Silver Taiga representatives arranged a three-day FSC certification training course for the employees of SevLesPil.
The workshop participants extended their knowledge with regard to FSC requirements. In particular, one of the classes conducted by the environmental expert Nikolay Shilov was focused on recommendations for the Red Book species habitat preservation.
With regard to the trip to Poland the Foundation’s experts were focused on two key objectives – to learn about the methods of aquatic ecosystem assessment used in the country and to study the experience of fishery resource management. Both tasks are relevant for efficient implementation of Silver Taiga’s projects aimed at building sustainable management of rivers and river resources.
Model River Mezen Working Group is appealing to the public to report any cases of new unrepresentative fish species found in the catchment.
Rational management of any resource implies continuous collection of data on its condition, or monitoring. Unfortunately, monitoring of the fish population in the Mezen river is far from being sufficient due to a number of reasons, including shortage of funds, lack of people, and others. Theoretically, you need to assess quality and quantity indicators, such as species composition of the fish community in each water body, population size of each species, migration patterns, age-sex pattern of each species, infestation intensity and extensity. It is absolutely necessary to monitor the condition and accessibility of spawning grounds for various species with various needs, since some of them want drowned plants and slow water flow, others need shingle and strong flow, and so on. The food potential and negative environmental impact on aquatic ecosystems are also relevant to be estimated. All in all, it is evident that such a short list of actions required implies high costs, which can only get paid back at frequently visited fishery plots.
The river’s species composition is not constant – from time to time some species disappear for reasons attributable to human activity or natural causes, while other species settle in the river. The Mezen river accounts for 31 species from 14 fish and fish-like vertebrate families, with 15 species out of them being registered to inhabit the upper reach (upstream the village of Ust-Kym). 7 other species were recorded based on the evidence from fishermen or other sources.
The complete list of the Mezen river fish species is given in the table below.
| Species | Mezen river basin | Upper reach |
| Pacific lamprey | + | + |
| Siberian brook lamprey | + | ? |
| Starlet | + | _ |
| Humpback salmon | + | ? |
| Bull-trout | ? | _ |
| Salmon | + | + |
| European cisco | + | _ |
| Whitefish | + | + |
| Peled | + | _ |
| Nelma | + | ? |
| European grayling | + | + |
| Rainbow herring | + | _ |
| Pike | + | + |
| Carpbream | + | + |
| Lookup | + | + |
| Nerfling | + | + |
| Dace | + | + |
| Lake minnow | + | ? |
| Common minnow | + | + |
| Roach | + | + |
| Rudd | + | _ |
| Gudgeon | + | + |
| Silver porgy | + | _ |
| Crucian carp | + | ? |
| Bearded stone loach | + | + |
| Eelpout | + | + |
| Three-spine stickleback | + | _ |
| Nine-spine stickleback | + | _ |
| Ruff | + | ? |
| Perch | + | + |
| Slimy sculpin | + | + |
| Flounder | + | ? |
‘+’ – the species is recorded in the upper reach of the Mezen river
‘–’ – the species is not recorded in the upper reach of the Mezen river
‘?’ – the species are mentioned to be noticed in the upper reach of the Mezen river
Occasionally, we find information about new species caught in the Mezen. For instance, we have been told this year that bull-trout was found in the middle reaches of the Mezen. Some species like humpback salmon got into the river from the sea, others may have been let out there by aquarians, which is considered illegal introduction; in addition there are other ways to get into the river.
We invite you to inform us, if you happen to learn about any cases of catching untypical species in the Mezen. It will be especially useful for us to get the following data: date and time of the catchment, exact location (GPS coordinates are welcome), fishing gear, fish size and weight, hard or soft roe present, pictures attached. It is extremely desirable for you to state your contact details in case we want to check up on the information.
Last April Silver Taiga GIS-specialist Alexander Borovlyov presented the intermediate results of the Assessing Long-Term Logging Impact on Water Resources project at two scientific conferences – in Saint Petersburg and in Kirov.
A lot of interest was taken by the participants of the Forests of Russia: Politics, Industry, Science, And Education conference held in St. Petersburg State University of Forestry on 13-15 April to the Foundation’s activities in general and in particular to the project on assessing logging impact on water resources. The attendees were concerned about the selection of methods for the impact assessment, hydrology data sources, estimated results, and many other issues. Alexander’s presentation and the subsequent question-and-answer session turned into a keen discussion of the problem relevant for many forestry regions, however poorly studied yet.
At the end of April the project was displayed to another audience – to participants of the all-Russia workshop Business. Science. Environment of the Homeland: Problems and Solutions held in the Vyatka State University, where Alexander reported on the methods of assessing long-term logging impact on water resources. These include, in particular, Earth remote sensing data making it possible to compare the rates of deforestation and subsequent regeneration of cutover stands in a particular catchment basin by correlating space images of different periods. Then, development of runoff parameters is traced based on the data from the Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring. With regard to minor and medium streams the project participants use such field techniques as bioindication and measurement of the stream and the flood bed. Interviews of long standing inhabitants held in Udora district support the obtained data in a way…
Alexander Borovlyov’s report was of great interest at the conference in Kirov, too. The discussion revealed a lot of questions, recommendations and proposals. To sum up the overall feedback in brief, the project is relevant, and its results will be demanded.
“Unfortunately, I failed to meet anyone dealing with the same project or tackling similar issues among participants of both conferences,” Alexander says. “We seem to be the only organization to address the problem. Meanwhile, everyone admits the relevance and practical implication of the study. Nevertheless, I find our participation in the conferences fruitful – the issue invited the attention of experts, we got interesting recommendations, met new people, including potential partners.”
The Silver Taiga Foundation’s office hosted a workshop on the results of the field testing of the software solution (WebGIS program system) developed by a group of international experts upon the request from FSC International and targeted on FSC certification quality improvement. These were the actual developers – Charles Eyre, Jim Williams, Peter Wells, Francesco Holesz – who presented it to the workshop participants.
Main five-year project results and possible solutions to the challenges preventing further progress to the sustainable management of the Mezen river resources were discussed at a regular meeting of the Model River Mezen Working Group.
Nikolay Shilov, the project coordinator, made a presentation on the current status and project issues, and focused mainly on the problems encountered by the participants while performing certain planned activities, such as reclamation activities at fishing grounds or stocking them with fish, which are vital to achieve the target – sustainable river resource management.
A major part of the meeting was dedicated to detailed planning of 2016 activities and discussing the perspectives of the project.
Before the start of the long-term project planning the Working Group members reviewed its strengths and weaknesses, which are clearly visible now at this stage, identified issues yet unsolved and the most challenging problems, tried to discover possible solutions, and to determine in what ways the project is to be developed later on. The project achievements include well-adjusted continuous monitoring and resource monitoring systems, non-formal comprehensive problem solving approach with a variety of stakeholders involved, cooperation with the local AgroUdora Cooperative with regard to sustainable resource management, good information sharing, proactive involvement of schoolchildren into the issue of the sustainable river resource management, and support of the local population initiatives related to the project … Inefficient cooperation with federal authorities and respective committees of the State Council of the Komi Republic, and shortage of activities under the interregional Agreement between the Komi Republic and Arkhangelsk region were seen by the Working Group as the project’s weak points …
The Working Group identified key focus areas of the project for its next stage in the coming five to six years.
Another issue considered at the meeting referred to changing the composition of the Working Group – it was unanimously agreed to accept Leonid Pavlov, executive director of the AgroUdora Cooperative, as a member of the Group.
Photos by Alexander Borovlyov
Role of oxygen in the aquatic organisms’ life and practical acquaintance with a fish kill phenomena were the subject of a visit to the lake close to Maksakovka village (not far from Syktyvkar). Silver Taiga ecologist, coordinator of Model River Mezen project Nikolay Shilov, pupils and teachers of the Republican Center of Environmental Education participated in this visit.
The member of the Model River Mezen project Working Group, the Director of the Udora Centralized Library System Alina Vaneeva and her Deputy Ludmila Obrezkova have had a meeting with their colleagues from Leshukonje village (Arkhangelsk region) in order to present the experience of the awareness-building efforts in cooperation with Silver Taiga Foundation.
Representatives of the Model River Mezen project Working Group met residents of local villages during their recent trip to Leshukonsky district, Arkhangelsk region, after the round table held in the district center.
At the beginning of March Silver Taiga representatives took part in the opening session of the Forest School spring term. The School opens during spring break, this time for the third year in a row, in the village of Verkhny Bereznik, Ustyan district, Arkhangelsk region. All this has served an excellent basis for positive experience exchange with children.
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