On July 5th the second stage of the pupils ecological expedition “Let’s protect the Mezen from rubbish! ” organized by the teachers of the Children’s art house of Usogorsk in the framework of the Model River Mezen project was completed.
A museum corner “The history of the fishing on the Mezen” has been established in the National museum of the Udora district in the framework of the Model River Mezen project.
The exhibits representing the ancient fishing gear and other attributes of the traditional fishing are combined in a unified exposition with a banner showing the river views and the scheme of the Mezen basin at the background. Besides, the old photos, elements of the local fishermen equipment many attributes of which preserved the traditional family coat of arms – pasy – have been used in the exposition.
The Silver Taiga Foundation has participated in the republican “Komi book” festivities, which this time took place in the Udora village Bolshaya Pyssa.
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The first stage of the Udora pupils environmental expedition organized in the framework of the Model River Mezen project has come to an end. Six 7-11-graders together with their leaders Alexander Morozov and Alexander Butyrev have sailed on a catamaran along the Mezen – from the Lower Puzla inflow into the Mezen to Usogorsk.
Last week the first practice of the stocking the “AgroUdora” cooperative fishing grounds with fish was held.
The cooperative leases five fishing grounds on the Irva, the tributary of the Mezen. The members of the Glotovo branch of the “ArgoUdora” – the residents of the village with the same name and the relating villages – are engaged in the fishing on these fishing grounds, mainly for their own needs, according to the allocated quotas. The cooperative is one of the participants of the Model River Mezen project implementation representing the community of the local residents who are above all others interested in the conservation of the fish resources. Therefore, the cooperative is dedicated to the sustainable river management development. The monitoring and maintenance of the fish stock, including the fish stocking, is one of the conditions of such management.
Interregional cooperation and recreational fishing on the Mezen was discussed at another meeting of the “Model river Mezen” project Working group held at the end of February.
Yury Pautov, “Silver Taiga” Director and member of the Working group engaged in the development of this document, informed the audience about the progress of implementation of the project initiative on creation of an interregional target program aimed at conservation and reproduction of the Atlantic salmon in the Mezen river. He introduced the audience to the main sections of the Program under development.
Announcement of the results of the district contest among the methodological developments of lesson or out-of-school activities on the topic “Tsar fish – Mezen salmon” has been held in the secondary school of the Glotovo village. The contest has been conducted by the Silver Taiga Foundation jointly with the Department of Education of the municipal district “Udorsky” within the frameworks of the “Model river Mezen” project.
The contest announced at the end of the last academic year was aimed at drawing the schoolteachers’ attention and through them the attention of their pupils and youth to the values and problems of the Mezen river. According to the organizers, the study of the peculiarities and condition of such flagship species of the Mezen ichthyofauna as the Atlantic salmon (salmon) will promote the extension of the pupils’ knowledge about the fish resources of the Mezen river basin in general and traditions of the respectful and responsible attitude to the river and its resources which play a huge role in the life of the people. It was also important to direct attention of the pupils to the current state of the species and the reasons of its degradation, as well as the conditions and possible ways for its restoration.
The regular meeting of the Model River Mezen project Working Group took place on November, 22. It was devoted to 2013 working results and also to intermediate results of the first project stage and activity planning for the nearest future.
Silver Taiga ecologist Nikolai Shuktomov informed the participants of the meeting about the results of October expedition under annual monitoring of natural salmon reproduction conditions and efficiency in Mezen river basin and about an initiative of nonmigratory fish species monitoring by «AgroUdora» cooperative.
The annual exploration expedition was held in the end of October. Among the participants of the expedition were: the representatives of Silver Foundation; Federal State Institution “Komirybvod”; Udora regional committee for environmental conservation; department for state control, monitoring and aquatic bioresources protection; indigenous people community “Udorachi” and a volunteer.
This expedition was already the third one under the project. It was focused on monitoring of Atlantic salmon breeding area population as the Atlantic salmon is the most sensitive species. The expedition participants investigated the upper reaches of the river Mezen and its tributaries: Verkhnaya and Nizhnaya Puzla, Pyssa and Elva. The main objectives of the expedition were to count the number of salmon spawning nests and to evaluate conditions for salmon reproduction on these breeding tributaries. At the same time, the expedition participants monitored and analyzed poaching situation. According to ichthyologists, the overfishing is in particular the main reason of fish resources decrease in the recent decade.
There were much less salmon spawning nests this time on Pyssa and Elva compared to the last year. According to the local people observation, salmon comes to these rivers a little later and this year spawning period has prolonged because of the weather conditions. However, the situation didn’t differ much in the upper reaches of the river Mezen and in Verkhnaya and Nizhnaya Puzla compared to the last year. Nevertheless, it is too early to make some conclusions. Minimum five years of monitoring are needed to define at least a short-term dynamics.
Unfortunately, according to the expedition participants, the signs of poaching on spawning tributaries are getting more and more year by year. Moreover, there have never been fixed any illegal fences for fish on Verkhnaya Puzla before. But now there are such fences there – in the entry and upper.
According to Silver Taiga ecologist Nikolai Shuktomov, this expedition differed from the previous ones of 2011 and 2012 by participation in it of an independent supervision body specialist – the representative of Priluzje department for state control, monitoring and aquatic bioresources protection. There was also Silver Taiga volunteer among the expedition participants. It was his first significant field expedition.
According to the expedition arrangers, it is important to enlarge the variety of the participants and participating organizations as it helps the society to realize the emergency of salmon resources.
What is the annual monitoring necessary for? It is known, that almost no monitoring of salmon has been done on the river Mezen and its tributaries for a long time. The academics of the Polar Institute of Scientific Fishery and Oceanography (Murmansk) have researched the Atlantic salmon on the sea only. Meanwhile, to define the main reasons of salmon population degradation in Mezen river and to develop the salmon rehabilitation program together with the Arkhangelsk region, such investigations are extremely needed.
Participants of the salmon nests monitoring expedition: Andrei Druzhkov, Nikolai Shuktomov, Vladimir Lipin. October 2013
The expedition participants’ workdays (Alexei Politov). October 2013
Fence in the entry of Vizinga tributary of the river Nizhnaya Puzla. October 2013
Valentina Semyashkina
Translated by Anastasia Popova
The workshop on methods of aquatic bioresources control and its practical use was held on October, 31st in Glotovo village (Udora district of Komi). Members of the local branch of «AgroUdora» cooperative participated in the workshop.
As is known, the population of Glotovo village and near-by villages is combined into a cooperative and pursues a fishery according to quotas on the floods of Irva river – Irva lakes. The five lakes have a status of a fishing ground and they are under lease of the cooperative. But it doesn’t mean at all that they are managed sustainably.