EXECUTORS

Hydrobiology Institute, NAS Ukraine

V.D. Romanenko – academician, Project leader

S.A.Afanasiyev – candidate of biological science, biodiversity expert, responsible for the Ukrainian portion of the report

Ukrainian Scientific Research Institute f Environmental Problems

A.G.Vasenko – candidate of biological science, fish industry expert

Independent Agency for Environmental Safety, Kyiv

V.A. Gorobchishyn – candidate of biological science, NGOs expert

S.D. Scherbak – candidate of biological science, expert on amateur and illegal extraction of live water resources

Zoology Institute, NAS Belarus, Minsk

V.B.Petukhov – candidate of biological science, biodiversity expert, responsible for the Belarus portion of the report

Republican Scientific Research Unitary Enterprise “Belarus Scientific Research Institute of Fisheries”, Minsk

V.G.Kostousov – candidate of biological science, fish industry expert

FGU Forest Protection Center, Smolensk

M.V.Frolov – fish industry expert

VNII Zi ZPE, Kursk

M.V.Kumani – candidate of biological science, biodiversity expert, responsible for the Russian portion of the report

OAO “Smolenskrybkhoz”, Smolensk

A.N.Ginizburg – fish industry expert

Project consultant: Corresponding Member, NAS Ukraine

N.Yu. Yevtushenko

PROJECT RATIONALE, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The impact of the fish industry and aquaculture on the biodiversity of Dnipro Basin water eco-systems has so far been little studied. This has to do with the fact that the fish industry of the former USSR and by tradition that of post-Soviet republics did not take an interest in “non-commercial and non-feed” hydrobionts. We have mainly historical data on the diversity of commercial fish caught by the fish industry (for commercial purposes) and fish bred in fish ponds. No account is taken of the impact of the fish industry, amateur fishing and illegal extraction of fish and invertebrates on the plant and animal life of water bodies.

Since the priorities of the fish industry, which among other things strives to obtain maximum numbers of some species, are obviously inconsistent with a well-known principle according to which increased dominance leads to a reduction in the diversity of species making up a community, we have theoretically-substantiated reasons to consider that the fish industry and aquaculture have a considerable influence on biodiversity of hydroecosystems. The investigation of this problem is a high-priority task not only for the Dnipro Basin extending into the territories of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus but also for other river basins.

Fish industry is not only about stocking ponds with fish, introduction and catching of fish and feed hydrobionts but also about creating a peculiar kind of water bodies – fish ponds. This means that biodiversity is influenced at all levels - species diversity, topical level and landscapes are all affected. In view of the above, the implementation of a project aimed at identifying outstanding problems and issues related to the impact of the fish industry on biodiversity in the full sense of this word is of practical and theoretical interest to us.

Damming of the Dnipro River accompanied by the anthropogenically-induced eutrophication has significantly changed the diversity of ichthyofauna and has resulted in the considerable deterioration of the quality of commercial fish caught both from water reservoirs and river estuaries.

In the Dnipro River reservoirs as a result of changes in the hydrological regime, overgrowing and swamping of fish-spawning and dwelling areas, blocking up by dams of routes of migrating fish, numbers of native migrating, semi-migrating and non-migrating rheophile fish species have decreased. Some valuable species (such as ship, sterlet, salmon, and eel) have completely disappeared while small-value fish (sardelle, Alburnus alburnus, aterina and pipefish) have multiplied in large numbers. The same situation is observed in the Dnipro-Bug estuary, which cannot but influence the Black Sea ecosystem.

Because Dnipro Basin shorelines have for the most part been plowed up, water reservoirs are being contaminated by surface run-offs of suspended solids. In addition, due to low water velocity in the reservoirs, shallow water zones that serve as spawning areas for phytophile fish are getting silted. This process is accompanied by the contraction of fish-spawning areas and spawning substratum, which is a characteristic feature of the current stage of their development.

Biodiversity and fish yields of water reservoirs are greatly affected by the anthropogenic factors such as oxygen regime disruptions, heavy metals, radionuclides, etc. This is proven by massive fishkills taking place practically each year in winter and particularly summer. In view of the above, the survey focused on the assessment of the current fish industry’s activities in the Dnipro Basin water bodies and on the assessment of the impact of these activities on the diversity of fauna dwelling in the Dnipro water reservoirs and major Dnipro tributaries.

Input of pollutants (especially biogenic and organic pollutants) into water bodies and watercourses is accelerating their eutrophication. Damming of the river flow and significant variations in the water level regime of the reservoirs have had a destabilizing effect on watercourse ecosystems and have transformed spawning and dwelling areas of young fish thereby adversely affecting natural fish habitats and particularly their natural reproduction environment. Construction of hydrotechnical and irrigation facilities is facilitating the invasion of new and exotic fish and invertebrate species into water bodies.

The Project goal is to assess the fish industry’s impact on the biodiversity of the Dnipro Basin water ecosystems and to make proposals aimed at biodiversity conservation.

The research objectives were as follows:

- To describe fish industry’s water resources and to examine the current status of the Dnipro Basin water bodies;

- To make analysis of the current status of the fish industry, including a description of fish enterprises, fishing in natural water bodies, and fish-breeding in fish-farms’ ponds;

- To assess biodiversity of the Dnipro River ecosystem in terms of the species variety of flora and fauna, including rare and vanishing species;

- To characterize fish introduction, invasion and intervention in water bodies of the Dnipro tributary sub-basins; evaluate the impact of these processes on biodiversity of water bodies used by the fish industry;

- Evaluate the impact of commercial fishing and pond fish-breeding on the species diversity of fish and aquatic invertebrates;

- To define the role of fish farms as biodiversity reserves and refugiums;

- To identify outstanding issues of the fish industry and to come up with proposals for the Strategic Action Plan.

1. Description of Fish Industry Water Resources

The present-day definition of water bodies used by the fish industry, as applied in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine dates backs to the Soviet times – namely, to the “Regulation on the Protection of Fish Stocks and Regulation of Fishing in the USSR water bodies”. The Regulation attributes to water bodies used by the fish industry all water bodies (i.e. territorial waters, landlocked seas, rivers, lakes, ponds, water reservoirs and their accessory waters) which are used or may be used for commercial extraction of fish and other aquatic animals and plants or are important for reproducing commercial fish stocks.

Water bodies of the highest (special) order include spawning and foraging areas, wintering grounds of valuable, protected and commercial fish species and other aquatic organisms, artificial fish breeding grounds and fish farms’ grounds.

Water bodies of the first order include water bodies used for conservation and reproduction of oxhyphile fish species. Water bodies of the second order include water bodies used for other fish industry’s purposes. In fact, this means that all water bodies irrespective of their area or length are attributed to water bodies used by the fish industry and should be brought in compliance with fish protection standards. The only exception is sewage ponds, however, during the current industrial decline some of them have been used by private entrepreneurs for fish-breeding and amateur fishing purposes.

Structure of the Fish Industry Water Resources in the Dnipro Basin Countries

In general, the Dnipro Basin water resources used by the fish industry are being constantly subjected to adverse impacts of human economic activities. By their nature, these impacts fall into physical (river-bed alignment, water level lowering, erection of river dikes, etc.), chemical (industrial and domestic effluent discharges, water discharges from land-reclamation systems, run-off from agricultural land), and biological ones (introduction of new fish species, proliferation of phytoplankton and macrophytes, etc.). Quite often, water resources are subjected to a combination of these impacts in which case the negative effect of each of them increases.

The greatest single threat to biodiversity is the damming of the Dnipro River flow and the resultant impoverishment of the river biotopical diversity as well as unfavorable reproduction conditions as a result of abrupt daily water level fluctuations that are leading to massive losses of spawn and larvae of invertebrates and fish. Other unfavorable factors include the substantial contraction of flooded meadowlands, massive overgrowing of shallow water areas by air and aquatic plants, swamping and contamination of water reservoirs and inflowing rivers by industrial, agricultural and municipal effluent discharges, substantial subglacial drawdowns leading to frequent winter-time kills and mortality of invertebrates and fish of different ages and the transport of young commercial fishes from the water reservoirs to water intakes. The effects of land-reclamation activities and the accompanying river-bed alignment, changes in the hydrological and hydrochemical regime of lakes and the resultant changes in the direction of production processes are most readily apparent in the Pripiat River sub-basin. Most of the Pripiat left-bank tributaries have been canalized for much of their length resulting in changes in the hydrological regime, flood water velocity and duration of spring floods and high-water periods, reduction in average river depth, contraction of the area and shortening of periods during which flood water stands in the river floodplain, and flooding of the floodplain.

2. Current Status of the Fish Industry

In the present economic environment the situation in the Dnipro Basin fish industry has significantly deteriorated. Production-related problems of fish enterprises mainly result from their low economic efficiency and lack of state financial support.

In Russia the available production facilities are underloaded, with the marketable fish output amounting 20% of the maximum potential output. Between 1990 and 2000 marketable fish production by fish enterprises was less than one-half its previous volume. However, it should be noted that the last few years have seen a slight trend towards production growth.

Under current economic conditions in Russia governmental organizations, fish enterprises, and amateur fishermen’s societies do not engage in the reproduction of fish resources of natural watercourses, or natural and artificial reservoirs that are not part of fish enterprises’ production base. While up until the mid eighties fish enterprises had annually released millions of young fish of the most valuable fish species into rivers, water reservoirs and general-purpose ponds, today they have discontinued this practice.

In the nineties the Belarus fish enterprises based in the Dnipro Basin reduced the volume of production of marketable pond fish and fish-breeding material and their harvests of lake and river fish by 1.5 to 3 times as compared to 1989 and 1990. To a large extent this had to do with inadequacies in the monetary and tax policies, increased prices for energy, feed, fertilizers, fish-breeding equipment, fishing gear, and transportation means, etc.

Byelorussian pond-fish farms based in the Dnipro Basin produce over 85% of Belarus total pond-fish output. Between 1997 and 2001 the average annual production output of marketable fish and fish-breeding material was 3.43 and 1.86 thou tons, respectively. Fish caught in the Dnipro Basin rivers, lakes and water reservoirs accounts for 66, 30 and 60% (respectively) of the total river and lake fish catches in the Republic. Over the aforesaid period the average annual harvest of lake and river fish reached 434 tons, of which more than 75% was caught in the Pripiat basin ponds and rivers. Whereas in the Pripiat River sub-basin lake fisheries play a predominant role accounting for 55% of the total fish yield, the Dnipro River sub-basin is noted for its river fisheries ( 74% of the total fish yield).

The largest share in the production of fish-pond and fish-breeding material (over 87%) is accounted for by carp. In river and lake fishing, there is a trend towards smaller catches of valuable commercial fish (of which 66% are accounted for by bream) and larger catches of small value fish, especially aurata and gold-fish, which account for 76%.

The bad economic situation in Ukraine has also affected the fish industry. Lack of working capital and increased prices for mineral fertilizers, mixed feed, fuel, etc. prevent the use of intensive fish-breeding technologies and industrial fish-breeding methods and are reducing fish yields of water reservoirs and ponds. Stocking the Dnipro Basin water reservoirs and cooling ponds of hydropower plants with fish has declined. For the majority of fisheries fish-breeding activities have become unprofitable. Their fish catches from their ponds have declined too. In 1999, the total volume of fish caught in natural ponds of the Ukrainian Dnipro Basin reached 12787 tons, with small-value species accounting for the largest share.

Prior to the construction of dams the stretches of the Dnipro River main stream and of its accessory bodies and watercourses that were subsequently flooded to form water reservoirs yielded on average 4647 tons of commercial fish per year, with bream, pike-perch and carp catches reaching 500-700 tons (or 10.8 to 15.1% of the total volume).

The damming of the Dnipro River has led to lower commercial fish yields. This downward trend for lower yields of the water reservoirs has persisted to this day. In 2000, fish yields were as low as 11.1 kg/ha (excluding sardelle) and 12.7 kg/ha (including sardelle). Put another way, fish yields dropped 4 times as compared to the pre-regulation period.

Pond fish-breeding in Ukraine’s inland ponds have also seen its marketable fish production levels decline. Thus, average fish yields of fish foraging ponds have dropped almost by half over the past few years.

Practically, no riparian country controls activities of fish farms in the environmental protection field or in terms of their impact on biodiversity. Even though fishponds have a noticeable impact on the hydrological regime of surface waters, the existing environmental laws regulate only the quality of fishpond water that enters surface watercourses, falling short of regulating the hydrological and hydrochemical regime of fishponds. In addition, there is no control over the condition of hydrobionts, accumulation of plant remains or silting processes. As a result, legal and physical owners of fishponds run them without any outside control and do not answer for damaging their ecological state and biodiversity.

4. Assessment of the Fish Industry’s Impact on Flora and Fauna Biodiversity

This survey suggests that the structure of ichthyocenoses found in the Dnipro Basin is undergoing large-scale quantitative and qualitative changes which are affecting over 50 fish species and can have a tangible impact on the production potential of the Dnipro Basin ecosystem. In addition, they can lead to a further reduction in the numbers of native rheophile species and gradual extinction of most of them. This process will be accompanied by the expansion of pontocaspian and Far East phytophage species (subject to regular fish-stocking activities) and an increase of their share in the Dnipro Basin fish yields.

Fishing is transforming the structure of ichthyocenoses by reducing the share of large mostly predatory fish species and increasing the share of small value (course) fish, notably roach and Bliссa bjoerkna (L.) A decrease in the numbers of predatory fish and an increase in the numbers of small-value plankton and benthos feeders are influencing the numbers of planktonic and benthos communities. However, given other impacts, especially those associated with the damming of the river flow it is impossible to make an objective assessment of the impact of commercial fishery on the species diversity of invertebrates and other hydrobionts.

Pond-fish breeding and construction of water reservoirs have a significant impact on the numbers and variety of fish fauna and invertebrates by sharply increasing the area and magnitude of biotopes. Construction of ponds on small and medium-sized rivers results in all elements of biocenoses being converted from those typical of rivers to those intrinsic to lakes and swamps. It also leads to the replacement of old fish, invertebrate and plant species by new ones. Fish species sensitive to oxygen levels in water and those dwelling in river rapids become extinct or less abundant, whereas fish species favoring lakes and resistant to anoxia and high water turbidity increase their numbers. At the same time, some hydrotechnical facilities of pond fish-farms prevent phytophile fish species from breeding by blocking flood water and preventing it from overflowing flood-lands of natural watercourses.

As a result of construction of a great number of fishponds in the Dnipro Basin and application of certain technologies (periodic soil drainage and liming, etc.) ecosystem biodiversity has been significantly damaged. 

5. Assessment of the Impact of Amateur Fishing and Poaching on the Species Diversity of Fish and Aquatic Invertebrates Inhabiting the Main Dnipro Basin Water Bodies on the Ukrainian Territory

The nature and volume of goods and services offered to amateur fishermen as well as fish catches show that there are some 4 mn amateur fishermen in the Dnipro Basin. Estimates show that annually they catch on average up to 168000 tons of river fish and sell/ purchase UAH 500 mn (or around 100 mn euros) worth of goods and services.

In general it is fair to say that the current large-scale illegal extraction of fish and crustacea and well-organized system of sales (which in fact is based along criminal lines) cause substantial damage to the Dnipro Basin environment, undermine its fish stocks, threaten the reproduction of valuable fish species such as sheat-fish and pike-perch and weaken the breeding stock of bream and roach by taking out its best producers. The volume of fish sold in large cities based in the Dnipro Basin is several times larger than the quota established for fishing organizations and exceeds by a factor the officially registered commercial fish catches.

Sports and recreational fishing should develop upon scientifically grounded management lines in order to be successful and environmentally friendly. The present erratic growth of this sector may result in the depletion of fish stocks, degradation of fluvial biotopes and disputes between commercial and amateur fishery.

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