VZCZCXRO2588
RR RUEHGH RUEHLMC RUEHVC RUEHVK
DE RUEHUM #0620/01 3030703
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 300703Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1614
INFO RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 1945
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 3005
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5825
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2706
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 0524
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 1596
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA 1504
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 0165
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 0359
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0845
RUEHVC/AMCONSUL VANCOUVER 0093
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0049
RHMFISS/HQ EPA WASHINGTON DC 0019
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHDC
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP WASHINGTON DC 0760
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ULAANBAATAR 000620 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM AND G/OES 
TREASURY PASS USEDS TO IMF AND WORLD BANK 
MANILA FOR USED TO ADB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV KGHG PGOV ECON EAID MG
SUBJECT: MONGOLIA'S MEGA-FISH IN FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In Mongolia the taimen, a giant member of the 
salmon family and a prized catch for sport fishermen, is becoming 
increasingly rare and facing a number of threats.  This was 
underlined October 17 at a taimen conservation conference in 
Ulaanbaatar.  Hucho Taimen (aka Siberian taimen) are said to pull 
like a pit bull, live for decades and measure upwards of six feet 
long.  Researchers say they are imperiled by overfishing, a lack of 
governmental protections, and global warming.  Other threats loom on 
the horizon, including the construction of a hydroelectric plant on 
the Eg River and the prospect of expanded mining operations. 
Conservationists are encouraging residents of the Eg-Uur watershed 
area, in remote northern Mongolia, to embrace high-end fly-fishing 
and ecotourism.  Some such tourism is occurring, but taimen survival 
is undermined by the lack of a concession system, a paucity of 
rangers and a surfeit of irresponsible tour operators, researchers 
say.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Mongolian taimen, a giant member of the salmon family 
and a prized catch for sport fishermen, is growing increasingly rare 
and faces a number of threats.  This was underlined October 17 at a 
taimen conservation conference in Ulaanbaatar, where 60 academics, 
environmentalists and Mongolian Government officials heard 
researchers provide an update on the fourth year of a five-year 
study on taimen populations, migration and spawning.  Researchers 
from the University of Wisconsin (Madison), University of California 
(Davis), University of Nevada (Reno) and the National University of 
Mongolia are conducting the most extensive study ever undertaken on 
hucho taimen (aka Siberian taimen), which are found only in Mongolia 
and Russia, often live three decades or more, can exceed six feet 
and according to sportsmen, pull like a pit bull. 
 
REMOTE STRETCH OF NORTHERN MONGOLIA 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The study is centered on the remote Eg-Uur watershed area, 
a triangular wedge in the northern provinces of Hovsgol and Bulgan. 
Bordered by the Eg and Uur rivers, the area has come under 
increasing strain from overfishing, poaching and a lack of 
governmental protections.  According to the latest data, the area is 
now home to only 2,000 taimen.  Experts said the fish is imperiled, 
in part, by the lack of a consistent catch and release system.  The 
fish is also threatened by global warming, which reduces water 
levels and raises water temperatures; taimen require cold water. 
The future will bring graver threats, including a Mongolian 
Government hydroelectric power plant on the Eg River and the 
possibility of expanded mining operations.  (Note: There is 
currently only one major mining operation in the Eg-Uur watershed 
area.  Researchers tested water samples but did not detect any 
mining-related chemicals.  However, artisanal mining is believed to 
occur in the area, and thorough research on possible water 
contamination has yet to be carried out.  End Note.) 
 
SPECIES AT RISK, BUT NOT LEGALLY PROTECTED 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (SBU) Although the slow-growing taimen are listed on the 
Government's "red list" of at-risk species, no law specifically 
outlaws their removal from a river.  Catch-and-release is 
encouraged, but this practice is not widely known or practiced by 
most local residents -- nor the many wealthy and influential 
Mongolians who visit the area to do battle with the giant fish.  The 
Taimen Conservation Fund (TCF), an NGO that organized the study and 
conference, encourages residents of the watershed area to embrace 
high-value, low-impact fly-fishing and ecotourism.  While this has 
resulted in some well-heeled foreign tourists visiting and engaging 
in catch-and-release sportfishing, some Mongolians continue to hunt 
 
ULAANBAATA 00000620  002 OF 003 
 
 
taimen illegally with nets or spears, sometimes during the spawning 
season.  Not all of the poachers are locals; some are high-rollers 
from Russia, drawn by the area's stellar fly-fishing opportunities 
and by the opportunity to hunt wild boar and two types of deer. 
 
NO CONCESSION SYSTEM YET IN PLACE 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The ongoing study is aimed, in part, at prodding the GOM 
into establishing a clear concession system whereby stretches of the 
Eg-Uur watershed area are rented out to tour operators, which could 
be held accountable.  However, no concession system has yet been put 
in place.  At present, a tour operator (in many cases, a fly-fishing 
operator) has to enter into a contract with the local government of 
one of the nine counties that make up the watershed area.  The 
contract must then be approved by the provincial government, and the 
operator then has to obtain from the Ministry of Nature and 
Environment (MNE) a US$48 catch-and-release license for each angler. 
 This may seem a relatively straightforward process, but many 
operators say it is time-consuming, costly and overly bureaucratic. 
Many tour operators find ways around these three steps, allegedly 
greasing palms along the way.  The conference heard that even when 
US$48 is collected for a caught taimen, the money reaches the MNE 
and "disappears," with no investment made in protecting taimen 
stocks. 
 
EARLY MISSTEPS 
-------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Between 2003 and 2006, efforts to set up a concession 
system were complicated by missteps of the Global Environmental Fund 
(GEF), which funds the TCF.  The GEF had vested much of the 
operational authority for the concession system with the central 
government.  The GOM was to tender fishing rights to a consortium 
made up largely of sport-fishing companies that meet 
technical-capacity requirements.  Few firms could meet these 
requirements; in fact, only one American firm active in the Eg-Uur 
Watershed could meet these specifications.  (That firm was also 
involved in the formation of the TCF and in obtaining the grant from 
GEF.)  In the system envisioned by the GEF, no one would be allowed 
to fish in the concession unless permitted by the concessionaire, 
and the concessionaire would have unspecified enforcement powers. 
In effect, Mongolians would not be allowed to fish in their own 
country, while relatively wealthy foreigners could cast and catch 
with abandon.  Understandably, this did not go down well with locals 
and generated tremendous ill will toward the TCF project, which in 
turn slowed progress on protecting taimen.  Nowadays, the TCF is 
pushing a more inclusive, community-based approach, to obtain buy-in 
from local residents.  Local residents acknowledge the change in 
approach, but past mistakes have made them skeptical. 
 
IRRESPONSIBLE TOUR OPERATORS THRIVING... 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Tour operators who are willing to skirt the rules and to 
pocket imaginary GOM fees can generate handsome profits.  One tour 
company we contacted without identifying ourselves told us that a 
foreign angler can obtain GOM permission to catch and release a 
taimen for $120.  For an additional $150, the company explained, the 
angler could take his taimen home. Although there is, in fact, a fee 
for sportfishing, there is no official fee that one can pay to take 
a taimen trophy home.  (Note: There is a brisk and illegal sale in 
preserved, mounted taimen in Ulaanbaatar; some are offered at local 
markets market for around $50.  End Note.) 
 
... AMID CHRONIC LACK OF RANGERS 
-------------------------------- 
 
 
ULAANBAATA 00000620  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) The GOM's primary line of defense against poachers - 
rangers - are too few to cover the necessary terrain, a point driven 
home at the conference.  Moreover, rangers are poorly paid and 
subject to bribes from tour operators and well-heeled Mongolians.  A 
total of 772 ranger positions are supposed to be filled nationwide, 
but only 444 rangers are currently employed (382 by the central 
government and 62 by provincial governments).  Mongolian authorities 
blame the shortfall on budgetary limitations.  In the Eg-Uur 
watershed area, home to 50,000 residents, at least 30 rangers are 
active. 
 
UNCERTAIN FUTURE 
---------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) The TCF claims that mining is wreaking environmental and 
social damage in many Mongolian watersheds.  It cites such negative 
impacts as sedimentation, nutrient loading and the alteration of 
river hydrology, all of which can interrupt or block the spawning or 
migration of taimen.  The Eg-Uur watershed area has thus far escaped 
the worst mining-related damage.  Whether it will remain a pristine 
idyll for sport fishermen, and their prized taimen, will depend 
largely on the whether the GOM can regulate mining in the area, halt 
overfishing and ensure that the hydroelectric plant doesn't harm the 
ecology of the Eg River.  Post will continue to monitor the 
situation and explore what the USG can do to promote the taimen's 
survival. 
 
GOLDBECK