From among the most important species in the border lakes, Estonian fishermen will be able to catch 1000 tons of perch, 650 tons of pikeperch, 650 tons of bream, 155 tons of pike, 280 tons of roach and 15 tons of whitefish. “When deciding upon fishing opportunities, the recommendation of fishing experts from both countries were relied upon. Scientists assessed the population of perch, bream, pike and roach resources to be good, and to protect the resources of pike-perch, cuttlefish and whitefish their catches must be limited. The condition of pike-perch resources in comparison with a few years ago is more reserved. Unfortunately the large generation from 2005 is being exhausted, while the 2009 generation of pike-perch continues to remain at the same level, although the fish remain undersized. In order to protect the younger generation of pike-perch, the use of bottom trawl shall be prohibited on the lakes in the first half of next year, since the use of such fine mesh fishing gear will also result in undersized fish being caught," explained the head of the Estonian delegation, Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of the Environment Andres Talijärv. Cuttlefish and whitefish are scarce, which in large part is a result of the large number of predatory fish in lakes and unfavourable climate conditions, which does not promote their spawning. Whitefish stocks have remained stably low over the past few years, and require strictly limited organisation of catching. Next year, the catching of European whitefish will be permitted for a period of one month, from 1-31 July, when the limit will be 15 tonnes for Estonian fishermen. Other topics were also discussed in addition to the agreement on catch limits. It was admitted that by equipping all ships using bottom trawls with GPS devices and monitoring devices has improved the monitoring of fishing activities. A proposal was made to weigh placing all commercial fishing bases under electronic monitoring, as is the case with fishing vessels operating at sea. Talijärv expressed pleasure at the increase in efficiency of protecting fish resources. “If during the eve of summer we had reservations about the entry into operation of corresponding monitoring systems on fishing vessels, then today we can confidently proclaim that the efforts of both countries have borne fruit. In addition to our fishing vessels, our inspectors also see how fishing vessels on the Russian side operate with bottom trawls and Russian representatives see the movement of our fishermen on the lake”. The fishing schedule for the second half of 2013, for Lake Peipus, Lämmijärv and Pskov, will be agreed upon at the bilateral fishing consultations taking place in Russia, in June of next year. |
