A concerted effort by Russian authorities has led to a notable reduction in illegal fishing activities across the Far East during the critical Pacific salmon spawning season, signaling a positive shift in regional environmental enforcement. The Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo) reported to Kamchatka.Today that the comprehensive five-month operation, coinciding with the peak migration of Pacific salmon, involved heightened vigilance and strategic deployments to safeguard these crucial natural resources.
The intensified fishery protection measures included extensive raids, often conducted in close coordination with other law enforcement agencies, alongside the establishment of stationary and mobile checkpoints in areas historically vulnerable to poaching. These strategic locations were monitored around the clock to detect and deter illegal fishing activities, which pose a significant threat to global salmon populations and the delicate marine ecosystems they inhabit.
A cornerstone of this year’s success is attributed to the implementation of a ‘permanent raid’ regime, active since March 1st. This innovative approach allows fishery inspectors to maintain a continuous presence at control points, enabling constant surveillance of waterways, thorough inspection of vehicles, rigorous verification of permits, and immediate processing of violations. This sustained pressure has proven significantly more effective than previous, more sporadic enforcement methods.
Beyond the immediate fishing grounds, authorities also ramped up collaborative efforts with law enforcement to disrupt the illicit supply chain. Enhanced surveillance and interdiction operations targeted transportation routes, storage facilities, and points of sale for illegally harvested aquatic biological resources. Crucially, the deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) proved instrumental in rapidly identifying offenders and surveying remote, hard-to-access areas, adding a critical technological edge to the anti-poaching campaign.
The tangible results of these intensified measures are evident in the statistics released by Rosrybolovstvo. Across the Far East, a total of 6,806 violations were recorded this year, marking a 9.4% decrease compared to the previous year’s figures (2024). More significantly, cases exhibiting signs of criminal activity fell by 9.3% to 255 instances. The volume of illegally acquired aquatic bioresources seized plummeted by 24.6% to 14.1 tons, while the confiscation of illegal fishing gear saw a 14.4% reduction, with 4,215 units recovered. These figures underscore the effectiveness of the new strategies in combating organized poaching and preserving the region’s vital salmon stocks.