Sturgeon Poachers Out of Control

Sturgeon Poachers Out of Control



May 2007 -   When a south wind blows from the 
Caspian Sea towards the coastal village of Hovsan, 32 kilometers (20 
miles) east of the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, hundreds of dead fish are 
washed ashore. 
The fish are the victims of illegal poachers and indiscriminate methods of 
killing their prey that are threatening stocks of sturgeon, an endangered 
species and the most precious resource of the Caspian. 
In spring, all kinds of fish swim for shallow waters in order to spawn 
caviar in warmer waters. Here they fall prey to illegal explosives used by 
the poachers. 
Along the shoreline you can meet amateur fishermen with rods but also men 
who are evidently poachers getting ready to lay explosive charges. 

Amateur fishermen try their luck at Hovsan 
The ordinary fishermen say that for the last 10 years poachers have been 
catching fish on this spot, mostly unhindered and using dynamite or 
homemade explosives made of fertilizers. They go out fishing in motorboats 
either early in the morning or late at night. 
Fishing is one of the most lucrative businesses in modern day Azerbaijan. 
On the black market, a kilo of fresh sturgeon can be bought for 10 manats 
(US$12) while a kilo of black caviar costs around 120 manats (US$140). 
Overseas, these prices can be dozens of times higher. 
International alarm about a steep decline in sturgeon stocks prompted the 
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES, to halt 
exports of Beluga caviar from the Caspian Sea in 2006. 
CITES lifted the ban in 2007, prompting objections from many 
environmentalists. One of them, Dr. Ellen Pikitch, co-founder of the 
organization Caviar Emptor, which monitors the caviar trade, called the 
decision a "death sentence," maintaining that the Beluga sturgeon has lost 
more than 90 percent of its population in recent years. 
The Caspian Fish Company has a monopoly over most fishing in the 
Azerbaijani sector of the sea, but it appears powerless to rein in the 
poachers. 
Beluga caviar from Azerbaijan 
One of the poachers, who asked not to be named, said that one explosive 
charge is capable of causing an underground shock wave 15 to 20 meters in 
radius, which throws most of the dead fish to the surface. 
"The big heavy fish stay down below," he said. "We get these fish out of 
the depths with the help of divers." 
Others said it was rare to use divers and that most of the big dead fish 
come ashore within two or three days, creating a horrible pile of 
carcasses on the beach. 
This is a crowded shoreline, home also to a number of summer houses for 
wealthy Baku residents, a special fishermen's zone, a bathing beach and 10 
kilometer (six mile) long oil and-gas terminal, built in Soviet times 55 
years ago. 
A local resident, who also declined to be named, said he had seen how the 
oil terminal, which extends into the sea, has also been damaged by the 
poachers' explosions and that it is now on the verge of collapse. 
A spokesman for the Azerbaijani oil company SOCAR declined to confirm this 
information. He said the terminal was well guarded and it is impossible 
for strangers and especially for poachers to gain access to its territory. 

The amateur fisherman are also unhappy about the poachers in their midst. 
"Fishing is a recreation for us," said Rizvan Makhmudov, 45. "And when 
your line doesn't catch anything all the recreation has gone." 
Makhmudov said he catches fewer and fewer fish and that the poachers are 
fishing stocks to the point of extinction in full view of witnesses. 
"Four or five people in motor boats drive up to Gum Island where the 
amateur fisherman are fishing legally," he said. "One of them chooses a 
place where there are a lot of fish, then the boat moves towards that spot 
at low speed. Then they light the wicks of specially prepared explosives 
in bottles and throw them in the water." 
Makhmudov said that the blasts killed not just fish, but also other marine 
life, such as seals. 
Caspian seals are vulnerable to the explosives used by sturgeon poachers. 

Another amateur fisherman, Aydin Bairamov, 42, said that he has seen 
illegal poaching take place in these parts since Soviet times. He said 
that a number of influential people who have summer houses here are now 
trying to fight the problem on their own initiative. 
One of these is a retired general Rasul Rasumov, who is a former head of 
Azerbaijan's Police Academy - and also a keen fisherman. He tries to stop 
poachers wherever he can. 
But the efforts of individuals are no substitute for an official clampdown 
on poaching. 
Ehsan Zahidov, a spokesman for Azerbaijan's Interior Ministry, said his 
ministry did not play the leading role in fighting poachers and it was the 
job of the department for protection of biological resources in the 
environment ministry – although he added the police were ready to take 
part in joint operations if required. 
Gulshan Huseinova, press spokesman for the environment ministry, dismissed 
the charge that poachers were operating freely and said her ministry 
monitored the situation closely. 
"Because of strong winds we haven't been able recently to carry out raids 
in the open sea," she said. "In the Neftchali and Salian regions our 
officers are constantly observing the situation. The information you are 
talking about has not been proved." 
Environmentalists are especially worried about the way poachers target 
fish just as they are spawning. 
Netting sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. CITES has recommended conservation 
measures and improved enforcement to combat illegal trade in caviar, but 
the illegal trade is still growing. 
The area around the Shirvan Canal that runs to the sea in the Salian 
region is another favorite fishing ground – and magnet for poachers. 
During the spawning season, different kinds of fish head from the sea for 
fresh water here. "If, of course, the nets of the poachers don't stop them 
from reproducing," said Jahangir Mirzoyev, 47. 
Locals say the number of sturgeon here has fallen sharply. Ten kilometers 
up the canal there are plenty of nets belonging to poachers. One of the 
men casting a net said that he paid a monthly bribe to officials to allow 
them to continue his trade. 
"If it keeps on like this our grandchildren won't know about these 
different kinds of fish," said Mirzoyev bitterly. 
Environmental expert Telman Zeinalov, head of the nongovernmental 
organization the National Centre for Ecological Forecasting, said that by 
acting during the spawning season and using explosives, the poachers are 
destroying whole varieties of fish. 
"There is plenty of evidence of poaching," he said, "and I have no doubts 
that the poachers are being protected by senior officials." 
   

       
      

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