On the 25th of January the meeting of Model River Project Working group took place. This meeting actually marked the start-up of the project. The main objective of the project is to show how to implement sustainable management of fish resources on the example of the river Mezen.
The project plan for 3 years as well as a detailed plan for the year 2011 were submitted for consideration of the Working group members. Among the members of the Working group there were representatives of the local population, administration of the Udora region, government agencies in charge of water and fish resources and other stakeholders. The meeting was also devoted to discussion of possible implementation periods, responsible parties and executors, expected results in different project directions, and relationship with stakeholders, including the stakeholders in Arkhangelsk region. The project partners have confirmed their high interest in the project and willingness to cooperate.
The main directions of the project activity in the year 2011 will be related to:
- supplying of information about the project to the local population,
- provision of information and methodological support in organization of fish farms to the tenants of the river Mezen sections,
- improvement in protection of the most vulnerable parts of the river Mezen and its tributaries against poaching,
- commence of the detaiedl monitoring of the “zero level” population of major fish species in the river Mezen,
- organization of interaction between all the partners involved in the river management, including Komirybvod, Komirybnadzor, administration of the Udora region, tenants of the river lands, local population, members of agricultural cooperative “Agro-Udora”.
Obviously, it’s impossible to solve all the long-standing problems related to the fish resources depletion in the Mezen during a short period of time, for this reason the Model River Project is planned for 12 years, but detailed plans are made only for three years so far.
