EcoLur
Armenia is a country with few water resources. We have over 70 water reservoirs and a powerful pumping station, which doesn’t operate. Our water resources are undermines quantitatively. This is the situation of the water resources in Armenia as assessed by Qnarik Hovhannisyan at the public discussion of “Problems of Lake Sevan and Probable Ways of Their Development”.
It should be mentioned that the artificial water reservoirs contain up to 1 billion m3 freshwater. While Lake Sevan, is a natural water resource, and contains 35 billion m3 freshwater, which ensures the country safety. The conservation of Lake Sevan is a strategic issue, as it also ensures food security.
Nevertheless, the industrial reserves in Lake Sevan have already disappeared.
Thus, the whitefish reserves have reduced 5000 times in the duration of recent 20 years and now, under the data of the Institute of Hydroecology of NAS RA, it makes up only 6.5-8 tons.
What about the endemic fish species of Lake Sevan, the trout, the fish can’t spawn under natural conditions because of the SHPPs constructed on the rivers flowing into Lake Sevan, so the trout populations is recovered in artificial way through letting out artificially grown young fish into the lake. “If trout young fish isn’t let out into the lake, it will disappear, as its spawning sites are inaccessible for the fish,” said Susanna Hakobyan, Head of Department of Hydrobiology of Institute of Hydroecology and Ichthyology of NAS RA. The main reason for the reduction of fish reserves remains fish poaching.
This is how “Sevan” National Park Deputy Director Vahe Gulanyan commented the situation, “Since 2005 the fishing of the whitefish is banned, nevertheless, it’s physically impossible to control it irregardless of the legislative field.”
43 communities are located directly on the shore of the lake, thus, the lake is situation only in a distance of several meters from the poachers’ houses. We can forcedly get the fish poacher out of the lake, but the very next day he leaves for Russia. We shouldn’t resettle the people because of the fish: these values are incomparable… Fishing ban starts from 5 December and will continue till 25 December. The territories, where spawning takes places, will be closed for entrance. As a matter of fact, administrative fines are carried out, but a person committed a suicide after the fine of 400,000 AMD. We can’t ban the people to fish, it’s the same as to ban the people living in Ararat Valley to cultivate their land areas.”
This material was made possible through the full support of Open Society Foundations – Armenia’s Policy Fellowship Program Initiative, grant number 18571. Ideas, thoughts, and arguments presented in the paper are the sole expression of the author’s views and do not reflect those of Open Society Assistance Foundations – Armenia.
November 28, 2013 at 11:12