VZCZCXRO6275
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDBU RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHKSO RUEHLN RUEHNAG RUEHPB RUEHPOD
RUEHYG
DE RUEHVK #0023/01 0500618
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 190618Z FEB 09
FM AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1088
INFO RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHZU/ASIAN PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION COLLECTIVE
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 1190

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VLADIVOSTOK 000023 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIS SENV ECON PGOV RS
SUBJECT: SALMON POACHING BY THE TON IN RUSSIAN FAR EAST 
 
VLADIVOSTO 00000023  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  Summary.  Salmon poaching remains a serious concern for 
environmentalists in the Russian Far East.  Salmon stocks are in 
danger of complete depletion, and law enforcement agencies have 
been ineffectual at stopping over-fishing.  The federal 
government has developed various programs designed to save 
salmon stocks and halt rampant poaching, but economic hard times 
have made illegal fishing more attractive to poachers, and 
corruption hinders enforcement. 
 
Salmon Poaching Continues Unabated 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  According to the recent World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Russia 
report on illegal, unregulated and unreported catch of salmon in 
the Russian Far East (RFE), the actual catch of chum salmon over 
the past three years was 1.5 times higher than officially 
reported.  In 2006, the officially-declared volume of salmon was 
273,000 tons.  However, WWF calculations based on official 
import figures from neighboring countries show that those 
countries imported 426,000 tons of Russian salmon.  The poaching 
of salmon on spawning grounds has increased considerably in the 
past decade across the Russian Far East, especially in 
Kamchatka, Magadan and Sakhalin.  The annual volume of roe 
production, legal and illegal production combined, has increased 
to 26,000 tons.  WWF specialists asserted that about half of 
this amount was procured by poachers and processed illegally. 
 
¶3.  According to Russian Fisheries Minister Andrey Krainiy, over 
35 per cent of fish products purchased in local stores were 
caught by poachers.  Major General Valentin Letunovskiy of the 
Russia Border Guard Directorate suspects that poachers earn more 
than 500 billion rubles (USD 15 billion) per year.  The illegal 
salmon catch is almost the sole source of income for villagers 
in remote RFE areas, where up to 90% of families live through 
poaching.  Poachers in Kamchatka, for example, harvest at least 
54,000 tons of salmon annually, extracting only the roe, then 
and discarding the rest of the fish. 
 
¶4.  The official salmon fishing season ends in October, and 
winter is a popular time for transporting illegal catch. 
Authorities have found huge volumes of illegal caviar and salmon 
in hidden in caches ready for transport by automobile, 
snowmobile, or helicopter for further domestic or overseas 
delivery.  For example, in late fall customs officials impounded 
over 500 kilograms of caviar en route to Magadan by helicopter. 
In Sakhalin, a vehicle with two tons of illegal caviar was 
detained in September, and in Kamchatka traffic police happened 
to stop a truck with ten tons of caviar aboard.  Law enforcement 
agencies are reporting seizures of tons of illegal caviar and 
salmon products regularly, and numerous criminal cases have been 
filed against poachers. 
 
¶5.  Fish poaching generally consists of three activities: 
catching out of season and thereby harvesting fish during times 
when they would normally reproducing; catching without permits, 
which leads to environmentally detrimental fishing practices; 
and catching with permits but over the authorized limit, which 
leads to over-fishing. 
 
Most Salmon Shipped to Asian Markets 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶6.  By far, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea import most 
of Russia's salmon products.  Japan is the leading importer of 
salmon overall, and imports up to 25,000 tons of the more 
expensive and endangered sockeye species per year.  Chinese 
imports of the less expensive Russian Pacific salmon have 
increased to 50,000 tons per year, and sockeye has reached over 
900 tons per year.  WWF has recorded a large discrepancy in 
official data on sockeye trade -- overall sockeye imports from 
Russia by these countries exceeded the total officially 
recognized Russian export by 27 percent.  The difference in the 
figures indicates a high level of undeclared salmon being 
shipped to those destinations. 
 
Enforcement Efforts Continue 
---------------------------- 
 
¶7.  Recent raids by law enforcement agencies, Rosselkhoznadzor 
(Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Monitoring), 
and regional Fishery Supervision Agencies have shown some 
success.  In early autumn, a Coast Guard patrol discovered a 
well-equipped poaching facility on Iturup Island in the Kurils 
which had boats, large refrigerators, fish processing machines, 
packing containers, and over 1,500 tons of caviar.  In late 
summer 2008, a special anti-poaching team impounded over six 
tons of caviar and 129 tons of chum salmon in a raid along the 
Yama River, a spawning area in Magadan Oblast.  In the same 
river last summer, authorities discovered 1,500 tons of decaying 
chum salmon, which had poached for their roe.  Thousands of tons 
of decaying salmon carcasses left by poachers along roads and 
river banks of spawning rivers are discovered every year 
 
VLADIVOSTO 00000023  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
throughout the RFE hinterlands. 
 
New Regulations Come Into Effect 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  According to an amendment to the federal law on fishing, 
beginning January 1, 2009 all fish harvested in the exclusive 
economic zone of the Russian Federation must be taken back to 
Russian ports before being exported or processed for domestic 
consumption.  This would hinder poachers who often take their 
catch directly to Asian markets and presumably would allow 
Russian authorities the chance to conduct more thorough and 
systematic inspections.  A further amendment to the regulation 
is expected that will mandate that all fish products delivered 
to Russian ports must be sold through a state-regulated Russian 
Fish Exchange. 
 
¶9.  WWF specialists suggest further expansion of regulation and 
enforcement efforts, including stricter control over 
transportation of roe, the use of aircraft to patrol spawning 
areas, and regular verification by regional inspectors of 
vessels accepting salmon.  Some experts have suggested that the 
federal government should establish a monopoly over salmon roe 
trade. 
 
Corruption Throughout the Industry 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  The fight against poachers is complicated not only by 
technical difficulties and lack of funding for enforcement, but 
also by wide-scale corruption.  Authorities at relevant agencies 
sometimes turn a blind eye to poachers or warn poachers of 
upcoming raids or patrols in return for set fees or a cut of the 
profits.  According to local experts, corrupt militia officers 
have a fixed price list for allowing smugglers to ship 
contraband -- from three rubles per kilogram of frozen salmon to 
50 rubles per kilogram of caviar.  Russian Fisheries Minister 
Andrey Krainiy has acknowledged to the media that the fishing 
industry is among the most corrupt in Russia.  He also said that 
"there are no poaching operations without official 'krysha', and 
all poachers receive some kind of protection from 
Rosselkhoznadzor, the Interior Ministry, the Border Guard 
Directorate, or other agencies." 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶11.  Salmon poaching is a growing problem in the Russian Far 
East.  Though the authorities have shown some desire to crack 
down, their efforts will not be effective unless the corruption 
at all management levels in all agencies related to the fishing 
industry is eradicated.  Furthermore, the sheer number of 
federal and regional agencies involved in the efforts is 
unwieldy, and frequent restructuring of those agencies impairs 
their ability to work efficiently.  The question is what will 
come first -- the eradication of corruption and poaching in the 
fishing industry, or the eradication of salmon stocks in the 
Russian Far East. 
ARMBRUSTER