Neman environment

7 Neman environment

Environmental specialists from Belarus and Lithuania met at the CCB workshop in

As everyone know Belarus does not have direct access to the Baltic Sea, but the north-east part of the country lies within the Baltic Sea water basin where Atlantic salmons migrate to spawn in the river Vilia (Neris) and its tributaries. Not many salmons reach that far upstream, only the healthiest and most genetically strong of the species.

The CCB project "Restoration of wild salmon habitats – preparation and awareness raising" is currently under way in Belarus

The preparatory activity started with the CCB Salmon round table held in December 2006 in the town of Smorgon (Belarus) situated near the river Vilia, the main salmon migration route in Belarus. All participants including the Belarus environmental officials recognised the problem – extremely low and dwindling populations of Atlantic salmons in Belarus, which require complex conservation measures to be put in place urgently- but, the proposals for an action plan were not agreed.

Meanwhile the salmon spawning season is approaching fast and environmental authorities in the neighbouring countries of Latvia and Lithuania are beginning to prepare for the annual pubic action “Salmon”. In Lithuania environmental authorities have already begun seasonal salmon monitoring using specialist electro-fishing equipment. Although Atlantic salmon is protected in Belarus, environmental authorities have not even contemplated something similar and electro-fishing is illegal even for fisheries research purposes. At the same time experienced local fishermen in Belarus are getting ready for salmon fishing in the local rivers.

To facilitate transfer of best practice in wild salmon protection to Belarus it was agreed to hold a workshop in the Institute Ecology of Vilnius University to show Belarus specialists how salmon conservation measures are implemented in practice in Lithuania. The other objectives were:
• To encourage the Belarus State Wildlife Protection Inspectorate to organise a public action “Salmon” in the Vilia river basin during the salmon spawning season (November-December)
• To demonstrate benefits of deployment of electro-fishing equipment for monitoring purposes
• To visit recently built fish ladders on the rivers Vilniyale and Zheimyana.

Upon CCB request the Lithuanian Ministry of Environment kindly sent invitations to the following Belarus government agencies: Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection; Department of Drainage and Water Management of the Ministry of Agricultures; State Wildlife Protection Inspectorate under the President of Belarus. Two agencies responded and the following Belarus representatives attended the workshop: Ms Tamara Barsuk – Head of Department of the State Wildlife Protection Inspectorate and Ms Snezhana Dubinok – Senior Scientist of the Water Management Institute. The third participant from Belarus was Ms Nina Palutskaya, the CCB project leader.

The workshop began with the introduction at the Lithuanian Ministry of Environment hosted by Mr Vilmantas Graiciunas, Head of Nature Resources, Mr Vaydas Yusis, Chief Inspector of the State Environmental Inspectorate and Dr Vitautas Kesminas, Head of Laboratory of the Institute Ecology of Vilnius University.

Dr Kesminas did a presentation on the Lithuanian experience in salmon conservation and monitoring for the last 10 years. There used to be about 120 salmon rivers in Lithuania. Currently there are 16 rivers where Salmo salar is found and about 80 rivers with the brown trout spawning sites. Some potential salmon rivers are being purposefully restocked with the young fish. Since the year 2000 Lithuania has been implementing the government programme focussed on conservation of salmon spawning sites and building of fishways – 17 fishways have been built for the last 10 years. In the year 2004 Lithuania adopted a piece of legislation which banned any dam building activities on the 169 rivers including Neman.

Mr Vaydas Yuris gave a talk about the public action “Salmon” which is being implemented in Lithuania by the State Environmental Inspectorate every autumn since 1998. Since the year 2002 the “Salmon” action is supported by police and the state border control units based on the interdepartmental cooperative agreement. During the period from 1 September to 1 December the main salmon spawning sites in Zheimyana river basin are patrolled by environmental inspectors, police and the border control staff. Last year 200 staff from environmental inspectorate and 1414 staff from the army and police were involved in patrol. The patrol is organised around the clock in shifts with each shift maintaining a written record which is being handed over to the next shift. The implementation of the “Salmon” action is regularly reported by the national television, radio and news papers.

The government salmon conservation programme and the “Salmon” pubic action helped a lot to improve the situation. The population of salmon species in Lithuanian rivers grew to the levels that brown trout was removed from the Lithuanian Red Data Book and it is now allowed do fish brown trout upon licence. Salmo salar was moved down to the protection category 5 and, like brown trout, will probably soon be included in the list of species allowed to fish upon licence.

The meeting at the Ministry was followed by the site visit to the recently built fishway at the Vilniyale river near Vilnius.

The next day the group was involved in the fieldwork together with the Dr Kesminas’s team at two salmon monitoring stations on the river Vilniyale. The monitoring process was documented and photographed including deployment and use of the electro-fishing equipment, fish counting, weight and size measurement, scale sampling, release. In one of the catches the team found two fully grown brown trout which was a bit unexpected at the end of August. Dr Kesminas suggested that some small number of fish might’ve probably reached far upstream on its way to spawning sites. The fish was safely released back to the river after the measurements had been taken.

The workshop was beneficial for both the visitors and the host. In the recent years there was a lack of communication between Lithuania and Belarus regarding trans-boundary waters, but trans-boundary environmental issues can only be addressed by cross border cooperation.

On my return to Belarus I phoned to the State Wildlife Protection Inspectorate in Minsk. Tamara Barsuk told that her report about the workshop was received well by her boss and that the information about the “Salmon” action was of particular interest. Tamara thinks that it should feasible to organise a similar action in Belarus and that she would discuss the matter with colleagues.

Nina Palutskaya
5 September 2007

What we do to restore Atlantic Salmon habitats in Belarus rivers now in 2007.

At the end of 2006 NGO Neman Environment Group carried out the Round Table on Atlantic Salmon problems in Belorussian rivers. It was the last part of the CCB project 2006 “Conservation and restoration of the Atlantic Salmon spawning sites in Belarus rivers”.
The round table has been held in the town of Smorgon situated near the river Vilia, the main salmon migration route in Belarus

The most Round Table objectives were

 To raise alarm about extremely low and dwindling populations of Atlantic salmons in Belarus, which require complex conservation measures to be put in place urgently

 To learn about international experiences in Atlantic salmon conservation and to discuss the priority conservation measures which should be put in place in Belarus

Authorities from Minsk and Smorgon, scientists of Belarus and Lithuania, NGO and local teachers took a part in this RT.

The round table key presentations:
 “The Atlantis salmon populations in the water courses in Belarus” by Michael Plutae

 “Priorities of Atlantic salmon conservation in Belarus - the way forward. Swedish and Lithuanian experiences in design and construction of the fish passages” by Nina Palutskaya ( CCB project coordinator)

 “The Atlantic salmon stock management in Lithuania” by Antanas Kontautas

 “Experiences of the sport-fishing in salmon rivers of Poland and some other countries” by Vassily Bykov

MICHAIL PLUTAE gave an overview if the recent river survey completed in the beginning of Dec 06. The survey has been initiated by the CCB project coordinator and sponsored by the Department of Drainage and Water Management, Belarus Ministry of Agriculture. The following river Vilia tributaries have been surveyed, Tartak, Sekanka, Dudka and the Petropavlovsky Brook. The survey gave an approximate estimate of the total number of spawning salmon as 65.
The survey discovered the salmon spawning nests in the following numbers, Tartak – 24, Sekanka – 12, Dudka and Petropavlovsky Brook - 4
The main impacts on the salmon populations include:
 Poaching
 Dams including the beaver dams (e.g. 5 beaver dams have been discovered in Sekanka)
 Animal farms run-off (e.g. near Vorona village),
 Illegal rubbish tipping on the river banks

According to NINA PALUTSKAYA the river dams are the main obstacle to the Atlantic salmon migration to their potential spawning water courses which include rivers Stracha, Oshmyanka, Losha, Byala. None of the dams built has a fish passage, for example the dam on the river Sekanka built about 4,5 km from the confluence with Vilia completely blocked migration to the upstream. Nina Palutskaya gave an overview of successful experiences in design, construction and management of the fish passages in the south of Sweden and Lithuania. The overview has been accompanied by the photo- and video materials produced by Nina Palutskaya.

FYNANAS KONTAUTAS talked about the Atlantic salmon stock management in Lithuania which include the following
 Regular salmon monitoring (there are 44 monitoring stations in Lithuania),
 Restocking the salmon populations through the salmon farming using eggs from the wild salmon caught in the river Neman or in the Curonian Lagoon
 Stepping up inspection and enforcement measures during the salmon migration season – nationwide action “Salmon”
 Retrofitting of fish passages in the existing dams and mandatory construction of fish passages on the dams which are under repair and renovation
A particular attention was given to the salmon monitoring which was being implemented in Lithuania for the last 15 years. It was important to learn that without using electro-fishing equipment it is impossible to obtain representative and reliable scientific information about the salmon numbers in the rivers. It is worth noting that using electro-fishing equipment is illegal in Belarus even for scientific research purposes.

VASSILY BYKOW gave an overview of the successful experiences of conservation activities on salmon rivers implemented by the angling clubs in Canada, USA, Sweden and Poland.
Belarus is so far missing the conservation potential of the angling clubs and sport-fishing due to lack of awareness and more importantly legislation.

The participants all agreed that the salmon conservation in Belarus is the problem and that this problem needs to be addressed as soon as practicably possible. It has been generally recognised that the most important issue at the moment is poaching which is perhaps the most serious threat to the dwindling salmon population in the rivers of Belarus- poachers don’t allow salmon to spawn and breed. It is worth noting that the only salmons with the “strongest genes” are capable of migrating so far upstream in order to reach the rivers in Belarus. Another important issue is monitoring. The regular salmon monitoring in the rivers in the Vilia basin should be put in place.
The main conclusions of the Round Table have been agreed all participants and forwarded in the form of the petition to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Agriculture (Department of Drainage and Water Management) and the State Wildlife Inspectorate of Administration of the President of Belarus

NEXT SALMON PROJECT SUPPORTED BY CCB IN 2007 - Restoration of wild Salmon habitats - preparation and awareness raising – IS CARRENTLY IMPLIMENTING BY NEMAN ENVIRONMENT GROUP

As the result of the Round Table the local secondary schools expressed a willingness to get involved in the Atlantic salmon conservation programme through the “River Watch” activities.

One of that local school is situated on the Villia bank in Bystritsa village. Some years ago pupils seen a big fish entered to the small Bystritsa river tolled teachers. “Dolphin, dolphin!”- children cried.

Nina Polutskaya has visited Bystritsa school in May of this year. They very interested to be involved in the programme of Atlantic salmon conservation. The workshop with teachers will be in September 2007.

It is very important thing to provide Belorussian authorities with knowledge of modern way of study Atlantic salmon and protect this kind of fish in the Vilia-Neris basin.

Under the current project it is planned to organise a joint Belarus-Lithuanian workshop 23-24 August 2007 to learn about the best practice in wild salmon protection in Lithuania and to raise awareness of the wild salmon protection among Belarus authorities. The workshop will include presentations by Lithuanian specialists and site visits to fish-ways on the Vilniyale river and salmon monitoring sites on the Zheimyana river. Dr Vytautas Kesminas, Head of Laboratory of Ecology of the Institute Ecology of Vilnius University agreed to host the workshop and to lead research presentations and site visits. The idea of the workshop gained support by Mr Vilmantas Graiciunas, Head of Nature Resources who expressed interest in the workshop itself and also in developing joint activities by Belarus and Lithuanian authorities to protect salmon species and habitats. Nina Palutskaya is currently putting together the workshop programme in communication with Dr Kesminas and Mr Graiciunas.

28 July 2006

THANK YOU CCB, IT WAS GREATE!

Nina Polutskaya about Our Common Baltic 2006

It looks like a Royal Country House, but in fact it is the main building of the Stendsund Folk School on the Swedish Baltic Sea cost.

What a beautiful view opens up from here in front of you! In three days time the sailing ship “Amalia” will arrive here to pick up us to sea sailing.

For three days while staying in this wooden hut, we enjoyed sauna, got a suntan and walked around this small island through the forest… Oh, sorry, not only those things.

For three days we learned a lot about the Baltic Sea water environment and got practical experience of biological sampling and sample processing. We visited the nearest town Trosa and the local wetland we…

We, the group of 12 participants of the CCB Common Baltic 06 training course from 6 countries, introduced ourselves to each others and…..then changed our names.

Ojars Balcers from Latvia, Irina Sukhy from Belarus and Renata Perlibaite from Lithuania became honorable Dr.Theodoxus, Dr. Potamogeton and Dr. Idothea Baltica (sorry, if names were mixed) . Everyone took his new wooden ID from the Eva’s magic bag.

Eva Jansson is a Swedish Kind Fairy. She looked after us and used her magic powers to provide us with food, blankets and a sore throat relief medicine. On top of that she knows everything about Fucus, Potamogeton, Afanesomenon and many others important beasts living the Baltic Sea and shared generously her knowledge with us.

This is Amalia. She is 107 years old. But her age makes her very romantic. We all fall in love with her. We have been together with her for 5 days (and 4 nights!)

Captain Ulf Busch is a very brave man. He wasn’t afraid of 12 members of CCB Common Baltic 2006 none of whom knew anything about sailing.
But we did it! We have crowded sail! And we did it three times!

Ones upon a time when God created the Earth he scattered many large and small stones along the Swedish Baltic Sea coast. Over the centuries stones got overgrown with lichens and trees. Many animal and birds have settled here, various kinds of fish live in fjords and lagoons. Swedish people named this beautiful area the Archipelago of Sodermanland. They like to sail all over the Archipelago from island to island. And some live on the islands permanently.

On the Ringso Island we visited the retired fishermen and the farmer Mr. Evert Pettersson.

Do you know anybody else who is more than eighty years old, lives on his own on the island, and looks after a big house, horses and a museum and who agreed to invite a gang of fifteen trainees and to entertain them with cake which he made himself?! I don’t!

Sweden is a beautiful country, the Archipelago is spectacular, but eutrophication of the Baltic Sea can be seen even by the naked eye. Ecological problems of the Baltic Sea and their root causes are of great concern to all of us, it is not only the algal bloom which is on the surface, but also many other aspects of the Baltic Sea environmental system.

. We visited the Asko Laboratory of the Stockholm Center for Marine Research and enjoyed to be as real scientists during the whole day.

Well, this is simply nice relaxing evening with the barbecue, good friendly atmosphere, humor and laughter.

The last island in our boat trip was the Hartzo Island. We were welcomed there by nice couple Bengt and Ingrid Blohm. They have been living on the islands since they got married - for more than 60 years. When they arrived on the Hartzo Island – in the early 50th – there was not even electricity.

Despite the hardship in their pastime both Bengt and Ingrid look fit and attractive up to now. They have kindly entertained us with smoked eels which they caught and smoked on their own. In return we tried to make good impression on them with our singing (many thanks to Joonas for his original music) and dancing. Hope we did it.

Sorry, this picture is a bit out of focus, but it is absolutely clear that we are COOL!
Thank you very much everybody, I very much enjoyed your company.

Special thanks to Katrin Hammarlund who managed to arrange a very nice weather for us (as I gathered from my earlier Salmon Trip she obviously knows how to do it) and also to Bjorn Guterstam for the good communication with everyone of our group. Do you remember Bjorn’s call (on good Russian, by the way) - “NA START, VNIMANIE, MARSH!” (Ready, steady, go!)? After that everyone has bravely jumped from the “Amalia” board to the sea to swim.

Let’s join our efforts to protect the Baltic Sea together - “NA START, VNIMANIE, MARSH!”

This year the new project supported by CCB is active in Belarus -“Conservation and restoration of the Atlantic Salmon spawning sites in Belarus rivers”. The project is implemented by the Neman Environment Group from Hrodno (Belarus) jointly the Lithuanian colleagues and with cooperation from the Belarus state environmental departments. In the course of the project detailed information about anadromous salmons in the Belorussian rivers will be collected.

With this purpose, I, Nina Palutskaya, Leader of the Neman Environment Group and environmental scientist from Klaipeda (Lithuania) Dr Antanas Kontautas did the rivers survey within the Villia river basin in the Smorgon region of Belarus on 8-10 June 06.

During the Baltic04 Conference and Annual Meeting in Estonia, May 2004 Lithuanian and Belorussian environmentalists made a decision to do anything useful for nature protection of Neman River basin.