Pike Will “Clean” the Irva Lakes

200 thousand young pikes were released to the Irva river (the Mezen tributary) in Udora district at the expense of the Silver Taiga Foundation for Sustainable Development on 30 June. The juvenile fish release was attended by Vladimir Maltsev, temporary acting head of the Komi branch of the Federal Fishery Agency (GlavRybVod), and Nikolay Zhilin, head of Udora district administration.

The young pikes were delivered to the village of Glotovo by trucks, and then were transported along the Irva by boat. They were released to the river by Krivushevo near the AgroUdora cooperative fishery plot. Stocking of the river with fish was part of the Foundation’s Model River Mezen project.

The event was preceded by lots of work. First of all, a recommendation of the N.M. Knipovich Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (Murmansk) was obtained. Then, based on the recommendation, a permission was issued to allow young pike release to the Mezen within Udora district. The fish was grown at the research facility of the Komi branch of GlavRybVod.

“Owing to well-coordinated efforts of the Komi branch the needed amount of juvenile fish was brooded, timely delivered and released to the Irva. It is worth to note that pike is not the most popular species for artificial reproduction. The grayling, cisco and other valuable fish species are subject to stocking more frequently. However, we decided to select the pike, as it has a huge food reserve in the Irva lake system. It mostly includes the roach and perch, which tend to grow in terms of their population due to progressing overgrowth of aquatic plants in the Irva lakes. The pike is expected to control the population of low-value fish species. At the same time, pike is demanded by the local population and has become a so-called “brand” of the Irva river”, says Nikolay Shilov, the Model River Mezen project coordinator.

The young fish handling

In 3-4 years, the youngsters released will provide almost half a ton of market fish. The AgroUdora cooperative will harvest the fish and sell it to local retail chains. Later on it is planned to expand the list of fish species recommended to be released to the Mezen. For instance, the cisco population is expected to be stocked.

The Irva lakes are a network chained by the Irva river. Therefore, their cleaning from aquatic plants by AgroUdora will become the following stage of the Model River Mezen project. During the reclamation, the weeds are planned to be taken out of water and composted. The test activities are expected at the end of this month.

The young fish

The river is stocked