Programs
$8.8 Million Landmark Agreement Established for Wild Salmon Conservation in Sakhalin, RussiaNews & Program Updates
The Wild Salmon Center and the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. (Sakhalin Energy) have established a landmark agreement that will jointly fund a three-year $8.8 million program for wild salmon conservation efforts on Sakhalin Island, Russia.
The conservation work will be conducted through the Sakhalin Salmon Initiative (SSI), launched during an international conference in October 2006. SSI is a collaborative effort to promote conservation and sustainable use of wild salmon and the ecosystems upon which they depend, to build institutional capacity for conservation and to promote sustainable economic development on Sakhalin Island.
On December 18, 2007, in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the Sakhalin Salmon Initiative (SSI) Center convened its year-end meeting of the SSI Coordinating Committee in order to review 2007 accomplishments and approve project plans for 2008. Nicole Portley represented the Wild Salmon Center at the event. The Committee is a multi-stakeholder group consisting of 26 member organizations, including federal, regional and municipal government bodies, local businesses, indigenous groups, academic institutes and non-profit organizations. Three new organizations were welcomed into the Coordinating Committee at the meeting: the Sakhalin Oblast Duma, Gazprom, and Rosprirodnadzor (the federal environmental oversight agency). The meeting was covered by several local TV and news media organizations.
Newly-appointed vice-governor Sergei Karepkin opened the meeting with a short speech expressing continuing government support for the SSI and hope that tangible benefits to Sakhalin Oblast will be generated from the project in 2008.
SSI Center staff and various committee members then gave presentations on 2007 accomplishments, including:
- Establishment of the SSI Center as a legal entity and hiring of four staff,
- Official launch of the work to create a protected area in the Langry-Bolshaya region of northwestern Sakhalin,
- Completion of important groundwork in the efforts to establish a salmon education center and an SSI regional salmonid monitoring program, and
- The awarding of several small grants to various local organizations for environmental education projects.
The group then discussed 2008 project plans in six project areas:
- Langry-Bolshaya conservation,
- SSI monitoring plan,
- SSI watershed councils network,
- sustainable fisheries,
- education and
- restoration.
Wild Salmon Center's Dave Martin discusses salmon monitoring strategies with the Sakhalin Salmon Initiative working group.
The Committee voted unanimously to approve the ambitious plan, which envisions successes that far outstrip the accomplishments of 2007. In partnership with Sakhalin State University, the SSI Center will launch a comprehensive research and conservation planning effort in the Langry-Bolshaya region in the summer of 2008. The data generated by this effort will prove the environmental and economic value of the region, thereby garnering protected area status for the region in 2009. Meanwhile, a five-organization partnership (SSI Center, SakhNIRO, the Russian Federal Fisheries Agency, Wild Salmon Center and the USDA Forest Service) will begin the SSI regional monitoring effort, studying fish population and habitat dynamics for seven salmonid species in the six ecoregions of Sakhalin on a six-year cycle. Rivers in the southern Aniva Bay region of Sakhalin will undergo field and remote-sensing monitoring in this first year of the program.
Additionally, a watershed council network of five councils in five municipal regions (Aniva, Smirnihovsk, Okha, Nogliki and Ugelgorsk) will be created. The watershed councils will accomplish locally-focused projects focused upon river conservation and restoration and community education. As regards education efforts, the small grants program will continue and construction of a salmon education center, based upon Oregon's Cascade Streamwatch interpretive center, is planned in the region of Dolinsk. Finally, through the sustainable fisheries project, a delegation of indigenous fisheries managers and political leaders will tour indigenous fisheries in Oregon and Washington, and Marine Stewardship Council pre-certification will be completed for a Sakhalin salmon fishery.
All of the partners in the Sakhalin Salmon Initiative, including the Wild Salmon Center, are excited about the bright futures of these projects.
To find out more about our salmon conservation efforts in Sakhalin, Russia, please contact our Project Manager for Russian programs, Nicole Portley at nportley@wildsalmoncenter.org