Identification of Knowledge Gaps and Problems of the Fish Industry

6. Identification of Knowledge Gaps and Problems of the Fish Industry

In the course of the Project implementation we have revealed a number of problems and gaps faced by the fish industry. These have a direct bearing on issues related to water ecosystems and biodiversity conservation in general. The gaps are related to an incomplete understanding of the impact of fishing and fish breeding on aquatic and paraquatic flora and fauna as well as to the insufficiency of the legislative framework governing reproduction and utilization of fish stocks. Furthermore, quite often even the existing statutes regulating the use and conservation of biodiversity prove to be ineffective. All current problems related to biodiversity conservation and the fish industry can be divided into the following 5 groups:

Problems directly related to productive activities of fish enterprises are mainly caused by the industry’s low economic efficiency and a lack of adequate financial support by the State as a result of which the industry if incapable of taking environmental measures. Disparities of prices for fish feed, energy resources, fuel and fish products result in low profitability of fish farms. Since artificial reproduction by fish farms of native fish species, including rare and endangered ones, is not economically stimulated, genetic heritage of these species is gradually declining. Thus, due to insufficient artificial reproduction of fish resources, it is impossible to preserve present fish biodiversity levels.

Fish production and extraction are not properly controlled. Fish farms and fishing companies are not always interested in their products or catches being officially registered. Divisions of large regional enterprises in all the riparian countries assess their fish catches taking into account commercial grades rather than types of fish species and even this little information cannot be obtained at small private businesses. There is practically no control over fish farms’ activities in the environmental protection field or of their impact on biodiversity.

Breeding of cultivated valuable fish-breeding objects is not sufficiently targeted. Gene fund of most fish-breeding objects is dwindling. Stocks of producers have been defiled by hybrid forms.

Non-compliance of the existing Commercial Fishing Rules with biological principles of use of water bodies and with principles of sustainable use of biodiversity results in the situation when reproductive marketable fish species are caught with the observance of commercial fishing limits rather than justified fish extraction quotas. Also, fish selection industry is not geared to the exploitation of small-value fish species.

Problems connected with amateur fishing and poaching are mainly the result of the absence of laws establishing the size of catches and fishing methods. Nor there are any laws to fight against illegal fishing practices involving the use of fishing-nets, electric devices, chemicals and explosives. Especially dangerous is the widespread practice of stunning fish in wintering grounds before and during the freeze-up spell.

So far, no effective system for regulating sales of fishing gear has been established. Fishing-nets are sold at very low prices and countrywide. A fishing-net up to 100 m long costs from 150 to 300 rubles (or 30 to 60 euros) in Russia and from 25 to 100 hrivnas (or 5 to 20 euros) in Ukraine.

Inadequate legislative framework and small fines for violating fishing rules. Existing laws are universally violated. Fish protection measures are not coordinated with local executive authorities and police. No effective control over sales of illegal fish catches has been installed.

In places where illegal fishing is especially widespread, large river stretches have been virtually depleted of fish, in spite of the current improvement of the environmental state of the rivers due to decreased industrial and agricultural effluent discharges. Thus, we may conclude that the burden of illegal fishing is even greater than that traced to pollution.

Problems related to the use of fishponds and other artificial water bodies used by the fish industry as habitats of a great number of plant and animal species including rare and vanishing ones. Artificial ponds and their water protection zones play an important role in biodiversity conservation. Artificial ponds used by the fish industry are fairly large in size: thus, in the forest-steppe zone they occupy an area 5 times larger than that occupied by natural ponds and watercourses.

At present, there are many fishponds which are not intensively used by the fish industry. They may be used as biodiversity reserves. However, no management instructions and conditions have been established for such ponds.

Problems related to the damming of the Dnipro River flow and anthropogenically-caused contamination of the water bodies. Damming of the Dnipro River flow has radically transformed major hydrodynamic parameters. One such example is the slowing down of water flow velocity. The movement of water masses is governed not only by natural phenomena (wind, floods) but also by the water control operator. During some seasons of the year water reservoir draw-downs reach 2-3 meters, while the water cycle intensity decreases 5 to 24 fold. Shallow water areas have become stagnant with the stagnant zones reaching 18 to 40% of some water reservoirs. All this has a profound effect on the formation of fish fauna in the reservoirs.

Damming of the river has accelerated the pace of eutrophication of the water reservoirs as a result of ingress of organic and biogenic substances. The water reservoirs also receive pollutants from powerful point pollution sources such as large industrial facilities and municipal runoff from urbanized shoreline areas. However, the latest data (the “Identification of Risks Related to the Hot Spots Impact on Eco-Sensitive Zones in the Dnipro Basin” Project funded by the IDRC) indicate that of greatest concern are cumulative risks posed by non-point and small point pollution sources, which compromise the river self-purification capacity, rather than risks posed by large point pollution sources.

To preserve and augment the biodiversity of not only fish but of other hydrobionts as well it is necessary first of all to revise the Water Reservoir Management Instructions, which are based on environmental requirements. These requirements include compliance with the reservoir water level regime with due regard for the fish industry’s needs, expansion of reclamation activities in shallow water zones and creation of reproduction facilities for breeding both commercially valuable and rare and vanishing fish species.

Problems related to the non-existence of monitoring of the quality of the habitat and biodiversity by the national environmental monitoring systems. A significant problem in monitoring water quality and pollution sources of ponds used by the fish industry is the imperfection of water quality assessment criteria established for these water bodies. The current practice of using the same values of maximum acceptable concentrations (MACs) of pollutants throughout the entire Dnipro Basin does not take into account the potential presence of natural (background) levels of chemical substances. In some regions background concentrations of controlled substances exceed their MACs: among them are naturally occurring orthophosphate, iron and copper (Seim and Psiol river basins ), and iron and humic acid (Pripiat River Basin). Historically, local hydrobiont communities have adapted to local natural water chemistry, therefore, from the ecological and physiological standpoint the enforcement of common water quality requirements in different regions is unjustified.

Another shortcoming is virtual neglect of biological methods of monitoring water quality and the state of hydrosystems. Such complex water pollution indicators as pollution index (WPI) or MACs are a matter of convention (Transl. com. – schematic, rough), have not been justified in biological terms and do not reflect the real state of water ecosystems.

To sum up the present situation in the fish industry in the Dnipro Basin countries, it is worthwhile to identify the following gaps in this sector:

- non-existence of the monitoring system for assessing fish resources and forecasting their dynamics as part of the national environmental monitoring system;

- imperfection of indicators of technogenic contamination of both hydrobionts and their habitats (MACs, permissible levels, etc.);

- unavailability of methods of assessing the environmental damage to fish resources and ecosystems of water bodies used by the fish industry as a result of economic activities or natural disasters;

- unavailability of methods of assessing actual quantities of fish and other aquatic organisms caught by amateur fishermen and poachers;

- insufficient knowledge of fishing and fish-breeding activities in small rivers and of their fish resources;

- insufficient data on the species variety, distribution and resources of invertebrates to allow for their commercial extraction

- insufficient scientific data on the distribution, status of populations and numbers of fish species subject to national and international protection (Bonn Convention and CITES Convention);

- incomplete identification (inventory) of nature complexes of water bodies used by the fish industry and of pond fish-farms, which are classified as wetlands that are vital for the protection not only of habitats of water-fowl but also of the biodiversity of wetland eco-systems.

national environmental monitoring systems do not provide for monitoring of water bodies as habitats and reserves of the gene fund of invertebrates and fish.

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