contract with the government of Sverdlovsk
pro- vince they implement in Yekaterinburg the introduction of "Experimen-
tal system of drinking water supply for the population of several
blocks of flats". The system was designed and developed in the Russian
R@D Institute of complex use of water resources. According to the
experts the basic cause of water pollution is the piping. That is
why the station of final purification will be lo- cated in the immediate
vicinity from the consumer - in the house it- self. The individual
filter will be selected only by an expert (compo- sition and quality
of water differs in various districts in Yekaterin- burg). If all
the factors are not taken into consideration the filter may work ,
as a source of pollution. Under the project the operation of the collective
filter ajusted for a specific composition of water will be monitored
by special operators. These collective filters will serve for all
the tenants of the block of flats. The water is supplied to the tap
in the specific flat through a special system, the volume is registered
by a meter. The service is optional. The project in Yekatrinburg -
is the first attempt to introduce the system of alternative water
supply in ordinary houses. It gives a possibility to drink high quality
water even for consumer with a mo- dest income. The economy experts
calculated, that the project (inclu- ding installation of meters and
piping) will be repayed for 2-2.5 years. This experience was of interest
for the businessmen from other cities too. Ol'ga Podosenova AVE-Info.
------------------------ Let's change filters? At the water intake
of Kazan' city in Republic of Tatarstan they implemented industrial
testing of a new sorbent filter material "LIT" de- signed for water
purification. The financial resources for the "birth" of this material
were provided through assistance of the Ecological Fund of the Republic
of Tatarstan and of the Volga Water Intake en- terprise "Vodokanal"
(Kazan'), State committee of epidemiological su- pervision and Ministry
of Environmental protection and natural resour- ces of Tatarstan and
of course the design and development firm "LITOS". The material for
the filter is produced by wasteless and flexible technology. Alongside
with this material they produce on the basis of local mineral raw
material a big range of produce for agriculture, ro- ad building,
civil engineering , chemical and gas-processing industri- es. During
testing of the material in the filters of purification fa- cilities
the silica sand was replaced by "LIT". The results showed, that the
new material is thoroughly effective. Thus, during the floo- ding
, when they register elevated content of harmful substances in the
water this material made it possible to completely eliminate bad smell
and the traces of poisonous chemicles (2,4-dexoclorcyclohexane, "decis"),
in comparison with the silica sand filters better results were achieved
for zink - 2 times, nickel - 1.3 decrease, phenol -2.2, iron-3.9,
petrol products - 4.7 times. The use of "LIT" does not require reconstruction
of the existing water purification facilities or changing the projected
water purification technologies. At the same time the purification
capacity of the water treatment faclities has increased by 40% due
to a higher filtration rate meaning the economy in the funds of of
the budget, ot- herwise directed at the increse of capacity of the
old purufucation facilities and construction of the new ones. AVE-Info.
Sincerely, Fedor.
Mail 11.09.00
Hi, Roberto and other friends! Here go articles from
another issue of "Bereginia" newspaper, No.9 of the year 2000. Articles
relating to rivers and lakes of the Russian Federation. Thinking Roberto
Epple, the president of European Rivers Network speaks about dismantling
of a dam on Loire river (France). Listening to him are river-activists
who came to his think-camp from various parts of Europe. Nizhni Novgorod
delegates Elena Kolpakova (the coordinator of the Volga river movement
"Let's help the river" and of the Russian Ri- vers Network, and a
well-known river cleaner Fedor Krylov also were thinking on Loire
river. About what were they thinking? About the fact, that ERN was
preparing for the dismantling of a dam on Loire ri- ver more, than
10 years. They organized disobedience actions, occupied dam construction
sites , population awareness and propaganda campa- igns. And finally
they reached the goal, the dam was blown up. The workshop on Loire
river demonstrated to us, that the Russian Rivers Network activists
should learn from ERN to be patient and flexible. --------------------------------------------------
From the page :"News of the Russian Rivers Network Conscience of Russia
August 27, 2000 for the second time the activists selebrated the annual
festival "Day of Baikal". Baikal is the deepest, the oldest and the
cleanest lake in the world. The hystory of industrial construction
near this unique lake and fight for saving of Baikal is an extended
in time ecological drama , which is well known all over Russia. Ever
de- veloping harmful environmental consequences to which no remedy
was fo- und, old problems which date back to 1960-ties years , vilolated
har- mony: these are the heritage of nature conquest. What should
be done now about it? For all this time of week and unsuccessful protest
of the public against irresposible decision-making a major threat
emerged that the pe- ople will get used to the situation, threat of
indifferent observation of evil deeds against clean and beautiful
Baikal. These violations are being committed by the industry, authorities
and common people too. In 1997 after Baikal was included by UNESCO
into the list of the World Natural Heritage objects the green activists
of Baikal region decided to hold a festival, which could help to draw
attention to the problems of Baikal, sensibilize people and mobilized
them to collabo- ratively solve those problems. We needed a festival
for which people get prepared all year long. There was a strong understanding,
that the region should have its popular festival devoted to the unique
lake on the Planet. This festival finally was organized in 1999 -
the citizens' ini- tiative was supported by the supreme bodies of
the districts of Baikal region (Duma of Irkutsk province, Duma of
Chita province, the peoples' khural of Buriatia republic and by the
Duma of Ust'-Ordynsky and Buri- atsky autonomous district). In Irkutsk
occurred founding and the first celebration of the Day of Baikal,
which was decided to mark every fo- urth Sunday in August. At the
same day opened was Baikal film festival "Man and Nature". Many organizations
from many places sent their cong- ratulations for this festival to
us. One of the famous defenders of Baikal Mr. Glazia wrote that: ...
This timely patriotic initiative goes far beyond the banks of Baikal
and has not only Russian, but worldwide significance. Baikal is the
"All-Mankind Well" from which people take not only material reso-
urces - drinking water of unique quality, but also the spiritual we-
alth. Baikal is the conscience of Russia. This year the celebrations
were organized for Baikal in Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk. For more inforamtion
mailto:yulia@baikalwave.eu.org ----------------------------------------------------------
Selenga, Ob' which is next? The Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia
is making plans on deltas of major Russian rivers. Near Baikal a new
regional project is being deployed on oil and gas prospecting in the
delta of river Selenga the major tributary to Baikal lake. The works
are being planned at the territory of Baikal section of which is included
into the list of UNESCO Heritage . It is close to the nature reserve
"Kabansky", being the only natural ob- ject in the Republic of Buryatia
included into Ramsar Convention on wetlands. We were too optimistic
about the degree of Baikal protection and did not take seriously the
information in Mass Media about petrol and gas found in the delta
of Selenga river, because we regarded the plans of some of our geologists
to be too absurd. The catalist to such regi- onal initiatives served
the resolution of the Ministry of Natural Re- sources of Russia from
24.06.98 No.10-1 where it was acknowledged, as one of the major tasks
to organise preplanned works for strengthening of raw materials basis
in new promising territories and water areas. The money are to be
taken from the local budgets. After this document became valid the
local gas prospecting companies intensified their work. The project
was included into the republican program on natural resources replenishment
. In Moscow the leader of the program received O.K. but no funds was
allotted from the federal budget. If the project is started successfully
the experience could be replicated to other regions and rivers. We
propose to "Let's help the river" and other interested groups to join
efforts in the information campaign to stop those plans. We are planning
to open a section "Oil Prospecting at Baikal" in the site of our organization
(http://bro.snow.eastsib.ru) S.G. Shapakhayev Buryat Regional Baikal
Association. ----------------------------------------------------------
Black back herring will be no more? The fish-experts from the laboratory
of passing fish from the Institute of Fishery of Caspean Sea Area
have registered a uniquely low spawning population of black-back herring
("zalom") ever while obser ving the Volgograd dam processes. The spawning
passage numbers of the fish in the dam zone of Volzhskaya HPS was
negligible. At the peak of spawning passage - in the first decade
of June- during the check catches at Volgograd portion of Low Volga
only single black back herrings were registered. In previous years
there were tho- usands of them. What happened? The first hyposesis
of the scientists was fluctuations of the spawning population. It
is justified because the generations of this kind of herrings differ
in numbers one from another . But why such drastic changes never occurred
before? The ba- sis of the current spawning population were the fishes
of 5-7 years of age. 5-7 years ago the spawning conditions for the
herrings were not catastrophic. Evidently illegal fishing is to blame.
Poaching. The poacher teams of the Northern part of Caspean Sea made,
first of all made the sturgeon a rare fish , and then little by little
shifted to harvest the other passing fish. The largest population
was once formed by black-back herring "zalom". The markets in Astrakhan'
are abundant with all type of fish this year , which is in sharp contrast
with the Volga river. Beluga, Russian and Persian sturgeon, inconnu,
Caspean seal... This black list of endangered species in Caspean area
can be continued because of the uncontrolled activities of poachers,
hydrop- rojects, oilprospecting in Caspean sea. The next spawning
period will show if the herring is in the list or not. Sergei Novitski
Mail 1.9.00
Dear Roberto! The informations you are happy about
were sent to you from "Dront" from different addresses. kov@dront.ru
is one of them. You can send your messages to this address in the
future. Translation is of Fedor in the agreement with Elena and "Bereginia"
people. I will col- lect all interestiong river information from the
newspapers and maga- zines I can get access, translate it and send
it to the ERN, with the indication of the sources. You can put this
information on you website and say thet it is from "Let's help the
river". We are happy about your decision to subscribe to "Bereginia".
(Nevertheless I will be translating the river part of "Bereginia"
and send it to you. To be on the safe side I send you again three
collections of ri- ver informations which we made before. Elena @
Fedor Ltd. Looking forward for further East-West communication. Dear
Roberto, Phil and all the interested people from the "Think Camp".
Here is Fedor. I am writing on my own initiative after a talk with
Phil and RO- berto and Elena. Phil got interested with the case of
a small dam decomissioning and removal in Siberia, when the local
native yakut population (close to eskimo and red indians) suceeded
in 1998 in getting decomissioned and removed a dam 12 m wide and 8
m high made of earth and wood for land reclamation purposes. They
worked on it all in all for 8 years. Now goes my translati- on of
the article from "Bereginia" no 1 of January, 2000. The small dam
was constructed on the river Khotuya, tributary to the river Amga
before 1990. Year 1996. After several years of expeditions of the
Ecoclub on the river of Khotuya the activists collected convincing
evidence demanding decomis- sioning and removal of the dam, which
was constructed for the so cal- led land reclamation purposes and
brought about creation of a stagnant lake, deterioration of forest,
meadows, hay harvesting lands and other problems. There are photoes
where the children from the ecoclub together with OL'GA IVANOVA-SIDORKEVICH
(the leader of the campaign) are rese- arching something seriously,
here they collect signatures from the lo- cal population with the
demands to remove the dam, then they negotiate in the office of the
administrative leader of Amga Ulus (district), then the representatives
of the authorities examine the dam together with the club members.
The result : in 1997 the authority of Amga Ulus approved a deci- sion
on the feasibility and reasonability of removal of the dam and returning
the river in the natural bed. Year 1997. In the summer the expedition's
work continues: water samples are taken, the soil is researched, as
well, as the vegetation. As usual the greatest attention is paid to
the collection of nature conservati- on traditions of the local population,
the songs, the tales. Teaching the children the native culture habits
is an ever present component of the activities of Ol'ga. No important
work is done without a traditio- nal ceremony, a small sacred fire,
where the food for the Spirit of Fire is offered, this may be a simple
cup of milk. Now about the dam. The authorities are not too quick
to start re- moval. Then Ol'ga and the children themselves started
the removal. This was preceded by a really significant event: durung
a thunderstorm a lightning stroke into the sluice for release of water
from the reser- voir. For the clarification: the dam is a structure
12 m wide and 8 m high, made of earth and with the wooden structure
at the base. Now again the photoes: the children remove the burned-over
sluice and cle- an the bottom, here goes the first water from the
water reservoir. It is bright red in colour, almost like fire. The
date of the photograph is June21, 1997. All the events were registered
in detail. The remai- ning works on the dams were shifted to a later
, more suitable time - late autumn. However early snow stopped the
work. Year 1998 Another expedition of the ecoclub. The children got
possibility to study the changes in the natural environment , which
occurred after the partial dismantling of the dam. Spring waters cleaned
up the gap and the consequences surpassed all the expectations. Again
the photog- raps: at the meadow, free from water we see bright green
healthy grass, and among the grass big orange lilies. Ol'ga told me
that even old people forgot about such flowers. The main achievement
is that ri- ver Khotuya started to return into the old bed. In the
bed which had been dry for several years now is a clear spring . On
the banks- again we see happy children. In the autumn the removal
works continu- ed. Though again the volunteers did it. In 1999 at
last the authoritis got involved in the process, and in a serious
manner. Ol'ga sent me an interesting document entitled, as "Agreement
between the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic Sakha
(Yakutia) and the authorities of Amga Ulus for the na- ture protection
and nature restoration, environmental education of the population
of Amga Ulus", dated of July 10, 1999. Beside the promises to support
financially the work of Ecoclub the document also contains a special
line, which reads: " Study a possibility to create a special range
on Khotuya river for the study of restoration of the natural en- vironment
at the area of drained water reservoir." The ecoclub still has a lot
to do..." ...Before , when the water had been stagnant, for several
meters around the nature had been dead. Now when the river is flowing
again everything around started to revive. THere is no more smell
of decay in the forest, the forest is full of life , it is rich in
berries... The article was written by Maria Cherkasova - director
of the Center of Independent Environmental Programs. The address of
Ol'ga P. Ivanova-Sidorkevich is:678600, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),
Amginski Ulus, Lenina str.44, Ecocenter. for Ol'ga P. Ivanova Sidorkevich.
The Article is from "Bereginia" newspaper No.1,January, 2000. Roberto
I have a proposal to you. We have a children's club "Green Sail"here
in Nizhni. We have vo- lunteers there (children mostly, but they grow).
They agree to periodically look through the Russian newspapers (Central
and Volga basin ones) and to briefly copy the river news relating
to hydros , pollution, floods dams etc. I will translate the info
and we will send it to your e-ma- il address. They are interested
in the educational programs Edith (Marie's friend) told us about,
when they transformed research results into pictures, verses, songs
and sculpture (we need her e-mail too). So what if we try this method,
of course in addition to Lena's river information? If you get interested
in some news in detail, then we can try to find contacts through our
journalists of Bereginia and AVE-info. Free of charge, until futher
notice (Joke) We will be sending the messages from the computer and
address of Rashit Khabibbullin, the director of Green Sail. By the
way he's got a some place in Internet where we can place this information.
Sincerely, Elena, Fedor "Let's Help the River". Dear Roberto! and
all intersted! It is Elena and Fedor with another portion of Russian
Rivers Net- work News from "Bereginia" 8,2000. At the Pacific Ocean.
In 1999 In Kamchatka the activists from the Ecocenter with the NGO
"Independent Defence" (a big NGO uniting former servicemen, the Ecocenter
is a part of it) implemented a project , which was funded by ROLL/USAID.
They replicated the experience of Nizhni Novgorod based "River Cleaners
initiative". They applied this experience to the solution of the problem
of Avachinskaya Bay. The essence of the pro- ject is to clean the
bay from the metal scrap, old ships mostly. The weight of submerged
ships is around 40 thousand tons. They used the citi- zens and the
commercial firms and did a lot of educational work with the younger
generation. " ... Avachinskaya Guba Bay - this unique natural water
object is littered by more , than one hundred thousand tons of metal
scrap, out of which no less, than 40 thousand tons make submerged
ships. To cle- an the bay is a too complicated task for any single
agency or enterp- rise in Kamchatka. And of course it is impossible
to do by environmen- tal activists only. The total area of Avachinskaya
guba bay is 262 km2. This includes two dozens of smaller bays. Only
joit action can make a difference. The project is directed at the
solution of two tasks: clean-up of the coast of Avachinskaya Guba
from the garbage and metal scrap by the schoolchildren, citizens'
organizations, enterprises and withdrawl and cutting of the submerged
ships by commercial firms and military agen- cies. The implementation
of the first task includes environmental edu- cation of the younger
population and general population of Avachinska- ya bay (environmental
classes, articles in the newspapers), joining efforts of the public
organizations for the actions on clean-up of the coast, organizing
of the Week of Avacha etc. The second task is still mo- re complicated,
because the evacuation of the ships from the bottom requires great
financial investments and powerful machinery. This is not profitable
and goes counter the principles on which business is based and the
commercial structures are unwilling to participate. For the resolution
of the task the State Committee for Environmental pro- tection of
Kamchatka and the commanders of armed forces of South-East of Russia
will provide organizational and technological assistance for the particiapants
of the project. Now the preparatory stage of the project is being
completed and the phisical work on the clean-up of Avachinskaya bay
starts. I am the coordinator of environmental programs of "Indepenedent
Defence".I gave 17 environmental classes in the schools of Vilyuchinsk.
I told about the necessity to preserve the unique nature of Avacha
bay sys- tem. Seniour schoolchildren of the school No.1 and environmental
acti- vists of the environmental center of the school 9 cleaned up
the first two km of the beach of the Bay of Krashenninikov , a part
of Avachins- kaya Guba. They egistered the positions of submerged
ships and did a lot more useful work. Involved in the project were
more, than 500 pe- ople, 9 citizens organizations and 4 govermental
agencies, as well as 5 commercial firms. The experience of the "River
Cleaners" was just in time. In this Pacific Ocean project we used
the recommendations of the greens from the Volga river how to work
with the mass media, municipal services for jobless, how to facilitate
the process of founding of the children's environmental movement.
We used a lot of guides, worked out by Nizhni Novgorod greens. All
this made it possible to implement the project at a high organizational
level. Maybe in the future it will be possible to found a citizens'
movement "For the Clean Coast of the Pacific". by Zoriana Meshalkina
coordinator of the ecocenter in "Independent Defence". -----------------------------------------------
"AvtoVAZ" was not allowed to Belukha Mountain. Clarification of the
situation to the environmental protection agencies, storming of the
Chinese Embassy. For the first year the environmental association
"Belovod'e" from Kazakhstan has been working, as a participant of
the "Russian Rivers Network". However it has been a part of the movement
"Let's help the rivre" for 4 years already. We started from one of
the tributaries of Irtysh river, Ul'ba. This is a very polluted ,
almost dead river:it is physically impossib- le to swim in this river,
no fish, no vegetation. First we conducted a two day environmental
expedition to know better about the river: in what condition the river
is, who polluted the river, which substances get into the river. During
the expedition we kept registering the results of observations, made
mapping and pho- tographing. We filmed all the cases of violation
and made a video, which played a great role further on. On the completion
of the action we organized a round table dis- cussion where we invited
governmental agencies and citizens' organiza- tions. When the governmental
environmental protection experts saw the film they were struck by
the revelation, they said, that they could not imagine, that the river
is in such a bad condition. Nobody patro- led the river before, nobody
saw the dumps, pipes with the polluted water discharges. The amazement
was so deep because the children pre- sented the results: they showed
their maps, diaries, photoes of dumps, tonnes of garbage. This made
a very very deep impression on the go- vernmental agencies. Since
that time they started to treat the movement, as a serious partner
and support it. Great help was rendered to the movement by other,
not exactly environmen- tal associations, like non-tradtiotional health
improvement movement of the followers of Porphiry Ivanov. They took
under their protection a part of the river and take the task very
seriously. During the first year of the campaign only 4 schools participated
in the action . During the last time- more, than one thousand and
a half of the activists from three towns: Ust' Kamenogorsk, Semipala-
tinsk, Leninogorsk, around 10 schools, three universities, three col-
leges, citizens' organizations. Now the campaign is still gaining
force and dimension. It is or- ganized under the slogan: Clean banks-clean
rivers. Let's help the ri- ver". One more issue to which we pay a
lot of attention. China has bu- ilt a canal for irrigation of dry
areas. The name of the canal is Black Irtysh-Karamay. It is 300 km
long. This year they are planning to divert and take the water. This
could bring about a catastrophy, analogous to the disaster of Aral
sea. Vast territory could be trans- formaed into a bog. For the second
year already we are storming our governmental structures at the level
of the parliament and the the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan,
as well, as the Embassy of China. The problem is also caused by the
fact that separate negotiations are going on , where only Kazakhstan
and China take part. Russia is not inclu- ded, though it is a very
interested party. I would like to urge the Russian public organizations
to exert pressure on the Embassy of Chi- na, to send an appeal to
the Ministry of Natural Resources, maybe to contact President Putin
to get Russia included into the process, beca- use China continues
to behave very independently and the canal is go- ing to be comissioned
and functional yet in this year. One more action. AvtoVAZ- an automobile
giant of Russia decided to organize a rally to climb the mountain
of Belukha. Using own super landrovers they planned to drive to Belukha
across rivers, lakes na- ture reserves. Belukha is the place where
numerous rivers take source. Our public responded very quickly. One
day after the announcement a coordination center of 15 organizations
was created. The Russian side was informed immediately. The greens
from Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Gor- no-Altaysk got involved. They had
been "storming" our provincial aut- horities for a week. We also used
a "fax war". The public pressure on the management of AvtoVAZ was
so effective, that the authorities agreed on a compro- mize. The result
was, that the route of the rally had been changed. Belukha and many
rivers were saved. Sergey Shafarenko "Belovod'e" association Ust'
Kamenogorsk Kazakhstan. -------------------------------------------------------------
Authorised Activism? In Tatarstan the initiative of Let's Help the
River took deep ro- ots. To save small rivers more, than a thousand
of persons from 20 districts of the republic mobilized themselves
for concrete actions 4 years ago. The idea of helping the rivers has
become very popular since. In many groups of additional school training
such actions are being orga- nized independently, whthout any agination
campaigns. Now every spring in the organizations, like "young nature
scientists circles" and turinsts they allot certain funds for the
conduct of river cleaning actions. At the very beginning of the initiative
no governmental organiza- tions supported us and we purchased all
the equipment on the money from our own salaries. Only once the authorities
gave us transport for trash disposal. In fact we forced them to give
us the truck by threa- tening to dump all the garbage in the central
squire. The greens of Tatarstan are not cleaning the rivers only.
The en- vironmental movement of the republic consists mostly of students.
Most of them have the licences of public environmental protection
inspec- tors and fight against illegal capture of lands in the buffer
zones of the rivers, against the poachers who place their nets across
the river pathes during the spawning time. Now the poachers start
to use the electro-shock fishing devices, chemical poison and dynamite.
This year 2000 a special order was issued for the schools of the republic
under which all the schools are to mandatory participate in river
cleaning activities. A certain portion of rivers is allotted for cleaning
to every school. Moreover the Ministry of Environment of the republic
declared by a special order April 22 the Day for the protec- tion
of small rivers. Here a question arises: is it good or bad? On April
22 the child- ren were freed from the school attendance and forcibly
brought to cle- an the river banks. many of them did not understand
the ideology of the campaign , they did not get "why" they had to
work there. The TV men came and filmed the event, then they went away
to show this in the news... Some people conduct the action only to
get publicity in Mass Media, not to help the river. In some cases
the participants threw back the trash into the river after the journalists
and administrators went away. To be honest this is the profanation
of the idea, formalism and a show. Funds from the republic budget
are spent , someone regis- ters a new achievement and reports back
to high chiefs... Is it good for the cause we are fighting for? Irek
Ziganshin Kazan', Tatarstan Russian Federation. -----------------------------------------------------------------
River News from the magazine "Echocronika" Russia, Saint-Petersburg
2 (40)1999. An Active Person Alexander Solovykh, cochairman of Samara
(the Volga river city) regional organization of radical ecologists
Citizens' Initiative has been in defiant confrontation with the directorship
of the national park "Samarskaya Luka" (coastal area of the Volga
river) for several years alredy. He said the situation in the national
park is critical: very few bears and deer remain and some rare species
and plants are close to extinction as the Samarskaya Luka directorship
still allows exploita- tion of stone quarries on the territory of
the national park. Besides Alexander Solovykh has accused the Samarskaya
luka direc- torship of pandering to the poachers who use the most
barbarous fis- hing methods. (17 small dams with holes in them, where
nets are instal- led during the spawning period of fish). He also
said he had to confront the dirtiest corruption, threats and even
assaults... Yet sometimes in his struggle he and his friends use methods
which can hardly be regarded, as legal. Once Alexander Solovykh and
several other activists of his organization were even arrested when
they tried to use a home made bomb in order to blow up a dam built
by poaching fishermen. As a professional lawyer Alexander understands
it will be a hard task for him to prove in court the extreme necessity
of his action. Nevertheless this Zorro of an ecologist from Samara
will not give in. He is planning new actions in protection of the
national park. Yet, when he was asked if he was going to use bombs
again, he promptly replied in the negative. ---------------------------
What have we done to you, mother river Volga? 54% of the Population
of Russia, 45% of industrial production and about 50% of the agricultural
production are concentrated in the basin of the Volga river. What
icredibly large civilization this river car- ries on its banks, almost
every mile of the length of which is used for industrial or agricultural
purposes. Quite a few of the buildings standing on the banks of the
Volga river date back to past centuries. And wherever you may look,
you can see churches which are so beautiful even though until recently
most of them have been abandoned and dilapidated. In fact the Volga
river, in a sense is no more. Instead there is a chain of artificial
lakes. The natural outline of the river in most places disappeared
amidst these "hand-made seas". The environmental problems of the Volga
river and the areas it passes through are innumerable: oil spills,
dams in disrepairs, the littered banks and the bottom of the river,
pollutting discharges... Despite all its might and main, the Volga
can hardly any longer bear up against the industrial onslought. Residents
of the towns, situated on the Volga river banks, still keep in mind
- now most incredible - memory of the Volga river so rich in fish
and caviar, and so clean. We are still hoping sturgeons will come
back. Yet it is a long way between hopes and reality. What have we
done to you, mother Volga? Please forgive us if you can. -------------------------------------------
A monument of ecological illiteracy. The unfinished dam Krapivinskaya
on the river Tom (Russia, the Urals, Kuzbass region around Kemerovo
town) is a kind of monument to ecological illiteracy. Its construction
began 10 years ago. The dam was to be 55 m high, 1164 m long and the
lake was to be 230-670 squire km of area. At that time the dam was
considered necessary in order to create an artificial lake that would
serve, as a huge sedimentation reservoir for waste water discharges
from mining and metallurgic en- terprises of Kuzbass industrial region.
When environmental assessment of the project was completed at last
, it showed the complete inexpediency of the dam and 10 years ago
the construction was suspended. By that time 300 million USD had been
already invested in the project. Yet recently in Kuzbass some have
begun to talk about the possi- bility of resuming the project. They
say a new version of the project is quite environmentally friendly
and will be economically efficient (it is worth mentioning that the
continuation of the project will re- quire another 300 million USD).
However, these plans have been opposed vehemently by the pupils of
Kemerovo town school No.62 who are members of the Youth Ecological
association led by Oleg Novikov. These young- sters say the river
Taidon , a tributary of the Tom river can fulfill the task of supplying
clean water to Kuzbass towns by far better than the projected artificial
lake. As for the unfinished dam, some of its parts could be left ,
as they are just as a monument of ecological illiteracy. Hi, Roberto
and other friends! Here go articles from another issue of "Bereginia"
newspaper, No.9 of the year 2000. Articles relating to rivers and
lakes of the Russian Federation. Thinking Roberto Epple, the president
of European Rivers Network speaks about dismantling of a dam on Loire
river (France). Listening to him are river-activists who came to his
think-camp from various parts of Europe. Nizhni Novgorod delegates
Elena Kolpakova (the coordinator of the Volga river movement "Let's
help the river" and of the Russian Ri- vers Network, and a well-known
river cleaner Fedor Krylov also were thinking on Loire river. About
what were they thinking? About the fact, that ERN was preparing for
the dismantling of a dam on Loire ri- ver more, than 10 years. They
organized disobedience actions, occupied dam construction sites ,
population awareness and propaganda campa- igns. And finally they
reached the goal, the dam was blown up. The workshop on Loire river
demonstrated to us, that the Russian Rivers Network activists should
learn from ERN to be patient and flexible. --------------------------------------------------
From the page :"News of the Russian Rivers Network Conscience of Russia
August 27, 2000 for the second time the activists selebrated the annual
festival "Day of Baikal". Baikal is the deepest, the oldest and the
cleanest lake in the world. The hystory of industrial construction
near this unique lake and fight for saving of Baikal is an extended
in time ecological drama , which is well known all over Russia. Ever
de- veloping harmful environmental consequences to which no remedy
was fo- und, old problems which date back to 1960-ties years , vilolated
har- mony: these are the heritage of nature conquest. What should
be done now about it? For all this time of week and unsuccessful protest
of the public against irresposible decision-making a major threat
emerged that the pe- ople will get used to the situation, threat of
indifferent observation of evil deeds against clean and beautiful
Baikal. These violations are being committed by the industry, authorities
and common people too. In 1997 after Baikal was included by UNESCO
into the list of the World Natural Heritage objects the green activists
of Baikal region decided to hold a festival, which could help to draw
attention to the problems of Baikal, sensibilize people and mobilized
them to collabo- ratively solve those problems. We needed a festival
for which people get prepared all year long. There was a strong understanding,
that the region should have its popular festival devoted to the unique
lake on the Planet. This festival finally was organized in 1999 -
the citizens' ini- tiative was supported by the supreme bodies of
the districts of Baikal region (Duma of Irkutsk province, Duma of
Chita province, the peoples' khural of Buriatia republic and by the
Duma of Ust'-Ordynsky and Buri- atsky autonomous district). In Irkutsk
occurred founding and the first celebration of the Day of Baikal,
which was decided to mark every fo- urth Sunday in August. At the
same day opened was Baikal film festival "Man and Nature". Many organizations
from many places sent their cong- ratulations for this festival to
us. One of the famous defenders of Baikal Mr. Glazia wrote that: ...
This timely patriotic initiative goes far beyond the banks of Baikal
and has not only Russian, but worldwide significance. Baikal is the
"All-Mankind Well" from which people take not only material reso-
urces - drinking water of unique quality, but also the spiritual we-
alth. Baikal is the conscience of Russia. This year the celebrations
were organized for Baikal in Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk. For more inforamtion
mailto:yulia@baikalwave.eu.org ----------------------------------------------------------
Selenga, Ob' which is next? The Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia
is making plans on deltas of major Russian rivers. Near Baikal a new
regional project is being deployed on oil and gas prospecting in the
delta of river Selenga the major tributary to Baikal lake. The works
are being planned at the territory of Baikal section of which is included
into the list of UNESCO Heritage . It is close to the nature reserve
"Kabansky", being the only natural ob- ject in the Republic of Buryatia
included into Ramsar Convention on wetlands. We were too optimistic
about the degree of Baikal protection and did not take seriously the
information in Mass Media about petrol and gas found in the delta
of Selenga river, because we regarded the plans of some of our geologists
to be too absurd. The catalist to such regi- onal initiatives served
the resolution of the Ministry of Natural Re- sources of Russia from
24.06.98 No.10-1 where it was acknowledged, as one of the major tasks
to organise preplanned works for strengthening of raw materials basis
in new promising territories and water areas. The money are to be
taken from the local budgets. After this document became valid the
local gas prospecting companies intensified their work. The project
was included into the republican program on natural resources replenishment
. In Moscow the leader of the program received O.K. but no funds was
allotted from the federal budget. If the project is started successfully
the experience could be replicated to other regions and rivers. We
propose to "Let's help the river" and other interested groups to join
efforts in the information campaign to stop those plans. We are planning
to open a section "Oil Prospecting at Baikal" in the site of our organization
(http://bro.snow.eastsib.ru) S.G. Shapakhayev Buryat Regional Baikal
Association. ----------------------------------------------------------
Black back herring will be no more? The fish-experts from the laboratory
of passing fish from the Institute of Fishery of Caspean Sea Area
have registered a uniquely low spawning population of black-back herring
("zalom") ever while obser ving the Volgograd dam processes. The spawning
passage numbers of the fish in the dam zone of Volzhskaya HPS was
negligible. At the peak of spawning passage - in the first decade
of June- during the check catches at Volgograd portion of Low Volga
only single black back herrings were registered. In previous years
there were tho- usands of them. What happened? The first hyposesis
of the scientists was fluctuations of the spawning population. It
is justified because the generations of this kind of herrings differ
in numbers one from another . But why such drastic changes never occurred
before? The ba- sis of the current spawning population were the fishes
of 5-7 years of age. 5-7 years ago the spawning conditions for the
herrings were not catastrophic. Evidently illegal fishing is to blame.
Poaching. The poacher teams of the Northern part of Caspean Sea made,
first of all made the sturgeon a rare fish , and then little by little
shifted to harvest the other passing fish. The largest population
was once formed by black-back herring "zalom". The markets in Astrakhan'
are abundant with all type of fish this year , which is in sharp contrast
with the Volga river. Beluga, Russian and Persian sturgeon, inconnu,
Caspean seal... This black list of endangered species in Caspean area
can be continued because of the uncontrolled activities of poachers,
hydrop- rojects, oilprospecting in Caspean sea. The next spawning
period will show if the herring is in the list or not. Sergei Novitski
mailto:kov@dront.ru
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