During the anti-poaching operation Putina-2026, law enforcement officers and fishery inspectors apprehended several salmon poachers in the Kamchatka region between July 28 and 30. The suspects were detained across the Ust-Bolsheretsky and Milkovsky districts, as well as in the town of Vilyuchinsk. The total estimated damage to national aquatic biological resources from these activities exceeded 2 million rubles.
The most significant violation involved a 33-year-old foreman of a local tribal community. Operating near Cape Levashov in the Ust-Bolsheretsky district, the individual utilized a rubber boat and a net to illegally harvest 179 chum salmon. The suspect then extracted 58 kilograms of caviar from the catch. The environmental damage from this specific incident is calculated at nearly 1.8 million rubles.
Authorities secured the site and confiscated the poached fish, a vehicle, a boat, a fishing net, and a knife. A formal criminal investigation has been launched concerning the illegal extraction of aquatic biological resources on an especially large scale. Under current legislation, this offense carries a statutory penalty – up to five years of imprisonment. Criminal proceedings have also been initiated for three additional poaching incidents of a smaller scale identified during the recent enforcement operations.