«AgroUdora» on the Yirva: activities, problems, perspectives

The representatives of the Working group of the “Model river Mezen” project made a trip to the Yirva river in order to meet with the members of the Glotovo branch of the “AgroUdora” cooperative. During the trip and the meetings with the fishermen in the villages Kuchmozerye, Borovo, and Krivushevo the employees of the Silver Taiga Foundation Yury Pautov and Valentina Semyashkina together with the board member of the cooperative Aleksey Vurdov discussed the burning problems related to the activity of the cooperative, as well as its perspectives and participation in the “Model river Mezen” project implementation.

There are eight large flow-through lakes and plenty of small and medium-sized lakes in the basin of the Yirva, a left tributary of the Mezen. Five brigades of the Glotovo branch of the agricultural consumer supply-sale “AgroUdora” cooperative are engaged in the commercial fishing exactly on the lakes Din-ty, Krivushev-ty, Tshupta-ty, Kos-ty, Petyr-ty given the status of fishing grounds. The whole Glotovo branch of the “AgroUdora” cooperative consists of about sixty local residents, also including some natives currently living in other areas of the district who have also entered the cooperative.

The members of the cooperative are united in brigades, 10-13 people each. At all times population of these places was engaged in fishing. Today, fish is still one of the main food products here and for the most part of the population fishing is not only the major occupation but also a lifestyle. This is why many of them supported the initiative on creation of the “AgroUdora” cooperative in the district at some point and have already been trying for the third year to adjust the management on their leased areas.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of obstacles on this way. Although, one of the problems related to the inconsistency between the quotas for catching of one or another type of fish and the actual condition of the resources voiced one year ago at the meeting with the Glotovo fishermen is solved. Members of the cooperative are satisfied both with the allocation of quotas on the Yirva areas for 2012 and the total volume of the allowable catch – 3038 kg of pike, roach, ide, perch, burbot, and dace. However, some other problems appeared. For example, according to the existing rules, members of the cooperative cannot control other visitors – amateur fishermen coming to the leased fishing grounds from different places. Moreover, the sport fishermen (not members of the cooperative) have the same or even superior rights on the fishing grounds leased by the cooperative compared to the tenants: same as the cooperative they are allowed to catch with net, but there is no restriction concerning the mesh size whereas such limitation is valid for the cooperative members. One more difficulty is too “harsh” requirements to the reporting: the catch data should be sent to Ministry of Agriculture and Food twice a month, it’s required to keep a log on a permanent basis, etc.

The members of the cooperative have also touched upon some other problems related to the river management including the internal ones. All of them result from the administrative, legal, and organizational frameworks set for the cooperative. Meanwhile, long-term neglect of these problems can cause discrediting of the very idea of such form of management by the local residents as a cooperative.

Is it possible to change the frameworks, rules, requirements to the activity of the fishing cooperative dictated by the federal structures, at the republican level? Having discussed the situation, the members of the Working group of the “Model river Mezen” project formed a special small working group for development of the proposals, which can support and roll out further management of these fishing grounds by the local population. For example, the project plan includes organization of the monitoring of the Yirva fish resources by the forces of the cooperative members according to the methodology suggested by the specialists-ichthyologists. According to the head of the Glotovo branch of the “AgroUdora” Oleg Krivushev, they would handle it. All the more so, as own fish resources monitoring on the leased fishing grounds using the catch data of the cooperative members is in the interest of the local population itself. The monitoring results will help the cooperative to correctly assess the condition of the fish resources by different species and plan their activities accordingly, i.e. to insure the water body against overfishing and to enable the sustainable management for a long term.

According to the opinion of the project Working group, the problems of concern to the members of the Glotovo branch of the “AgroUdora” are solvable. Their solving requires at least the wish of the interested parties, first and foremost, the local population and the opportunity for collaboration, with the “Model river Mezen” project as its platform.

Translated by Irina Sokolova